colorization
If there was one movie to benefit from colorization, this is the one! Why on earth was this classic not filmed in color? (besides the budget)!
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Lois Laurel told me once that Babes In Toyland was originally planned to be filmed in Technicolor (albeit the two-strip version), which was why all the sets were painted with bright colors. Then things happened---something about Stan landing in the hospital, and the Technicolor cameras were being rented elsewhere. In any event, this is my one exception to my no-colorization (or for my friends in the UK,'colourisation') rule! The only complaint I have is the balloon man's wears are not "all the colors of the rainbow", but are rather dull.
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Color might have made things more natural
but:
Would Barnaby and the Boogeymen be as menacing
in color than in BW?
Would an audience used to seeing Stan and Babe
in BW be suddenly given an unnecessary jolt
and going back to BW might affect their careers?
Victor Herbert operetta were so BW in tone that
BW cinematography was appropriate.
BW is so misconceived because it is broadcast
so poorly. BW is sharper than color. The extra
resolving was always the advantage of BW but tv
with its low resolution could not display this
advantage.
As a kid, I loved this movie in its original black and white version. A while back I got a colorized version of the film, and that's great too! I do think it benefits.
I don't think there's a need to colorize all black and white films but I do like the results sometimes. I liked the color versions of King Kong and Night of the Living Dead particularly. This one, I feel, is aided by colorization because it makes it much easier for the viewer to see the detail built into the sets.
Production-wise, this was a beautifully-constructed movie. Colorizing it doesn't replace the original movie, I feel (it never does or will), but it does provide a useful alternative viewing experience.