JUst wanted to start a list of movies that were original B&W but colorized. I know they did this with vhs frequently but it seems to have died. Before i get slammed, I hate when they do this. I personally will only buy the original format. Just wanted for refrence. a few come to mind. i know there are some more christmas movies like this. anyhow lets see what we can find

absent minded proffesor
reefer madness
March of the wooden soldiers

There's a 'Night of the Living Dead' disc coming out in a month or so which, like the 'Reefer Madness' disc, will have both B&W *and* colorized (and commentary by Mike Nelson).

If possible, I'd like to see the distinction of whether the disc in question has only the colorized version (which would be a travesty) or both (which would merely be kinda pointless).

Fox did A Christmas Wish (also known as The Great Rupert) with both colorized and b&w on the same disc

a christmas carol has been release in both too

is it just me...or did anyone else who hates colorized versions....just love Reefer? just curious. maybe you had to be wasted to love the color smoke.

not trying to threadcrap.

Really? When?

yep...and getting the dvd just for the commentery.

A Few early John Wayne B movies have been released this way (although, they cut the original 60 minute films down to 20 minutes).

A new wave of colorization is coming unfortunately. Three Stooges, Carnival Of Souls, tons of stuff from Columbia/Sony.

See the Stooges DVD reviews on this site for more info.

'Carnival of Souls' will have Mike Nelson commentary as well, though. It's part of that series of stuff. Personally, I have no problem with offering colorized as an option (as long as B&W is there too) on a disc I'm buying specifically to laugh at anyway.

EDIT: I'm unclear on this, actually. Mst3kinfo.com says:
"This special edition can only be bought at www.offcolorfilms.com/cos.html and will never be avaible in stores. The disk contains the restored, colorized version, and for you purists, the original black and white version is also included." ... but that doesn't say "The special edition will be the only one with the B&W" ... not sure which it means. Don't care either way, I'm buying it for the commentary, not the movie.

wordtoyamotha - September 2nd, last I heard.

PRIDE OF THE YANKEES was first released in a colorized-only DVD edition.

Later the B&W version came out - that's the one I got.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a pretty good film in its own right, and atmospheric in B/W. Not much to laugh at here, and many modern audiences won't have the patience to sit through this somewhat slowly paced film. It doesn't automatically lend itself to the MST3K treatment like REEFER MADNESS does.

Those who appreciate it for what it is should check out the Criterion version, it has a lot of interesting extras.

I've seen the old colorized version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD that came out back in the 80's. It was awful, I am sure the new version would have to be better. Still, I can't imagine anyone buying it in favor of the Elite Millenium Edition!

Laurel and Hardy's "March of the Wooden Soldiers" is colorized on DVD. Normally, I would avoid colorized films, but this is the only version (that I know of) on DVD and the quality of the print is surprisingly good (other than the color).

I'm not a big fan of old films being altered, but Reefer Madness was a crap propaganda film and watching it colorized was a blast. The different colored smoke was excellent and I will buy a colorized version of Citizen Kane if it has a Mike Nelson commentary on it.

I once mentioned a colorized version of The Longest Day and about got reemed a new one. In fact, it may have gotten me banned from that particular site.

I don't see what the problem is with colorized versions of certain films. As long as like you all say, the original B&W version is available on the same release/disc.

See Stuart Galbraith's review of Columbia's colorized Stooges disc.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=11758

Go to the section Video & Audio/Extras. Skip to the fifith paragraph (that begins, "Finally, Parks make the case...") Briefly put, Galbraith is afraid that the colorized versions will eventually crowd out the original black-and-white.

Consider the Columbia titles in the Wal-Mart bargain bin that often have two versions: a dual fullscreen/widescreen disc and a fullscreen only disc. Why not all dual releases?

does anyone have screenshots of b&w films colorized. ive only seen a few and they look pretty good. ofcourse im against colorizing b&w films i just want to see some examples.

Having the 3 Stooges colorized is terrible, what do they hope to accomplish by doing this? I have 6 DVDs of the Stooges all in black & white like they should be. The only thing that saves them is that the regular B&W versions are available on the same disc so you can choose. If it wasn't for that i'd stop buying them.

If I may ask, why is there so much hatred towards getting colorized versions of older movies?

One of my favorite old movies is The 39 Steps, if that were colorized fr instance I think it would make the escape through the mountains much grander.

I think that the main problem people have with it is that most of the movies in question were not made in color. Most people prefer to view movies as their creators wanted them to be seen.

Art directors, costume designers and cinematographers carefully selected the colors, textures and lighting to achieve specific images for the black-and-white films - different shades of red, for example, would create different shades of gray in the b/w finished product.

By colorizing a film, all their expertise is simply tossed out the window, and the images you are seeing are not what the filmakers intended you to see.

Wouldn't disagree, but I would say that "This Island Earth" didn't automatically lend itself either, but it worked. (Not the best, certainly, but solid enough.)

I definitely agree with both of these; I own the Elite NotLD, and will buy the Criterion 'Carnival' at some point. These releases I'm only buying for the Nelson commentary (I'm not actually sure on 'Carnival', but I love 'Night', so I want to see what he does to it).

And I believe it's a new colorized 'Night', though I'm not 100% on that.

It depends on the movie but, in general, the directors knew that they were making a black and white movie and planned accordingly. There are things which can be done in black and white with shadows which just don't translate to color.

Thanks for the info, I hadn't thought about the time that went into making the films look good in black and white.

Some movies were made in black and white not for budget reasons, but as a creative choice. The directors and producers felt the mood and setting for the film would work better in black and white. It is also correct that every aspect of lighting, set decorating, wardrobe etc was done with the fact it was a black and white film in mind.

So I understand fully why people don't like them.

I guess I just look at these Legend Films differently. Its more like their colorization is just a goof. From the comic book way they colorized in Reefer Madness to having Nelson do a commentary. I already have Carnival of Souls, but I will proudly put my autographed Mike Nelson goofy copy next to my artistic Criterion version.

I wouldn't worry about it though. Colorization will never catch on in the mainstream. Legend is doing budget releases and still putting the original version on the disc. This is more about finding a different way to sell budget titles than anything else.