I was curious about the history of color cinema.
Brief Summary:
They started with hand coloring of negatives in the 1900-1915 period, then gradually moved to the two color (red and green) process, which was naturalistic, but lacking the third color that would give a full color range.
Some 2 color movies:
The Black Pirate 1926: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWY4_6emHz8
Vikings 1928: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lclmtdq9JU
Something strange from a 1930 color movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9YEelZSuTc
In 1932 Disney made the first full-range 3 color film, a cartoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BniCEQO1X2s
Since Disney bought exclusive rights to full color for 3 years, the first live action color film was delayed until 1935, Becky Sharp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpzVU7p6afE This was an expensive filming system and required very bright (and hot) sets.
The development of both the 2 and 3 color systems was led by Technicolor, founded in 1914. The Depression delayed color development by several years, since the film industry was less flush and more risk averse. The last American Technicolor film was The Godfather II, 1974. China operated its own Technicolor film production until the 1990s. They were the last. Many people, including me, think Technicolor had a unique look, a special level of saturation, not achieved with other technologies. It was obsoleted mainly because it took too long to produce film reels for thousands of theaters.
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