A Call for Legal Action Against Film Alterations : Movies: Six prominent filmmakers join a N.Y. congressman in asking for warning labels if a film has been ‘colorized,’ ‘lexiconed’ or compressed.

Six prominent filmmakers joined Rep. Robert Mrazek (D-N.Y.) Thursday in calling for legislative action to discourage movie “colorizing,” “lexiconing,” time compression and other high-tech methods of altering their work.

Mrazek said that new legislation is needed to provide “a modest degree of protection to both film audiences and artists” who may not realize that changes have been made to a motion picture or who feel the changes adulterate the movie.

The Film Disclosure Act of 1991, co-sponsored by Reps. David Bonior (D-Mich.) and John Bryant (D-Tex.), would require warning labels disclosing any alterations to be displayed on videocassettes and at the start of feature films.

Directors Sydney Pollack, Milos Forman and Elliot Silverstein, producer Sheldon Leonard, cinematographer Alan Daviau and screenwriter Frank Pierson voiced their support for the measure at a Capitol Hill press conference arranged by Mrazek.

The issue of artists’ rights frequently has focused on “colorizing,” a high-tech process for introducing color to old black-and-white movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Casablanca” and “The Maltese Falcon.”

But the filmmakers gathered at the Capitol were especially concerned with techniques used to shorten feature-length films for broadcast on television. Mrazek’s legislation would discourage time compression, a technique used to speed up a movie, and “lexiconing,” a process of altering the soundtrack to match the shorter, compressed version.

“I fell in love with this country long before I set foot on its soil for two reasons: its jazz and its movies,” said Czechoslovakian-born Forman. “And the only audience in the world that doesn’t see movies the way they were made are Americans sitting at home in front of the television.”

Pollack argued that movies are the only art form that is unprotected by truth-in-labeling laws in this country.

The new legislation would require syndicators, distributors, networks and videocassette producers to make “a good-faith effort” to contact the artists and producers who made the original motion picture, or their heirs or professional guild, to find out whether there are any objections to changes made in subsequent versions of a movie. Any objection must be cited on the movie label.

The legislation would authorize stiff fines against film exhibitors who fail to comply with its provisions.