The First Movie In Color Is Not The One You Think

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As a cinephile with a deep affection for cinema history, I can confidently say that the misconception about the first color film being “The Wizard of Oz” is as enduring as Dorothy’s journey to Oz itself. It’s a testament to the timeless appeal of this classic movie that it might be the oldest color film many people remember, overshadowing the lesser-known but historically significant films that came before.

A widespread misunderstanding regarding cinema history is that color film was developed in the 1930s. This misconception arises due to the fact that many iconic early color cinematography pieces are from the late 1930s or later, and black and white films remained more prevalent than their colored counterparts until the 1960s.

If asked about the first color movie, many people might guess “The Wizard of Oz” from 1939, a well-known and influential film that had quite a challenging production process. However, achieving the level of color quality seen in The Wizard of Oz took several decades of progressive technological advancements, with these improvements happening even before synchronized sound became widely used.

Movie enthusiasts, even those aware that “The Wizard of Oz” wasn’t the first colored film, may find it challenging to identify the true pioneer due to their limited exposure to old British documentary shorts.

Why everyone thinks The Wizard of Oz was the first color movie

If “The Wizard of Oz” had been the initial film to employ color, it would have left audiences spellbound by its groundbreaking presentation. The memorable shift from Dorothy’s monochrome home into the vividly colored realm of Oz (“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”) serves as an excellent illustration of how color can significantly elevate a narrative through artistic means.

For those who believe that “The Wizard of Oz” is the initial colored movie, it could very well be the oldest colored film they’ve encountered – due to its status as a timeless children’s tale and frequent television favorite, it has remained in public awareness more than possibly any other 1930s film. Another fantasy musical with color footage from the same era that may challenge “Oz” in terms of enduring popularity could be Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” a classic from 1937 that introduced the concept of Disney princesses. Walt Disney was one of the pioneers in using three-strip Technicolor; his 1932 short “Flowers and Trees” was the first commercial release to demonstrate this technology.

Other films in color prior to “The Wizard of Oz” that you may recognize include the 1938 swashbuckling masterpiece “Robin Hood’s Adventures” and the 1932 chilling movie “Doctor X,” famously referenced in the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature” from the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” However, the use of color in films predates even Technicolor.

What was the actual first movie in color?

In reality, numerous motion pictures from the silent period were displayed in color; however, the majority of these films weren’t actually filmed in color. The French filmmaker Georges Méliès, renowned for developing many early special effects techniques in movies such as “A Trip to the Moon” (1902), had a team of 220 women manually painting each frame of his films. Even silent movies and some initial sound films without such intricate painting processes often used dyeing to give their images various hues.

The first process for filming motion pictures in color was patented by British inventor Edward Raymond Turner in 1899. Alternating between red, green, and blue filters and combining frames to create full-color images, it proved too cumbersome for commercial use. After Turner’s death in 1903, George Albert Smith created a simplified two-color process (using only red and green) dubbed Kinemacolor in 1906.

Experiments with Kinemacolor films started in 1906, featuring titles like “Tartans of Scottish Clans” and “Two Clowns”. The official debut of Kinemacolor took place on May 1, 1908, followed by the first public showings on February 26, 1909. Among the early Kinemacolor shorts produced in 1908, “A Visit to the Seaside” (depicted above), a casual look at women at the beach, is often noted as the first one to be distributed.

How color has changed in filmmaking and why it’s important

Kinemacolor’s additive color process required special projectors to screen, and it fell out of popularity by 1915. Technicolor soon supplanted it as the go-to process for color film. Technicolor Process 1, invented in 1916, was an additive two-strip process akin to Kinemacolor, using a beam-splitter behind the camera lens to film the red and green images. In 1922, Technicolor Process 2 switched from an additive to a subtractive color model. Due to technical limitations and high expenses, few features were filmed entirely with Process 2, but many black and white films, including the 1920s versions of “Ben-Hur” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” had select color sequences.

1928 marked the invention of Technicolor Process 3, which resolved some technical issues from its predecessor, sparking a modest resurgence in color films. However, it was Technicolor Process 4, also known as three-strip Technicolor, that made waves in 1932 by introducing blue to the previously used red and green tones, resulting in a rich spectrum of colors. In 1935, “Becky Sharp” became the first full-length live-action film shot entirely with Technicolor. Three-strip Technicolor yielded spectacular results, as evidenced by the cinematography in films like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “The Red Shoes.” Despite its impressive outcomes, three-strip Technicolor remained costly and complex to use, so it was mainly utilized for grand productions.

In 1950, the development of Eastmancolor marked a significant advancement in the art of filmmaking by simplifying the process of shooting in color. This innovation enabled a broad spectrum of colors to be captured on a single roll of film, eventually leading color films to surpass black and white as the predominant format.

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2024-12-14 18:30