- Black-and-white and color versions of It's a Wonderful Life are currently being offered on Amazon Prime Video.
- On Twitter, many folks are shunning the colorized version, claiming that adding color "ruins" the iconic Christmas film.
- In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, two actors from It's a Wonderful Life, Karolyn Grimes and Jimmy Hawkins, weigh in on the color vs. black-and-white debate.
Since It's a Wonderful Life was released in 1946, viewers have enjoyed watching the tale of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) during the holiday season. But many fans who are used to seeing the original black-and-white film are just now discovering that there's also a colorized version of It's a Wonderful Life — and they're not exactly thrilled with it.
Of course, colorized versions of It's a Wonderful Life are nothing new. In 1986, Hal Roach Studios released the motion picture in color, followed by Republic Pictures in 1989 and Legend Films in 2007. Still, many are recently finding out about It's a Wonderful Life in color thanks to Amazon, which is currently offering Prime Video subscribers the chance to watch the movie both ways.
Given the tremendous love many have for It's a Wonderful Life, it's understandable that folks have varying opinions about the newer version. Though some seemed excited about watching the iconic movie in color for the first time, others expressed shock, disappointment, and even anger.
"Watching It's a Wonderful Life remastered in color.. feels like a CRIME," one fan tweeted. "How the h--l can anyone watch It's a Wonderful Life in color? This is classic, black and white only," another declared. "Just watched It’s A Wonderful Life in color for the first time and i’m happy to report: it ruins it, pls continue to watch it in black and white," a different fan said.
While not all fans appreciate the movie in color, Karolyn Grimes, 80, the actress who played Zuzu in the iconic film, is happy the movie got a vibrant makeover.
“I know that’ll kill a lot of people, but I love the color," she told Yahoo Entertainment earlier this year. "You know, when I filmed it, it was in color. It was real life. And that's how I remember my memories of making a film. It was real, not black and white. So for me, color gives it more reality."
That said, Karolyn's co-star, Jimmy Hawkins, who plays Tommy Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, finds himself agreeing with the black-and-white stalwarts.
"I like the black and white version, because that's the way it was shot and meant to be. The depths of the black and the white, a lot of work went into getting that look," the 79-year-old actor also told the publication, while clarifying that he still thinks the technology used to colorize the motion picture is "brilliant." The actor also revealed that when the late Jimmy Stewart himself saw earlier versions of the colorized film, he remarked that "it looked like Walt Disney threw up on it."
Strong feelings, indeed! But whether you find yourself on team color or team black and white, everyone can agree one one thing — the iconic movie will forever be an important part of the Christmas season.
