Hi, board! Could any of you possibly tell me whether there was ever a black-and-white version of this film released to theatres, or to television in the post-B&W era? I can see from the credits that this is in Technicolor, but my aunt swears she originally saw it in black-and-white! (She also said that, no, she wasn't watching a B&W TV set at the time!) Thanks for any information! :)
shareCan't give you a definitive answer, but ...
I'm 60 and saw this movie when I was fairly young - a kid.
In my mind, I think of it as being B&W - pretty sure I saw it on TV.
I remember wishing we had a color TV. Not to put down your aunt, but I bet when this film came out - released to TV broadcast, the majority of TVs were still B&W.
I also remember seeing it in b&w when I was a kid in the 50's but I think it was
probably on TV---maybe on the Million Dollar Movie.
B&W on Million Dollar movie in NYC.
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Just watching it now on my DVR, the August 13, 2010 TCM broadcast, and Robert Osborne specifically said in his intro that the film was shot in Technicolor. If a studio went to the huge expense of shooting in Technicolor, I seriously doubt that there was an alternate black and white version printed.
shareActually it was not unheard of for B&W prints of color-sourced films to be released to television, especially in the 1960's when the majority of the tv sets were not color units.
Film stock costs money and B&W stock is cheaper needless to say. If 80% of the potential audience would only be seeing it in B&W, well you get the idea.
Some 1960's tv shows- "The Time Tunnel" in particular- were only broadcast in B&W though originally filmed in color. The dvds for "The Time Tunnel" are vibrant color which had never been seen before the dvd release!
Some studios made reissue prints of color movies in black and white, usually to be part of a double feature. When I saw this movie in a theatre in the 70's, it was in black and white.
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