Hi from Joe B.
JR is absolutely right on this one. It's a frustrating situation.
It's true that the colorization-- no matter how clever or well done-- subverts the original. But-- Three Stooges shorts or Little Rascals shorts or Roy Rogers westerns are NOT "The Maltese Falcon," "Citizen Kane" or "Night of the Hunter"-- films whose mood would be totally destroyed by colorization.
So if it will encourage younger folk to see these classic funnies, I have no problem-- particularly since a pristine black & white restoration can be toggled back and forth (for those of us who remember Gabby Hayes fondly in monotone). After all many young people will check out the b&w original and maybe like it. Our friend Tom Martin's son made a very respectable black and white film and enjoys working in black and white and he's still in his teens.
It's the letterboxing thing that gets me. Many mainstream films are releasing separate pan and scan and letterboxed discs so they can include all the extras. At least when both versions are available on the same disc or in the same set it allows for choice and those with letterbox-itis may be converted when they can instantly see what they are missing-- particularly if they are young.
But there's a new feature on many newer dvd players that is really tacky! It' is an automatic "letterbox-defeat." And it's called just that.
This is worse than pan & scan because at least p&s is planned for and engineered. But the letterbox-defeat merely cuts out the sides and shows just the middle of the picture without regard to anything else.
At my friend's house recently his teenaged son was showing off their new system (purchased at Target!!) and treated me to the Pod-Race from Star Wars Phantom Menace in glorious "mid-screen" (I refuse to call it pan and scan 'cause it Doesn't!!). It was, of course, wretched and one could barely make out what was going on. I told him not to expect me to waste two seconds watching a widescreen movie like that when I come to visit.
But he got "his" in a couple of minutes. He dropped in a widescreen teen flick, put the letterbox-defeat on and within two minutes, saw the girl of his dreams in a bikini-- disappear from the screen "off-stage-left."
You never saw a teen reach for the remote so quickly in your life!!
Joe B.
"JRS MoviePosterBid.com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"JRS MoviePosterBid.com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The legal argument on this was resolved long ago -- whomever "owns" the film can colorize it if they want and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. Whether they should or not will be debated forever, but there's no question that a colorized version of a black-and-white film is something that a lot of younger viewers will watch while they would not watch the black-and-white version. Sad but true.Since that is the reality of the situation, I applaud the fact that these producers are including BOTH a nicely-restored black-and-white version and the colorized version on the same DVD. That actually satisfies both young consumers and older purists. It's a far better solution than just putting out a colorized version only and leaving the purists out of luck.-- JR----- Original Message -----From: MovielegendsSent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 11:41Subject: [MOPO] The Stooges in color? Soitenly!THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 10, 2004
The DVD era is resurrecting the great colorization
debate of the 1980s, and at the heart of the matter
are Moe, Larry and Curly.
Sony's Columbia TriStar home-video unit is releasing
two Three Stooges DVDs that allow viewers to watch the
original black-and-white or digitally colorized
versions. Purists consider it desecration, while Sony
executives say the process can introduce movie
classics to young audiences reluctant to watch
anything in black and white.
The Stooges discs coming out today also give die-hard
fans better black-and-white versions, the studio
insists.
To prepare for the colorization process, Sony did a
more extensive restoration than it had with previous
black-and-white- only Stooges DVDs, said Bob Simmons,
a technical specialist who worked on the project.
"The best thing about this DVD release is it gives the
consumer the ultima! te choice," said Suzanne White,
vice president of marketing for Columbia TriStar.
"They can watch the very best, the finest restored
image of the black-and- white version, or watch the
new colorized version and switch instantaneously
between the two." The new DVDs, "Goofs on the Loose"
and "Stooged and Confoosed," contain four shorts each
featuring Moe and Curly Howard and Larry Fine.
Offering a choice does not appease colorization
critics, who include Sam Raimi, director of Sony's
"Spider-Man" blockbusters. "I don't think they should
mess with black and white," said Raimi, who is such a
Stooges fan that credits on some of his movies label
extras as "fake Shemps," a reference to doubles used
to complete Stooges shorts after the death of Shemp
Howard, who both preceded and succeeded brother Curly
in the act.
"I think they should just leave it as they are and try
to preserve them as best they can," Raimi said. "I
f! eel like it's an artistic interpretation that's not
anybody's right to make except the director's."
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