Colorized ‘Casablanca’ Coming Soon to Home Video

Would you paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa? Or resculpt Michaelangelo’s David to add muscle tone? Or colorize “Casablanca”?

That’s a version of a popular quiz offered by outraged purists opposed to computerized colorization of black-and-white film classics. Mona Lisa and David are safe from alteration, but “Casablanca” isn’t.

“Casablanca” has been colorized. This version, which recently debuted on national TV, will be available Tuesday for the first time on home video (MGM/UA, $79.95). The black-and-white original was released to home-video years ago.

The 1942 film, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, is regarded as one of the two or three greatest romantic dramas in movie history. Set in Nazi-occupied Casablanca, it’s about a rekindled romance between nightclub-owner Rick (Bogart) and Ilse (Bergman), who’s married to French resistance leader Victor (Henreid).

Tampering with “Casablanca,” purists charge, is sacrilege. But millionaire entrepreneur Ted Turner, who owns the rights to this and many other film classics, can do whatever he wants with them--unless the director’s contract forbids alterations.

If you’re one of millions who’re used to seeing “Casablanca” in black-and-white, the color may be a bit unsettling--simply because it changes the feel of the movie. But many won’t be disturbed by the change. That’s the crowd MGM/UA is courting.

“There are people who’ve never seen it or who don’t like black-and-white movies,” argued MGM/UA senior vice president Herb Fischer. “Colorization makes the movie accessible to a new audience. For one thing, lots of young people have never seen it. They’ve grown up on color movies and are more likely to be comfortable with a color movie.”

So far, video retailers haven’t ordered many copies of the colorized version. Fischer wouldn’t reveal figures but indicated that only a few thousand had been sold to retailers and distributors. “It’s what we expected, considering the price,” he said.

That $79.95 price is a mystery. Usually such a high price is reserved for new movies sold to retailers as rentals. But old movies are usually introduced in the $20 to $30 range--a price appealing to collectors.

The high pricing decision, said Steve Chamberlain, vice president of Turner Home Entertainment, was made by Turner himself.

The reason? “He doesn’t have to give any,” Chamberlain said. “He’s the boss.”

The high price isn’t the only factor slowing sales to retailers. Some, such as Meir Hed, co-owner of the local Videotheque chain, won’t stock it on principle.

“Colorization is offensive,” he said. “Many of my customers are film lovers who’d be offended by it. You can’t duplicate original colors with this process. It destroys what the director intended to do with black-and-white. It’s wrong. I won’t support it.”

Echoing the argument of film purists, Hed added: “If they can colorize, they could do something like dub in a voice in some classic movies because they think another voice sounds better. They can make all sorts of changes. If they get away with colorization, where will it end?”

Such protests aren’t having an impact at Turner, however. Colorization--which, Chamberlain said, costs about $200,000 per movie--won’t go away for a simple reason: It’s profitable. “There’s usually an even split in the orders--half for black-and-white and half for color,” Chamberlain said. “People think colorized videos don’t sell well, but they do.”

So far the home video market hasn’t been flooded with colorized movies. According to Chamberlain, there are about 20 colorized titles on home video, selling for $20 to $30. Turner has 15 of these titles, including “The Maltese Falcon,” “Dark Victory,” “White Heat” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

The home-video profits from colorized classics tend to trickle in slowly. According to Fischer, the colorized “Yankee Doodle Dandy” is a big seller, at about 20,000 copies, which is a pittance next to the 400,000 to 500,000 units sold of the average hit movie. The classics, though, sell steadily.

“A lot of current hit movies are hot for a few months and have very little life after that,” Fischer said. “Something like ‘Casablanca’ will sell forever. That’s why marketing the classics is good business.”

After 9 to 12 months on the market, the price of the colorized “Casablanca” will drop to the $20-$30 range, matching the cost of the black-and-white version, Fischer predicted. “We’ll sell a lot more then,” he said.

So far, Turner has colorized more than 100 movies. “Citizen Kane” was scheduled for colorization, but a clause in director Orson Welles’ contract--one that’s rare in directors’ contracts--forbids creative tampering.

The next colorized movie scheduled for release--this time on Turner Home Entertainment--is “King Kong,” later this month.