I've had mixed feelings about this...while I feel that black and white certainly brings a lot of atmosphere to these old horror films, after seeing some behind-the-scenes color footage of Boris Karloff from Son of Frankenstein, I can't help but wonder how all the Universal Monster films would look in color. I think they would be as much fun to see as the colorful covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Of course, the black and white versions must never be replaced, but I still would like to see colorized versions just once.
Yes I'd be interested. It's not like we can't see the B & W version. That's the original release anyway. Natural curiosity eats at me and would like to see it in color. Just by having a colored edition doesn't mean that the all B & W versions will be destroyed. I don't see the problem with it and I hope it does get a color treatment.
When the Invisible Man was film, they had not color. On the movie set, everthing was set up for black and white. The shadows and the highlight of the lighting. Right to a tee. All of that is lost, when you put the movie in color, because other objects take on a brighter light and shawdows intended to give maxium atmospheric effect, lose there effectiveness.
So now. Keep the movie the way it was intended to be shown.
Well they did have the two-strip Technicolor process in 1933 (see films like The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) and Dr. X (1932)) as it was invented in 1922 (although Process 1 was around since 1917). That's just for accuracy. However everything you said about how this movie's lighting was masterfully designed for black and white is spot on. The lighting contrast is an element of the story almost as important as the dialog itself. I don't understand why anyone would want to see this in faux color ... it would be like re-dubbing all the actors with American accents - or something as silly as that. That said I love Technicolor movies from the 1930s (like The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - its restoration is remarkably sharp and vibrant - especially on Blu).
"You want to save humanity but it's people that you just can't stand". - John Lennon