Kodak 1922 Color Film Test
Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 11:47AM This little gem can be found on Kodak's Youtube feed. It's probably the oldest sample of color cinematography that most of us will ever see. There was plenty of experimentation with color in the early 20th Century, but the first feature-length color movie wasn't released until 1935 - 13 years after this test.
Early color film technology combined just two colors and didn't have anywhere near the range of what we have today but even in this primitive state, the celluloid image has something magical in it. I realize that part of this footage's beauty is in its age and antiquity, but there's something else to it too. There's a warmer, more natural feeling that I don't think you can replicate in digital. Absolutely gorgeous. I particularly love how the reds pop out at you.
Reader Comments (2)
There were a number of two-strip color features made, most famously "Toll of the Sea" in 1922. Look up Kinemacolor too.
Interesting. I stand corrected. I'm not sure where I got that date from now - Just a simple search shows it as incorrect. In fact I just read something saying "Toll of the Sea" was the eighth color feature. I think I may have been referring to the first completely 3 strip Technicolor feature, "Becky Sharp." I'm not really much of a film historian, I'm just kind of amazed by the stuff going on back in that era of experimentation.