Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert speak out against the colorization of black-and-white movies. Colorization, Inc. in Toronto and Color Systems Technology in Marina del Rey, California, are the major players. Ted Turner's Atlanta Superstation has a deal with the latter company to colorize the black-and-white Hollywood classics Turner now owns. Ebert shows clips from the color version of
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) that was recently shown on Turner's TBS station. Siskel reads off a memo written by Gene Allen, former president of the Motion Picture Academy and an award-winning art director, who accepted a position with Color Systems, saying that he had a unique opportunity to preserve George Cukor's original intentions as the company colorized
Camille (1936). They show colorized clips of various movies. The color bleeds in some clips. Others reveal outrageous gaffes: Frank Sinatra's blue eyes become brown in
Suddenly (1954). But Siskel says that arguing that the colorization process hasn't been perfected is a trap. Black-and-white photography is one of the great treasures of the motion pictures. He shows clips of color-era movies that were made in black-and-white, such as David Lynch's
The Elephant Man (1980). Roger Ebert demonstrates the impact of black-and-white by showing two scenes in a boxing ring: one from the color
Rocky IV (1985) and the other from the black-and-white
Raging Bull (1980). Ebert says that if anything, many movies would be improved by reversing the process. He shows a familiar clip from the color
Blazing Saddles (1974), only now it's in black and white.
—J. Spurlin