Legend Films
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Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the restoration and colorization of classic black and white films for DVD, HDTV and theatrical release. Legend also produces the DVD, designs the packaging and menus, and creates all value-added materials, including interviews and commentary from the original cast and crew when possible. Their primary goal is to make their attempts look as realistic as possible, in addition to letting viewers choose between the original black and white and new colorized versions without changing discs. The company has also created color effects for recent films, such as Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.
However, the company is best known for their cult film series, originally sub-titled Off Color Films. The company released three films under the Off Color Films banner: Reefer Madness, Night of the Living Dead, and Carnival of Souls. In 2005, the series became known only as Legend's cult film series. While House on Haunted Hill and Plan 9 from Outer Space have an Off Color Films logo on their back covers, the DVDs themselves did not have the logo animation prefacing the menu. Starting with The Little Shop of Horrors, all references to Off Color Films were removed, and the separate website for Legend's cult titles became non-operational. Legend continues to release titles in their cult films series without the Off Color Films banner. The discs in the series include audio commentary by comedian Michael J. Nelson as a primary special feature.
In 2006, Nelson was appointed Chief Content Producer. He will be responsible for building and leading the company's creative content, providing on-going commentaries and developing other premium web-based programming. "Mike Nelson is an outstanding addition to Legend Films," said David G. Martin, CEO of Legend Films. "His experience, vision and skills will be an important asset to the company as we continue to build our entertainment library."[1] One of the projects that Nelson and Legend Films put together was RiffTrax, a website offering the purchase of downloadable audio commentaries. The first commentary made available through the service was for Road House.[2] Legend Films has also released a colorized Three Stooges DVD which includes wraparound introductions by Mike and fellow Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast members Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, as The Film Crew.
Currently, Legend Films is releasing about two films a month. The company's partners include Ray Harryhausen, Shirley Temple, Jane Russell and Terry Moore. President Barry Sandrew hopes to increase the output to another film per month in the next year. But while the company has plenty of films to colorize, he insists there are some black and white films that should stay that way. "I certainly would not colorize films like Citizen Kane and others that were intentionally shot in black-and-white. But where budgetary or technical constraints prevented the use of color film, we can now show everyone how these movies were truly meant to be."[3] "There are some films I would say no to colorizing. Unless the original creative people participated in the color design."[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Legend Films, Inc. (July 10, 2006). "Michael J. Nelson Named Producer at Legend Films". PR Newswire. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
- ^ RiffTrax. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
- ^ Tinted Love, The Boston Globe, June 24, 2006.
- ^ "San Diego: film colorization capital of the world" (January 9, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
[edit] External links
- The Legend Films Official Website
- The color of money - An article on Barry Sandrew, president of Legend Films.
- San Diego: film colorization capital of the world - an article on Legend Films.
- Tinted Love - An article on Legend Films with positive quotes about colorization from such Hollywood icons as Shirley Temple Black, Jane Russell, Ray Harryhausen and Terry Moore.
- A newer look for older films - an article on Legend Films.
