True Colours

It may come as a surprise to some people who know me, but I grew up watching Laurel & Hardy films.

To me, they are the best comedy double act ever.

And they can never be topped.

The reason why I am writing about them today is because I did something that I vowed I would never do.

But, to get to that story - I need to tell you what I bought.

In November of last year, I was on the Amazon.co.uk and a boxset of Laurel & Hardy feature length movies was on sale.

We already own a boxset featuring their short movies filmed at Hal Roach Studios so I thought I would buy myself the feature film boxset as an accompaniment.

So, it arrived and I decided to watch them when I was in the mood.

The mood arrived last week.

I turned the laptop on, inserted one of the DVDs and was met with a choice - did I want to watch the film in black & white or colour?

Back when we had the other boxset I vowed I would never watch the films in colour because, in my mind, it wasn't how they were meant to be viewed.

Curiosity got the better of me this time, though.

I chose full colour.

As I watched it, it crossed my mind that maybe releasing these films in colour wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Don't get me wrong, nine-and-a-half times out of ten, I will choose to view the films in black & white. However, as I watched the film in colour, realisation dawned in.

It's not for people like us, it's for the generations beyond.

The Laurel & Hardy magic can stay alive longer if new audiences are introduced to their work. Colour movies are more appealing than black & white.

It makes sense. Now.