The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Henry wrote:This must be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, Technicolor films. It was filmed in the rather uncommon aspect ratio of 1.20:1, IOW 6:5. Most movies from the period are 1.37:1 (approx. 4:3) ratio.

2-strip Technicolor was first used in "The Gulf Between" in 1917 -- http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolo ... color1.htm -- but the earliest surviving all-Technicolor film is "Toll of the Sea" (1922) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013688/

You can watch a low quality version on Youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hwyxv-V0p4 (It screams for digital restoration.)

2-strip Technicolor scenes were used in dozens of silent films throughout the 1920s -- notably, "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Ben Hur". There were also a number of all-color sound features produced. My favorites include "Whoopie" (1930) and the "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933), which was the last feature film to use the 2-strip process.

I'm hoping that, some day, all of the 2-strip Technicolor films will be restored to their original glory. While no match for the 3-strip process, I think the "King of Jazz" restoration proves that they were far more colorful than we've known.

For comparison:

Two strip process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG4vdCvH1qs (1930)
Three strip process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxMVctFhO88 (1935)

O.F.

The topic of Technicolor® is indeed rather complex: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor . But one thing seems certain: when properly shot, processed, and stored, the latest iterations of the Technicolor process (chemically involving silver images) yield archival results. Ditto the late, lamented Kodachrome films. Try that on your computer in 50 years!

Henry wrote: Which restored Fox are you near? I'm a big fan of old theaters, including the movie palaces.

Here is a great source of images...
http://www.decopix.com/tucsons-art-deco-fox-theatre/

I received a reply today, they do not intend on showing the film because they believe it would not be well attended.

James.

Great theater! Thanks very much for the link.

OrthoFan wrote:

Henry wrote:This must be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, Technicolor films. It was filmed in the rather uncommon aspect ratio of 1.20:1, IOW 6:5. Most movies from the period are 1.37:1 (approx. 4:3) ratio.

2-strip Technicolor was first used in "The Gulf Between" in 1917 -- http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolo ... color1.htm -- but the earliest surviving all-Technicolor film is "Toll of the Sea" (1922) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013688/

You can watch a low quality version on Youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hwyxv-V0p4 (It screams for digital restoration.)

2-strip Technicolor scenes were used in dozens of silent films throughout the 1920s -- notably, "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Ben Hur". There were also a number of all-color sound features produced. My favorites include "Whoopie" (1930) and the "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933), which was the last feature film to use the 2-strip process.

I'm hoping that, some day, all of the 2-strip Technicolor films will be restored to their original glory. While no match for the 3-strip process, I think the "King of Jazz" restoration proves that they were far more colorful than we've known.

For comparison:

Two strip process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG4vdCvH1qs (1930)
Three strip process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxMVctFhO88 (1935)

O.F.

There's a better resolution copy of "Toll of the Sea" on YT: apparently, the restoration was done in the '80s.

That's amazing.

I'll be going to this:

https://www.facebook.com/events/188060468284659/

beaumonde wrote:I'll be going to this:

https://www.facebook.com/events/188060468284659/

Me too. Looking forward to it!

Dee

I've just seen that this restoration will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in March 2018!

Here's a link to the pre-order site on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Jazz-Criter ... 372&sr=8-1

I'm ordering mine!
Bob