Info Wanted: Colorized Classics - is anyone preserving them?

Is anyone preserving colorized versions of classic Black and White films? Obviously the original B&W is the first to be preserved, and justifyably so. Still, I do find myself wondering what Citizen Kane looked like in Color.

was there any color versions of any of the Marx Brothers films?

Check this out:

In the 1980s, Room Service was a part of the film colorization controversy when it and other classic black and white films were colorized for television. The film was one of only two Marx Brothers films to be colorized (a colorized version of A Night at the Opera also exists). It was not well received by fans, and today is out of print.

Someone get on that stat! :)

Good.  Colorized bastard versions should never see the light of day again in my opinion.

George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead was the last black and white film i watched and i do have the color version but i wouldn't touch the original version because it takes out all the quality of the film. But there is no copyright law on Night Of The Living Dead so any one can own it which is the only downfall. 

I preserved King Kong in Color,but as mentioned above,it was released in the UK as part of a boxset.

DJ

I'm actually in the process of doing this.  My dad always enjoyed the colorized movies, and he had recorded quite a few which had never been released on video.  I have a list of about 315 films which have been colorized.  Here are the colorized movies that I have, about 44, and I'm in the process of preserving them:

Awesome!

Was Casablanca's colorized version only released on VHS? Or was there a laserdisc too?

I'd love to see that... anyone here own that who has a DVD recorder or something?  I would just buy the VHS but if I can get it for free... why would I waste the money?  I realize the colors look awful, but I want to see it just for the fun of it.

Here is a screen grab from a Retail VHS to DVD transfer for Casablanca. 

Wow, that's really blurry!

Do you have a really worn tape? Or was it just not mastered very well?

I was looking for someone to send me a copy... either an ISO if you have high-speed or a burned disc or something.  Otherwise I'll have to buy the VHS myself.

drfsupercenter said:

Wow, that's really blurry!

You know how digital video has separate channels for chroma and luma? I think it's possible to throw out the chroma channel, but can you scrap the luma and keep the chroma? If so, you could use the crisp, newest B&W DVD as the "luma" base and add the VHS chroma channel to it. A little bit of cropping and BAM! a pristine color transfer. You wouldn't notice that the chroma resolution is lower, since MiniDV, DVD, and HDV also have hi-res luma and low-res chroma channels--and most viewers have no idea. Is this possible?

I'm particularly interested in Casablanca, as it's one of my Dad's favorites.

You wouldn't notice that the chroma resolution is lower, since MiniDV, DVD, and HDV also have hi-res luma and low-res chroma channels--and most viewers have no idea. Is this possible?

Why wouldn't it have the same resolution?  If you record a VHS to a DVD it'll be 480i... just like the official DVD.  Unless you meant somehow ripping the 1080p Blu-Ray transfer?

Either way, I'd love to get a copy if someone could record it... and then worry about that later.  I mean, why restore what isn't even the original? LOL

I just don't want it looking like a VCD or something...

drfsupercenter said:

 

You wouldn't notice that the chroma resolution is lower, since MiniDV, DVD, and HDV also have hi-res luma and low-res chroma channels--and most viewers have no idea. Is this possible?

 

 

Why wouldn't it have the same resolution?  If you record a VHS to a DVD it'll be 480i... just like the official DVD.  Unless you meant somehow ripping the 1080p Blu-Ray transfer?

 

Either way, I'd love to get a copy if someone could record it... and then worry about that later.  I mean, why restore what isn't even the original? LOL

I just don't want it looking like a VCD or something...

Hey now, you're the one who said it looked blurry! I think the VHS capture that jedi_jra posted looks good. I'd be happy with it, but I couldn't help but think of how pristine the new DVD is--it's clearly of higher resolution than an aged VHS bootleg. And if you could swap the luma channel from the VHS for the one on the DVD, you'd probably have something that looks better than the original colorized master. In theory.

Hi

I too am a fan of "colorized" classics..some hate them (they can always turn off the color) & some love them. I have about 150 of them, including:

42^nd Street (1933) Warner Baxter & Ruby Keeler 

A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge) (1951) Alastair Sim

A Night at the Opera (1935) The Marx Brothers

A Tale of Two Cities (1935) Ronald Colman 

Above and Beyond (1952 Robert Taylor

The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) Fred MacMurray 

Action in the North Atlantic (1943) Humphrey Bogart

Across the Pacific (1942) Humphrey Bogart

Advise and Consent (1962) Henry Fonda

After The Thin Man (1936) William Powell

Air Force (1943) John Garfield

Allegheny Uprising (1939) John Wayne 

Ambush (1949) Robert Taylor

Angel and the Badman (1947) John Wayne

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) James Cagney & Humphrey Bogart

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Cary Grant

Back to Bataan (1945) John Wayne

Bataan (1943) Robert Taylor

The Batchelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) Cary Grant

Battle Circus (1953) Humphrey Bogart

Battleground (1949) Van Johnson

The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945) Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman

The Big Sky (1952) Kirk Douglas

The Big Sleep (1946) Humphrey Bogart

Blackboard Jungle (1955) Glenn Ford

Blood on the Moon (1948) Robert Mitchum

Blue Steel (1934) John Wayne

Bombardier (1943) Randolph Scott

Boom Town (1940) Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy

Boy’s Town (1938) Spencer Tracy & Mickey Rooney

Camille (1936) Robert Taylor

The Canterville Ghost (1944) Charles Laughton & Robert Young

Captain Blood (1935) Errol Flynn

Captains Courageous (1937) Spencer Tracy

Casablanca (1942) Humphrey Bogart

Chain Lightning (1950) Humphrey Bogart

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) Errol Flynn

China Seas (1935) Clark Gable

Colorado Territory (1949) Joel McCrae

Command Decision (1948) Clark Gable

The Corsican Brothers (1941) Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Crisis (1950) Cary Grant

Crossfire (1947) Robert Mitchum & Robert Young

Dark Command (1940) John Wayne

Dark Passage (1947) Humphrey Bogart

Dark Victory (1939) Bette Davis & Humphrey Bogart

David Copperfield (1935) W C Fields

Desperate Journey (1942) Errol Flynn

Destination Tokyo (1943) Cary Grant & John Garfield

Devil’s Doorway (1950) Robert Taylor

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1941) Spencer Tracy

Edge of Darkness (1943) Errol Flynn

The Enchanted Cottage (1945) Robert Young

The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) Glenn Ford

Father of the Bride (1950) Spencer Tracy

The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) John Wayne

The Fighting Seabees (1944) John Wayne

Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) John Wayne

Fury (1936) Spencer Tracy

Flying Tigers (1942) John Wayne

Fort Apache (1948) John Wayne

Gaslight (1944) Charles Boyer & Ingrid Bergman

Gentleman Jim (1942) Errol Flynn

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) Rex Harrison & Gene Tierney

Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) Robert Donat & Greer Garson

The Great Sinner (1949) Gregory Peck & Ava Gardner

Gunga Din (1939) Cary Grant

High Noon (1952) Gary Cooper & Grace Kelly

High Sierra (1941) Humphrey Bogart

High Wall (1947) Robert Taylor

Honky Tonk (1941) Clark Gable

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

The Hucksters (1947) Clark Gable

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) Charles Laughton

The Hurricane (1937) Jon Hall

In This Our Life (1942) Bette Davis

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) Kenneth Tobey

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) James Stewart

In Old California (1942) John Wayne

Jezebel (1938) Bette Davis & Henry Fonda

Johnny Eager (1942) Robert Taylor

Julius Caesar (1953) Marlon Brando

Key Largo (1948) Humphrey Bogart & Edward G Robinson

Killer McCoy (1947 ) Mickey Rooney

King Kong (1933) Fay Wray & Bruce Cabot

Kit Carson (1940) Jon Hall

The Last Gangster (1937) Edward G Robinson & James Stewart

The Last of the Mohicans (1936) Randolph Scott

The Last Man On Earth (1964) Vincent Price

The Letter (1940) Bette Davis

Libeled Lady (1936) William Powell & Jean Harlow

Lone Star (1952) Clark Gable

The Longest Day (1962) John Wayne

The Lucky Texan (1934) John Wayne

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Joseph Cotton

The Maltese Falcon (1941) Humphrey Bogart

The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) Louis Hayward & Joan Bennett

The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942) Bette Davis & Monte Woolley

The Mark of Zorro (1940 ) Tyrone Power & Linda Darnell

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) Boris Karloff

Manhattan Melodrama (1934) Clark Gable & William Powell

Meet  John Doe (1941) Gary Cooper

Mighty Joe Young (1949) Ben Johnson

Mildred Pierce (1945) Joan Crawford & Jack Carson

Miracle on 34^th Street (1947) Maureen O’Hara & John Payne

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) Cary Grant

Mr. Lucky (1943) Cary Grant

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) William Powell

Miss Annie Rooney (1942) Shirley Temple

The Money Trap (1965) Glenn Ford

The Mortal Storm (1940) James Stewart & Robert Young

The Most Dangerous Game (1932) Joel McCrae

Mrs. Miniver (1942) Greer Garson

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Clark Gable

My Favorite Wife (1940) Cary Grant

My Man Godfrey (1936) William Powell

Now and Forever (1934) Gary Cooper & Carole Lombard

Objective, Burma (1945) Errol Flynn

Out of the Past (1947) Robert Mitchum

Passage to Marseille (1944) Humphrey Bogart

The Petrified Forest (1936) Humphrey Bogart

The Philadelphia Story (1940) Cary Grant

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) John Garfield & Lana Turner

Pride and Prejudice (1940) Laurence Olivier & Greer Garson

Pride of the Marines (1945) John Garfield

The Prince & the Pauper (1937) Errol Flynn

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) Ronald Colman

Rachel and the Stranger (1948) Robert Mitchum & William Holden

The Racket (1951) Robert Mitchum & Robert Ryan

Random Harvest (1942) Ronald Colman & Greer Garson

The Red Badge of Courage (1951) Audie Murphy

Red Dust (1932) Clark Gable

Red River (1948) John Wayne

Rio Grande (1950) John Wayne

The Roaring Twenties (1939) James Cagney & Humphrey Bogart

Robin Hood The Movie (1991) Richard Greene

Robin Hood’s Greatest Adventures (1991) Richard Greene

Robin Hood Quest for the Crown (1991) Richard Greene

Rogue Cop (1954) Robert Taylor

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

San Francisco (1936) Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy

Santa Fe Trail (1940) Errol Flynn

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) Leslie Howard & Merle Oberon

The Sea Hawk (1940) Errol Flynn

The Sea Wolf (1941) Edward G Robinson & John Garfield

Second Chorus (1940) Fred Astaire & Paulette Goddard

Sergeant York (1941) Gary Cooper

The Shaggy Dog (1959) Fred MacMurray

She (1935) Randolph Scott

Sherlock Holmes & The Woman in Green (1945) Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce

Sherlock Holmes & Prelude to Murder aka Dressed to Kill (1946) Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce

Sherlock Holmes & The Secret Weapon (1943) Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce

Sherlock Holmes & Terror By Night (1946) Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce

Soldiers Three (1951) Stewart Granger

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) Paul Newman

Stagecoach (1939) John Wayne

Stars in My Crown (1950) Joel McCrae

Stowaway (1936) Robert Young & Shirley Temple

Suspicion (1941) Cary Grant

Tall in the Saddle (1944) John Wayne

Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) Johnny Weismuller

Test Pilot (1938) Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy

They Died With Their Boot’s On (1941) Errol Flynn

They Drive By Night (1940) George Raft & Humphrey Bogart

They Were Expendable (1945) John Wayne

The Thin Man (1934) William Powell

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) Spencer Tracy

Three Comrades (1938) Robert Taylor & Robert Young

Three Strangers (1946) Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre

Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) Robert Taylor

To Have and Have Not (1944) Humphrey Bogart

The Three Stooges (1936 Disorder in the Court & (1947) Brideless Groom

The Three Stooges (2 Disks) (Punch Drunks, Men in Black, Hoi Polloi, Disorder in the Court, Playing the Ponies, The Sitter-Downers, Violent is the Word, You Natzy Spy, No Census..No Feeling, An Ache in Every Stake, Brideless Groom, Sing a Song of Six Pants, Malice in the Palace)

Too Hot To Handle (1938) Clark Gable

Topper (1937) Cary Grant

Tortilla Flat (1942) Spencer Tracy & John Garfield

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Humphrey Bogart

The Two Mrs. Carroll’s (1947) Humphrey Bogart

Until They Sail (1957) Paul Newman

Virginia City (1940) Errol Flynn

Wake of the Red Witch (1948) John Wayne

Waterloo Bridge (1940) Robert Taylor & Vivien Leigh

Way Out West (1937) Laurel & Hardy

The Westerner (1940) Gary Cooper & Walter Brennan

Westward the Women (1941) Robert Taylor

The Woman in the Window (1944) Edward G Robinson

The Young in Heart (1938) Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) James Cagney

Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964) George Hamilton

As I am always updating you can contact me for an updated list

Any swaps email me   ratchanee.c@bigpond.com

"I wonder if it's possible to take such colorizations, and apply the chroma to a DVD rip..."

Yes.  Apparently that is possible.  It was done recently (a few years ago) with a "lost" episode of Dr Who.  Apparently a really good B&W film copy of an episode existed and it was combined with the color from a lesser quality video tape copy.