2/27/2007

Recently, I got a lot of e-mails (in my “other identity” as this station’s resident “Stoogemeister”) about a cable network showing a whole day of 3 Stooges shorts- all of them colorized. Some seemed impressed by them- some not. One e-mailer, Frank, was especially impressed by the way outdoor scenes looked- especially ones with boys in bright sunlight. I didn’t get to see these shorts, since I was here at the TV station working. Some people suggested that I do a special Stooge-a-palooza featuring all colorized shorts. Well, Sony/Columbia has never offered us any colorized shorts, so we don’t have them. Secondly, if you’ve read my blogs for a long time, you’d know I’m not a big fan of colorization- to me, it really doesn’t add to my enjoyment, and, it’s kind of a distraction , because you’re more focused on how the color looks. I don’t know if the new version of colorization has progressed beyond the more pastel-looking previous versions, but it just seems to me that over-laying color onto these must change the whole character of the film. Imagine the most atmospheric film you’ve ever seen, that benefited so much from the stark black and white, and shadows- and think how that would change with colorization. Imagine a colorized “Schindler’s List” (and, yes, I know how ridiculous it is to compare that movie colorized to a colorized Stooge short- the two are totally incomparable- I’m just trying to explain how black and white film can be so effective- and that colorization shouldn’t be necessary for someone to enjoy a film.) I always remember a program director at a previous station who would present me with a list of movies- and I’d balk at showing a certain terrible one, to which he’d respond- “but- it’s in color!” “Yes” I’d say-“but it’s a BAD movie!” He then would quote how research showed that audiences were more likely to tune away when they happened upon a black and white telecast. I would hope that fans of the Sven show are savvy enough to realize that a movie being in black and white shouldn’t be a turn-off. Although it might be an interesting experiment- would the original “Frankenstein” or “Bride of Frankenstein” be “better” if it were colorized? As I said- it would be interesting, yes- but- better? Not in my opinion… the bottom line is- if a black and white film being colorized adds to your enjoyment- so be it. If it doesn’t, stick with the original. Chances are, one faction will never be able to convince the other of the virtues of their opinion. It’s like trying to convince some people that anchovy pizza is delicious…even if the anchovies DO look black and white…