Additionally, when screening films at tent meetings when there is a colour version available, the question is always asked. With these far more learned detractors, it seems that I’m not alone. So, is it just me then? Well, the answer, clearly, is a firm “no”. While it would allow black-and-white films to perhaps be open to new audiences, the process was crude and many detractors including James Stewart, John Huston, George Lucas and Woody Allen claimed that even if it were refined, it would not take into account lighting compositions chosen for black-and-white photography which would not necessarily be as effective in colour. This however, perhaps inevitably lead to controversy. Firstly Topper, and Way Out West(both originally made in 1937), became the first black-and-white films to be redistributed in colour using the digital ‘Colorization’ process. In case you didn’t know, in 1983, original Laurel and Hardy producer, Hal Roach studios, became one of the first studios to use computerised film colourisation and began creating digitally coloured versions of some of its films. Yes, I wanted to own them so I could dip in if I fancied it, but I only ever watched the original versions… until the granddaughters came along. Then the 21-disc DVD set came out in the UK and what purported to be ‘better’ colour versions were included, but still, ‘Colorization’ wasn’t for me. I was buying them out of curiosity and, I suppose, loyalty. When the ‘colour’ Virgin videos were released, I like many, was in the queue on release day with many around me extolling the virtues of the ‘new’ films. Perhaps they were just ‘in the zone’ at the time, but I mean, reflections in the mirrors in Mickey Finn’s palace were still black and white! What was that about? But I also recall being a little underwhelmed, the expectations of a ‘colour’ film I had in my mind had not quite been met, but many around me were blown away, so I thought it must just have been me.
Youtube laurel and hardy movies movie#
There’s no better way to enjoy the boys’ antics as you know, and as usual I loved the movie and laughed harder than usual. Well, I do remember thoroughly enjoying being in a crowd of like-minded ‘Sons’ to watch Laurel and Hardy on the big screen. Just how good would this be? Would the images be sharp and well defined? How many colours would be used? Would ‘Colorization’ open up a new market of younger fans? The list of questions was endless and I do recall being somewhat nervous as the lights went down. The ‘Colorized’ FilmsĪnyway, that opportunity came just over a year later at the UK Laurel and Hardy Convention in Blackpool over the May Bank Holiday weekend in 1986 when well over a hundred of us sat down in the ‘cinema’ in Pontins eagerly anticipating the first dawn of this new world.
Read on, there are many more of these splendid images below….