USA and UK use different colour standards and timebase synchronising speeds. USA NTSC @ 60Hz; UK PAL @ 50Hz.
That difference will cause both colour and speed incompatibilty playing back a USA recording on and old UK video recorder.
You will need a VCR with NTSC playback capability.
It will decode the colour correctly and also adjust the speed. You will also need a TV with NTSC or PAL 60 switching.
Most modern TV are NTSC and PAL compatible, an older TV may not be.
Some services are also available to convert for you. eg..
http://www.howtoconvert.co.uk/howpal602pal50.htm
Cobweb
November 2005