Why was this film colorized? - White Heat (1949) Discussion

[–] sverdrupjahn75 17 years ago

I didn't know it was. I'm glad I have the original version. :)

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[–] ivan_maldonado-1 17 years ago

It was colorized by Turner around 1987.

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[–] sverdrupjahn75 17 years ago

It's pure vandalism.

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[–] ivan_maldonado-1 17 years ago

Colorization should only be for black & white kinescopes of the lost or damaged, original color films. Otherwise, leave black & white films and shows alone!

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] yipman_sifu 15 years ago

They tried to do the same for Citizen Kane, Orson Welles became furious since he always considered B&W to be "the actor's best friend".

"I told you to keep away from that radio. If that battery is dead it'll have company." Cody Jarrett

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[–] BloatedLilConner 17 years ago

I agree! I hate seeing these coloreds everywhere nowadays! Keep our films pure!

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[–] joewhiteyipee 16 years ago

Fortunately, I think "colorization" is pretty much now extinct. When the technology was founded in the 80's, it---along with countless other things from that era---witnessed a huge backlash.

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[–] AlxK 16 years ago

Yes, thankfully, it seems as if "colorization" was just a gimmick. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time but I think genuine film fans want to see the original print. I know I do.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] andrewwjohnson 15 years ago

................The one good thing about colorization was it got people worked up enough to make an effort to preserve classic films the way they were orginally made.
True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

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[–] colt_89 15 years ago

I plan on buying this film, thanks for letting me know about it being colorized. I do not want to buy a color copy of this at all, I won't be able to enjoy it. I prefer older films to be in B/W, because the coloring back in the day was pretty bad.

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[–] joystar5879 12 years ago

Because some ignoramus (who shall be nameless) wanted to play with his crayons. There's a REASON they call it FILM NOIR...

"I do hope he won't upset Henry..."

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jfegley1 11 years ago

Yeah des3031, and there are also some not so young that won't watch b&w films. Like my now 46 year old sister. She just doesn't get that a good or great movie doesn't have to be in color. Have tried to get her to watch some old classics I have on dvd, but she just won't. Her loss.
Love White Heat, film noir, and other movies that were not made in color. Many movies from the last 20 years are pure crap.

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[–] andrewwjohnson 11 years ago

As Ted Turner put it when he colorized "White Heat", "Casablanca" and "King Kong", among others, "they're my movies and I can do what I want with them" or something like that.

The public didn't like it. I still remember listening to a radio discussion back in the eighties, about colorization where a caller accused Turner of spoiling "Gone With the Wind" by colorizing it. Of course "Gone With the Wind" has always been in color.

TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

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[–] movies789 11 years ago

Cinematic purists seem to think that, in the old days of film, people, skies and landscapes actually existed in various shades of gray. They go on about how artistic it was to shoot in black & white when, in reality, it was just cheaper to do so.

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[–] Ethereal-Cloud 10 years ago

Making a film noir into a highly-saturated, vivid Technicolor spectacle defeats the whole atmosphere the director, lighting designer and cinematographer spent hours designing (and years perfecting).

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[–] movies789 10 years ago

I think that's a false choice. Using colors needn't mean bright, vivid colors; it can be done with subtlety and restraint. Real life involves real colors, after all. Real scenes are no more black & white than they are pink & green. Give me natural color every time, even if so subtle as to be barely detectable.

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[–] mikekrit62 10 years ago

That's a rather arrogant and dismissive statement. Unless these "purists" are small children or drooling fools, they don't believe that the World was in black and white.

Despite your opinion, It is an art to film in B&W, one developed as you say because of the economic necessities of the time. It creates a distinctive mood and atmosphere not easily captured in color, which is why many directors still fight the studios and distributors for the right to use it. Woody Allen is probably the most prolific user of B&W in the last 30 years. Raging Bull, The Last Picture Show, Psycho or Schindler's List would not have been the same movies in color, which is why the directors chose to use B&W.

I have no doubt more film makers would use it in a heartbeat today were it not for the fear of losing audience to people who are prejudiced against a film's "realism" unless it's in color.

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[–] movies789 10 years ago

Come, now; all the black and white movies you cited would have been just as good - or better - in color. Black and white was used in the early days of movies because it was cheaper - period. Once decided-upon, directors and cinematographers made the most of the medium by exploiting the best aspects of it - lighting, shadows, and such - because they had to, to compensate for the absence of color. To opt for black and white over color today is little more than a fashionable contrivance. But, hey - whatever makes your boat float.

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[–] liscarkat (18367) 3 years ago

There was a lot more behind the use of black-and-white than cheapness. That might have been true for some low-budget Francis the Talking Mule movie, but for higher-level films, by the late 1940s, most of the time black-and-white was an artistic choice. As far as real life being color is concerned--yes, it certainly is. Film is stylized, not real life.

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[–] joeparkson 10 years ago

It was a business decision back then to use black and white, not an artistic decision. Color was a lot 'slower' which meant it needed more lighting. "White Heat" had a lot of indoor shots, so that would have raised the cost considerably.

Since there are many night scenes and prison scenes, color was less important anyway.

Fast forward to modern times; color film has come way down in price, everyone now has color TV sets, and audiences prefer TV shows and movies in color instead of black and white. Many old black and white movies were colorized in order to increase their saleability. Nothing more.

I don't like colorized movies because it always looks fake to me. I prefer seeing the movie the way it was originally shot. I must admit, I wish some black and white classics had been filmed in color.

Conversely, I've never heard anyone say they'd like to see a movie that was shot in color 'decolorized'.

Even though some snobs wax poetic over 'noir movies', none have ever adjusted their TV sets to take the color out of movies like "Leave Her To Heaven" which was a noirish movie filmed in Technicolor.

Soy 'un hijo de la playa'

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