How about a colorized version?

I'm glad somebody else already addressed the fact that this film could have been made in color at the time; that one was just ludicrous.

However, it's also pretty silly to think that colorization would show you the actual color of the sets and costumes, as if it suddenly restores the original color.

No, filming in black and white (well, grayscale, actually) removes all vestiges of color, thereby preventing us from ever knowing what color those sets and costumes actually were (not that it matters, since they weren't chosen for their color anyway, but rather for their textures on black and white film). Any colorization you've ever seen, of any film, is merely "made up" color...little more than treating a film as if it were a paint-by-numbers project from a dime store. (I'll grant that in some cases we do know what some of the colors were, but everything above still applies.)

What's more, what people don't seem to realize or give credit for is the fact that, regardless of the reasons for filming on one filmstock or another, the resulting film was specifically designed for that stock, and wouldn't have been made exactly as it was otherwise. In other words, whether the black and white was a conscious choice (as I'm sure it was in this case) or because of financial considerations, the director, the cinematographer, the art decorators, everyone involved with whatever film knew beforehand that it was being filmed in black and white (same with color films, for that matter) and made every decision regarding it accordingly. It's not like they just set the cameras up and rolled, regardless. This film, any film, would have been made entirely differently...different setups, different choices of costume and set decoration, probably entirely different scenes...if the decision had been to film in color instead of black and white (or vice-versa).

There's nothing wrong with black and white film (despite what people seem to think nowadays), it's wonderful for adding depth. Color film, on the other hand, needs to be lit in a different way and that depth is lost, sacrificed for the sake of color. Most filmmakers today would love to be able to film in black and white when they felt it appropriate, but very few have the clout to be able to get away with it. (You'll notice that Scorsese and Spielberg, to mention two, have pulled it off...or would you have us colorize "Raging Bull" or "Schindler's List," as well?)

Even if there were some way to actually restore the original colors to something filmed in black and white, that still wouldn't result in what the film would have been like had the intent been to film it in color in the first place. That's why "purists," and usually any people still around that were involved in the productions in the first place, usually are appalled at any attempts to colorize it.

You can wish all you like that the film had been made in color, but it wasn't. It is what it is, and no degree of colorization is suddenly going to magically transform it into what it would have been otherwise. If you appreciate a film at all, then stop trying to bastardize what the creators have given you by second-guessing them and "improving" it!

This film, and a lot of black and white films, are masterpieces, and deserve to be treated as such instead of like some fill-in-the-blanks cartoon.

[deleted]

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people are as to the history of film. "Colour wasn't possible"? You don't know much about old movies, do you? As pointed out, GWTW was filmed in colour, and it predates this movie. In some cases, using B&W was a financial choice--for a long time, colour was pretty expensive--but in many others, it was a choice based on style. Most noirs would be pretty awful in colour, for example.

The problem with colourization is twofold. For one, the colours are seldom applied well--an example that rather springs to mind is a Frank Sinatra movie my sister saw once in which the colourist had given him brown eyes. For another, it destroys the way the film actually was created while not, in general, improving it. A film shot in colour is filmed a certain way, and a film shot in B&W is filmed in another. And, of course, to the person who said that the colour palette must have been amazing, why would it? The colours were never intended to be shown. Indeed, in many cases, the colour palette was amazing because it was so awful; colours were chosen because of what shades of grey they make.

[deleted]