“Lab on Wheels”, Technicolor’s first lab circa 1916, was inside a Pullman railway car, so it could be rolled close to the set of “The Gulf Between”, Technicolor’s first film being shot in Jacksonville Florida.
A Technicolor Century
By GUIDO KONDRUSS
A
Above: A diagram of the prism and film advance assembly in the venerable Technicolor Three Strip Camera. Right: DP Douglas Koch csc with Technicolor three strip camera DF 22, Technoparc, Montreal, 2011
22 • Canadian Cinematographer - November 2015
s I sat in a darkened theatre, my anticipation was palpable. I was about to watch the classic 1952 song and dance movie Singin’ in the Rain. That in itself was not unusual, because I had seen the film before on television, and even as a 16 mm print back in my long gone university days. However, this showing was promising to be much different since the film was going to be projected from a restored 35 mm Technicolor print. I was not disappointed. Soon after the vibrant images splashed across the screen, I realized that I was not simply viewing a film, but experiencing it as it was meant to be experienced through its plush and intoxicating colour. Singin’ in the Rain was one of several Technicolor films screened in its original form this past summer at Toronto’s Bell Lightbox to commemorate the storied company’s centenary. In fact, it was exactly this month – on November 19 – in 1915 that The Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was established in Boston. “Technicolor grew out of the engineering research company founded by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Comstock and W. Burton Westcott,” Robert Hoffman, vice president, marketing and public relations, Technicolor Hollywood,
