Interesting story!
I must admit, I do like the colorized version of Laurel and Hardy’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers” and even the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol,” but “It’s a Wonderful Life” always looked awful to me in color - cartoonish.
To each his own, I guess.
IIRC the movie was "Babes in Toyland" and was an early Technicolor release.
Since I see you're both fans of Christmas Carol, I'd like to suggest a lesser known 1997 version with Patrick Stewart and Joel Grey amongst others.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216621/
As you said, cvq, to each his own, but in my eyes, this movie is perfection from start to finish. The acting, the costumes, the cinematography, the music, absolutely breath-taking. And the role of “Fred” (Scrooge's nephew) played by Dominic West a small but memorable part is incredible. At the risk of sounding sappy, I actually looked up this guy's other roles to see what else he was in.
I won't suggest you buying a copy from Amazon, like I did, but if you happen to see it while flipping around next year, consider giving it a watch.
They never seemed to get the colorization on their teeth and they remained grey. Creeped me out.
Topper is okay in color.