The Mouth That Roared Is At It Again

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In his latest literary foray, Call Me Ted, Ted Turner, the infamous "Mouth of the South," defends his practice of colorizing old black and white movies. Excuse me while I cringe. Years ago, when he first bought the MGM film library, I feared trouble was afoot. But after watching the obvious care and affection with which movies are treated on his Turner Classic Movies cable channel, I decided that Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz (hosts of some of the better TMC series) must have corrected Turner's thinking. My bad.

I am no Luddite. I do not disagree that colorizing some old movies is OK. It's fine to colorize old classics such as the Laurel and Hardy films and the Abbott and Costello films. Those movies would have been shot in color in the first place had the technology and the financing been available. If colorizing them now makes them more interesting to a new generation of film fans who otherwise would never bother to watch, so much the better. Familiarity with Stan and Ollie and with Bud and Lou is essential to any film fan's knowledge base. That colorization is flat and relatively lifeless does not harm one's ability to appreciate their movies. Their humor gives those films their real liveliness and reveals their comedic genius. No amount of colorization can kill that.

But it's flat-out wrong to colorize any film noir. And it would be sacrilege to colorize Citizen Kane. Noir films rely on black and white cinematography for their mood and effect. Orson Welles designed Citizen Kane to be shot in black and white. Colorizing it is intolerable. Period.

There may be other films that are on the border between "colorize" and "don't you dare!" Off the top of my head, I can't think of any specific titles. Suggestions are welcome, along with reasons why or why not the suggestions should be colorized. I suspect we're into a "case by case basis" analysis. [Not unlike the ballot-by-ballot recount in the Minnesota US Senate race.--Ed.] This would be a great topic for a dinner party discussion. Come on over--I'll cook!