Technicolor film

Classics from the time when colour on film glistened like wet paint.

A recent book and a film series at the Museum of Modern Art explores the contributions Technicolor made to filmmaking.

In a world where flipping our images between color and black and white is as simple as the click of the mouse, photographers and cinematographers today aren’t often tasked with knowing the complexity of how those vibrant colors actually come into existence. But in the early days of cinema, when competing processes for color reproduction took turns as the next best innovation,

It’s not exaggerating to say that Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s garishly colorful 1948 melodrama The Red Shoes is one of the most influential movies ever made. Its influence is especially important because the film has been cited as a primary inspiration for a breathtaking variety of iconic 20th century artists –– everyone from Martin…

COLORS Douglas Sirk's WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956)

liza en X: "i wish movies still looked like this https://t.co/OIz0mloLn6" / X

Old Technicolor Logo

Shot of Niagara, anyone? As a film it's famous for all sorts of reasons – a film noir in Technicolor, Marilyn Monroe’s first star billing, the use of Niagara Falls as a set backdrop. On the other hand it isn't famous for being a good film. Even its stoutest supporters struggle to defend it, largely because it starts off as one thing and then fails to follow through on what looks like a delicious promise. Two couples at Niagara Falls, famous for its honeymooners. First we meet the…