Directors want classics ‘saved’

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 15

Directors want classics ‘saved’

■ From Robin Charteris in London British film directors -want the Government to stop classic black and * white British films being . converted to colour for : television. ■ Two Hollywood-based companies have begun using computer methods to ’ "paint in” colour to black and white films in the United States. - The Directors’ Guild of - Great Britain fears the

practice will extend across the Atlantic and has launched a campaign for Government legislation to stop it. Britain’s most prominent directors have signed a statement urging the Government to legislate before it is too late to save such films as “The Third Man,” "Citizen Kane,” “Brief Encounters,” “High Noon,” “On The Waterfront,” “Les Enfants du Paradis” and "The Bicycle

Thieves.” They argue that the Government, together with film specialists, should draw up a list of films to be protected from future interference. The statement is signed by Lindsay Anderson, John Boorman, Roy Boulting, Roland Joffe, Michael Winner, Fred Zinnemann, John Schlesinger, Stephen Frears, Hugh Hudson, Karel Reisz, Alan Parker and, Ridley Scott.