The Nation - News from June 30, 1988

The House voted 361 to 45 to approve a bill containing a provision allowing colorization of classic films as long as altered versions are clearly labeled. The measure received little discussion before passage, belying heated debate that surrounded the issue until Tuesday, when pro-colorization film industry leaders and representatives of the Directors’ Guild of America, which opposes such alteration of films, reached a compromise agreement. According to the agreement, which was immediately added to the House bill, a government-created National Film Preservation Board would designate as many as 25 films a year that could not be colorized unless labels were added to the film and their packaging alerting viewers that the film had been altered.