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Colorizing Black and White Films
The Great Debate
Do you remember the great shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's shocker "Psycho?"
This 1960s movie has every element of a great horror flick, and even though the
blood is black and not red on screen, the latter simply adds to the terror the
viewer will experience.
Colorizing black and white films simply means to painstakingly add color to each
image of the movie. The process is one of painstaking precision. After all, it
is important to ensure that colors do not simply flow into one another but that
there are well defined boundaries between them. Similarly, that which normally
shows up as grey tints in a black and white movie will have to be identified
with the proper colors and then shaded accordingly. You may now wonder why such
a simple – albeit labor intensive – process would draw so much debate and
disagreement between film critics, film buffs, and those involved in the
industry.
Those in favor of colorizing the old black and white movies have long since
stated that the new generations that have grown up since the original movies
were made are now accustomed to movies in color, and the subtle arts of grey
shading are lost on them. As a matter of fact, many proponents will go so far as
to state that if the film industry wants to get the next generations to come to
love the classics, they will have to make these films palatable for the more
sophisticated audiences. Additionally, proponents of the process insist that
because colorization is such an exhausting process, the original movies have to
first be restored completely before they can be worked on. This, they claim,
will allow them to preserve movies for generations to come, while a lack of
attention to preservation and restoration could actually lead to the gradual
demise of these valuable movies.
Of course, the opponents of the colorization movement are equally as vociferous.
They will have you know that since many directors of the truly great classics
are long dead, it is impossible to determine if the colorization process is done
according to their specifications. If you consider the great amount of planning
that had to go into the shower scene of Psycho – finding a substance that would
work as fake blood took a long time – it is not unreasonable to assume that
simply some red color will negate the directorial brilliance that went into the
movie making. Many feel that this colorization process does precious little to
introduce movies to new generations but instead is a violation of the original
artists' genius and might actually be a way of destroying the artwork.
While it is hard to determine who is right in this debate, there are some points
to consider:
Early colorization attempts of famous movies led to arbitrarily chosen colors
for clothing, cars, and other items. While this in and of itself may appear
harmless, it is noteworthy that this may in no way be congruous with the
director's original interpretation of the script, and may actually be in
violation of the director's intentions.
Some colorization attempts seek to recreate the movie by following the color
scheme of props that were used by the studio. While in theory this may be a
workable process, it is important to remember that several items were chosen
because of the way the color would photograph when filmed in black and white,
and not because of the symbolism of the color. Thus, that which will appear like
a perfect hue in a black and white movie may make for a garish colorization
attempt.
On the other hand, do you know any warm blooded teenager who will sit through a
black and white movie – even it is Psycho – when she or he could be watching a
gory slashed movie instead?
As you can see, there is no hard and fast answer to this great movie debate.
Both proponents and opponents have valid points, and it is up to the film lover
to decide which version they will prefer. Purists who like to see the movies
just like the director envisioned them will probably not want to stray from the
black and white images. Who knows, maybe the next generations will come to
appreciate the old originals when they see the colorized versions first?
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