‘Colorizing’ Black-and-White Movies

No wonder all demagogues use the Big Lie technique. Look where it’s gotten the Directors’ Guild--which has apparently persuaded even your editorial writer that the old black-and-white versions of movies are in jeopardy once a colored version has been made available. Bull!

I’m a big old-time movie buff, and I’ve had no difficulty finding the original uncolored versions of the newly colored oldies at my video rental store. Also, I still see announcements of showings of the old black-and-white classics at local art houses. I know that no black-and-white film is ever colored (and only film is shown in movie houses), and that, on tape, the original black-and-white versions are available alongside the colored versions.

I’m grateful for that, but I’m also grateful that my kids, my husband, and many of my friends, have the choice of seeing these golden oldies in color. They love the colored versions and maybe they’ll get interested in the originals too. Meanwhile, they’re getting to view some great entertainment that they’d otherwise have missed.

“Choice� is the issue here, not “Mammon� and not “art.�

ROSE MILLER

Santa Monica