Glorious Technicolor (1998)

The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.

Director:

Peter Jones

Writers:

Fred Basten (book), Peter Jones

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, Esther Williams, Arlene Dahl

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela Lansbury	...	Narrator (voice)
Esther Williams	...	Herself
Arlene Dahl	...	Herself
Evelyn Keyes	...	Herself
John Alton	...	Himself - Cinematographer (archive footage)
Jack Cardiff	...	Himself - Cinematographer
Vittorio Storaro	...	Himself - Cinematographer
Eugen Sandow	...	Himself (archive footage)
Annabelle Moore	...	Herself - Dancer (archive footage) (as Annabelle)
Cammie King Conlon	...	Herself - Step-daughter of Dr. Herbert Kalmus
Richard J. Goldberg	...	Himself - Dr., Technicolor research scientist 1953-65
Robert Gitt	...	Himself - Preservationist, UCLA Film and Television Archive (voice)
Fred Basten	...	Himself - Author of 'Glorious Technicolor'
Douglas Fairbanks	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ron Jarvis	...	Himself - President, Technicolor Worldwide Filmgroup

Storyline

The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.

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Plot Keywords:

color | photography | film history | filmmaking | image processing | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 1998 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Peter Jones Productions, Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released on the 2003 DVD of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

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Goofs

The documentation neglects to mentioned that Suspiria was the last film to use the 3-strip Technicolor process.

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Connections

Features Words and Music (1948)

User Reviews

GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR (TV) (Peter Jones, 1998) ***

This 1-hour documentary details the history of this most famous of color processes, still considered the most satisfying - and durable - ever devised for purposes of filming. It also provides biographical data about the two people most important for its development and promotion - Dr. Herbert Kalmus and his wife Natalie; their thorny relationship and hers with the various studio bosses, when she eventually took Technicolor under her wing, is a great story in and of itself...but the documentary pays tribute as well to the many film-makers and auteurs who adopted the color system as their ideal mode of expression. There is a bit of an over-insistence on musical extravaganzas of the 1940s and 1950s but, then, it also affords reasonable time to classic illustrations of Technicolor on the screen - in particular, GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) and other David O. Selznick productions - and even touches upon how it fared in other countries, primarily Great Britain (where the process was perhaps seen at its best advantage in the idiosyncratic visions of The Archers' films).