It's a Wonderful Life in colour?

S

Sellenzz

New member
Hi everyone, was looking for some advice.

My Mum has asked for the new remastered colour edition of It's a Wonderful Life as she bloody loves this film (and why not? It's amazing). She already owns the B/W edition and I'm a little bit confused as to how they could suddenly make a colour version of this film (I know next to nothing about digital remastering so I don't know what's possible and what isn't) - given that the original would've been in black and white?

So in sum, is it something that's worth getting? And how has it been done as a matter of interest? :) Thanks...
 
It's been colorised. There's a fairly incomprehensible explanation on Wikipedia but basically it's the monochrome film with colour added digitally.

The point is that films made in black-and-white are intended to be watched in black-and-white so although it may seem more "normal" to watch them in colour you're not seeing what the director wanted you to see.

I believe the original black-and-white version is also on the new DVD in a remastered version so it might be worth getting the new one anyway.
 
Capra only ever saw the coloured version done in the 80's and like other colourisations done at the time (Laurel & Hardy) they were truly awful and the process was written off by most people and broadcasters.

But over the last few years Legend Films have introduced a new process which is light years ahead of the old process and can produce quite startling results.

However - LegenRAB new colour versions of It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Steet are still disappointing and do not look natural compared to the work they did on the Ray Harryhausen films like Earth V The Flying Saucers.

The recent restoration has both colour and restored B&W versions so its safe to buy and let people see what they think.

There is also a Bluray out with both but if you want the film in HD go for the US release which puts each version on a separate disc unlike the UK one .

The making of documentary is also missing from the UK Bluray although it may be on the dvd - the US Bluray is region free

Whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of the process it is certainly allowing for tv broadcasts of many old tv shows and films that would otherwise remain hidden away.

The first 2 seasons of Bewitched for example would not be shown on Living if they were not colourised
 
Got this on American import over a year ago and I think it looks superb. After about ten minutes in you completely forget you're watching anything but a standard colour movie. And besides which, you also get the definitive digitally restored and remastered B&W version on the second disc as a bonus. Can't go wrong.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Last night i watched the color version on Blu-Ray of Its A Wonderful Life.

A few years ago I bought the colorised VHS Version and it was disappointing with smudgy color and grain galore.

The BLu-Ray version is quite outstanding in my view, very well done. Some critics still condemn it though; well, it is their choice, but I thought it was brilliant.

Might not suit everyone, but you should see it first before condemning it. Picture detail for an oldie was outstanding. And the soundtrack was very good too.
 
To my eyes, on that site the stills from the colorised version look flatter and less "real" than the ones from the monochrome original.
 
The film was not filmed in 'colour'. Therefore, it is not meant to be seen in 'colour'.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we went back and re-wrote all the books in history to say "and this is what they actually meant". Oh wait...
 
The Miracle on 34th Street colourisation received such a warm welcome that its been missed out altogether on the US Bluray - although the packaging seems to think otherwise



The VHS was the old 80's colour version and the Bluray is the new one. There is no comparison


Like Capra, Stewart only ever saw the old colour version which was awful .
The new version is better but still awful
 
Very interesting results there - I'm definitely going to check out the colourised version, although there is still a tendency to over-saturate the skin colour (for example, the shot of Jimmy Stewart holding his hanRAB up).

Best version I saw was the remastered version that toured the cinemas a couple of years ago. Quite magical on the big screen. Pity they don't do that every year.
 
... and don't forget that new films are still being made and released in black-and-white.

White Ribbon looks absolutely stunning in black-and-white on a big screen. Some scenes - the ones filmed in snow, for example, are so beautiful it's impossible to imagine that it could have looked better in colour.
 
One thing I've noticed with a lot of colourised films is that the male skin tones usually look more artificial than the female.

I've come to the conclusion that this is because we are used to most women "colourising" themselves with make-up in real life, so the brain accepts the artificial look more readily.

Having looked through the colourised It's a Wonderful life, Donna Reed looks even more ravishing in colour while Jimmy Stewart does look a bit David Dickinson in places...

Strangely, the alternative neon-washed nightmare version of the town looks scarier in the original black and white, in my opinion.
 
Surprisingly pleasing results there, although given the usual argument that it was shot in black and white and hence meant to be seen in black and white I don't see the point in colourising films.

Also, adding colour to a black and white film changes the atmosphere rather dramatically. Colour balance in a film is extremely important, witness the variable colour balance and lighting in modern films and how they affect the mood.

Leave the black & white originals as black & white says I. The studios won't listen of course, it's just another way of double-dipping and screwing more money out of the consumer.
 
Don't see the problem - as long as the original is still available, then it's just a matter of consumer choice. In the case of IAWL you get both as part of the package. Don't want to watch the colour version then don't watch it, no one's forcing you to.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Wow, lots of replies! Thanks for all the advice people - since it's for my Mum and not me I'll ask her if she wants to reconsider (personally I'd prefer it in B/W). The other thing is that, whilst it is nice to view things in their original format, I think the DVD we've got is very, very grainy so a remastered copy might be preferable anyway.

I'm intrigued by the Blu-ray option but she doesn't have a player or an HD TV - something to consider if my family does progress with the technology though :)
 
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