Technicolor’s first processes used just two colors.
This meant only a limited part of the color spectrum could be reproduced.
Red and green were chosen as the component colors
because Technicolor wanted to prioritize accurate skin tones and foliage.
Certain colors such as blues, purples and yellows
could not be reproduced properly.
But if the colors in front of the camera were carefully controlled
stunning results could still be obtained.
The company’s first process was unveiled in 1917
with the feature length demonstration film, The Gulf Between.
The process required a special camera and proprietary projector
which ran black and white film screened through color filters.
The additive projection used two adjustable lenses
to line up the color records on the screen.
This process worked in the laboratory
but proved too complex for commercial use.
When shown to the public in 1917, the projection repeatedly failed
producing prominent color distortions on screen.
After this disappointment Technicolor retreated from the public eye
to work on an entirely new camera and new printing process.
The improved camera was invented by Joseph Arthur Ball
and utilized a refined prism design, with red and green filters.
Between 1921 and 1930, more than forty of these cameras were made.
The first twelve of these cameras were manufactured
by the Waltham Machine Company in Massachusetts
while the later ones were made by the Mitchell Camera Corporation in California.
From the outside it looked like an ordinary black and white camera
but it was about a third larger.
Extra space was required inside for the beam-splitting prism behind the lens
which separated the incoming light down two paths.
A red record and a green record were recorded simultaneously onto black and white film.
The film was then advanced two frames and the same process was repeated.
This meant twice as much film was exposed as normal
and the camera had to run twice as fast.
These two records were vertically inverted or flipped on the film, foot-to-foot.
When the prints were made, the two-color records on the camera negative
were printed onto two separate strips of film.
The silver in the image was then removed
and the two strips were glued together back-to-back or cemented.
The glue was actually more like a solvent, which, when carefully applied
melded the films together very strongly.
Each side of this double coated film was then dyed the corresponding color.
The green record was dyed red, then the film was turned over
and the red record was dyed green.
This created a subtractive color print because it removed
parts of the spectrum from the projector’s light
instead of adding the color records together as Technicolor’s first process had done.
And unlike the first additive system, the resulting film prints
could now be shown in any standard film projector, anywhere in the world.
The first film shot and released in this process was the self-produced feature
The Toll of the Sea, from 1922
starring Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong.
Although the results achieved with cemented printing generally looked great
and were frequently praised, there were a number of inherent technical problems.
Because these prints had emulsion on both sides, and were thicker
they were more vulnerable to scratching, which appeared either red or green on screen.
And these prints also had a tendency to warp and buckle
making them harder to keep in focus.
As a result, many prints had to be recalled to Technicolor’s Boston lab for reconditioning
which cost Technicolor a lot of money.
This problem was most apparent during the release of
Douglas Fairbanks’s The Black Pirate in 1926
and it damaged Technicolor’s reputation.
It wasn’t until the dye transfer printing process was introduced
that these technical issues were finally overcome.
From an archival perspective today these cemented prints can be quite problematic.
The green dye has a tendency to fade over time, leaving just an orange or red image.
Photochemical duplication and digital technologies can correct for some of this dye loss
but sadly the original colors of a faded cemented print cannot be fully recovered.