#Wonderful life black movie#

ItвЂ™s a Wonderful LifeВ ended up being a large part of this campaign, bringing in the involvement of its star, James Stewart. Several legendary filmmakers, performers, and critics began to campaign against commercial giants like Ted Turner and their ability to cheaply colorize films for profit. Others soon opposed the colorization of classic films.

For a moment in time, it seemed like the version that people watched more frequently and remembered, as years went by, was the poorly colorized variant and not the original version that Capra worked so hard to make.

#Wonderful life black movie#

Hal Roach Studios released the first color version of the movie in 1986. This did not result in preventing color versions from being made, however. Outraged, Capra began campaigning against the colorization of ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life. He signed on to help finance the colorization of ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life with Colorization Inc., but once the company realized the movie was considered to be in the public domain at the time, they ultimately refused to allow Capra any artistic control over the process and returned his investment money. It also was a way for companies to then own the color version of the film without needing to buy any rights to use the black & white original.ДЇrank Capra was originally on board with the colorization of his films as long as he had a say in how it was done. In 1986, colorization became the en vogue way of cashing in on nostalgia for Old Hollywood films while keeping up with audiencesвЂ™ desire for color movies. The public domain allowed for widespread exposure to ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life, but it almost ruined the reputation that it had gained over the previous 30 years. People began to appreciate the movie and develop a real love for it. With each year, more and more viewers would tune in, and more stations began to play it. This kept the cultural knowledge of the movie alive. People of all generations began to watch ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life regularly because it was on all the time. Back then, television stations capitalized on films being in the public domain to fill programming time, which resulted in renewed interest in many classic movies. The movie fell into the public domain in the 1970s thanks to a clerical error. Thanks to its interesting preservation story, though, it became something much more. At the time, it seemed like a movie that would fade into oblivion for everyone but die-hard movie fans. The movie also lost every Oscar it was nominated for - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Recording, and Best Actor, for James Stewart (though the RKO Effects Department received a Technical Achievement Oscar for developing a new kind of fake snow). ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Life notoriously performed poorly at the box office during its initial theatrical run. But as we look back at how it got there, and at the work needed to restore the movie for its 75th anniversary, itвЂ™s clear that time can both make a classic and contribute to its deterioration. In the decades since its release, Frank CapraвЂs 1946 feature has grown into something that feels permanent in our culture. Every year around Christmastime, we return to reexperience George BaileyвЂ™s emotional story no matter how many times weвЂ™ve seen it before. For millions of people, ItвЂ™s a Wonderful Lifeis not just a movie, itвЂ™s a tradition.