They Shall Not Grow Old

[ER]

Peter Jackson's WW I film looks beyond amazing. I can't believe something like this has been made.

[indianasmith]

I've been watching the trailers; can't wait to see it!

[Trevor]

I have two problems with this film.

First of all, the title should read They Shall Grow Not Old from the Lawrence Binyon poem. Minor quibble.

As a film archivist, most importantly if a film is black and white, leave it like that! Digitize it, yes, clean it up, yes, preserve it, yes but don't colorize it! It looks terrible and more importantly, it is fake.

How did Sir Peter Jackson know what colour the soldiers' uniforms and other things were?

If a film's colour is fading, by all means restore the colour especially if you don't have any film masters.

Anyone seen the colorized version of Casablanca? Yuk. 

[Svengoolie 3]

I have two problems with this film.

First of all, the title should read They Shall Grow Not Old from the Lawrence Binyon poem. Minor quibble.

As a film archivist, most importantly if a film is black and white, leave it like that! Digitize it, yes, clean it up, yes, preserve it, yes but don't colorize it! It looks terrible and more importantly, it is fake.

How did Sir Peter Jackson know what colour the soldiers' uniforms and other things were?

One good possibility is they consulted military manuals of the day that specified colors and such.  Not being a snark here,  but if I had to do something like that I think i'd start that way. Museums might be another source.  Color paintings too.

[Trevor]

I have two problems with this film.

First of all, the title should read They Shall Grow Not Old from the Lawrence Binyon poem. Minor quibble.

As a film archivist, most importantly if a film is black and white, leave it like that! Digitize it, yes, clean it up, yes, preserve it, yes but don't colorize it! It looks terrible and more importantly, it is fake.

How did Sir Peter Jackson know what colour the soldiers' uniforms and other things were?

One good possibility is they consulted military manuals of the day that specified colors and such.  Not being a snark here,  but if I had to do something like that I think i'd start that way. Museums might be another source.  Color paintings too.

I didn't think of that.

I know my review is a bit harsh but as a film archivist, colorizing footage is the worst thing you can do with an archival film.

[RCMerchant]

I have two problems with this film.

First of all, the title should read They Shall Grow Not Old from the Lawrence Binyon poem. Minor quibble.

As a film archivist, most importantly if a film is black and white, leave it like that! Digitize it, yes, clean it up, yes, preserve it, yes but don't colorize it! It looks terrible and more importantly, it is fake.

How did Sir Peter Jackson know what colour the soldiers' uniforms and other things were?

One good possibility is they consulted military manuals of the day that specified colors and such.  Not being a snark here,  but if I had to do something like that I think i'd start that way. Museums might be another source.  Color paintings too.

I didn't think of that.

I know my review is a bit harsh but as a film archivist, colorizing footage is the worst thing you can do with an archival film.

I gotta go with Trevor on this. Colorizing an old film is like painting an antique wood chair.
And Trevor got it right. It's faked, in a way. Because-
For example! I've watched (badly) colorized old 3 Stooges and Laurel and Hardy shorts.
I'm thinking "how do they know wtf color hat guys pants were? Or that sign on the building?".
Plus, ah- it's like painting over a Da Vinci so the cracks don't show.

[indianasmith]

If it is done digitally, so that the original print is not damaged, I have no issue with it.

[RCMerchant]

Don't get me wrong!
I most certainly want to see this movie! I'm looking forward to it. 

[Trevor]

If it is done digitally, so that the original print is not damaged, I have no issue with it.

I agree there but colorization of b/w films like in the case of Casablanca and others makes me want to puke.

[ER]

Alongside the visuals something that impressed me was the fact lip readers were consulted to identify what the soldiers in the footage were saying, and their words were dubbed in, letting these long gone men speak to we  in their future. This act of restoring voice to the  departed excites me almost as much as anything I might see on-screen.

The First World War obsesses me. So horrible and tragic and possibly so pointless.

[Alex]

You should chat with Ginge. He is a fellow WW1 nerd, including dressing up in uniforms from that period and doing reenactments.

[Trevor]

Alongside the visuals something that impressed me was the fact lip readers were consulted to identify what the soldiers in the footage were saying, and their words were dubbed in, letting these long gone men speak to we  in their future. This act of restoring voice to the  departed excites me almost as much as anything I might see on-screen.

Adding sound in the form of sound effects and speech to a silent film is also an archival no-no. A company once did that with some of our Anglo-Boer War material: not good for business.