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CAPTION: Pioneer Pictures was formed in 1933 to exclusively make films using Technicolor’s new three-color process. After nearly two years of tests, Pioneer produced the first full-length Technicolor feature, Becky Sharp (1935), a version of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel, Vanity Fair. Courtesy of James Layton.

 

CAPTION: By the end of the 1930s, “Color by Technicolor” often outshone films’ titles on theatre marquees. Hollywood star Errol Flynn made national headlines with his promise to “make only Technicolor pictures.” George Eastman House. [Dodge City marquee]

 

CAPTION: The Wizard of Oz begins in Dorothy’s sepia tone Kansas town and bursts into color when a tornado whisks her to the Land of Oz. Many of the film’s memorable compositions, including the yellow brick road stretching toward a far-off Emerald City, were achieved by double-exposing live footage and Warren Newcombe’s matte paintings. Courtesy of Karl Thiede.

 

CAPTION: Many studios were intrigued by Technicolor’s potential but were initially cautious about fully adopting it. George Cukor’s otherwise black and white comedy, The Women (1939), featured a fashion show “color insert” designed by Adrian, whose ruby slippers also captivated audiences that year in The Wizard of Oz.

 

CAPTION: The Technicolor uniforms, aircraft, and regalia of Dive Bomber (1941) set the film’s patriotic tone and helped galvanize American audiences on the eve of World War II. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: “The Brazilian Bombshell” Carmen Miranda was a flamboyant presence in many of 20th Century-Fox’s musicals of the 1940s. The colors of her often over-the-top costumes were matched only by her own personality. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: Animation was one of the first genres to fully transition to color. After Disney’s exclusive deal expired, every major studio released its own Technicolor cartoon series. Universal distributed the popular Woody Woodpecker series created by Walter Lantz. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: At the end of the 1940s, an antitrust lawsuit challenged Technicolor’s dominance of the color film industry. The government’s ruling split up the “Technicolor package”—a combination of technology, equipment, and expertise provided to studios—and forced the company to share many of its patents. Here, Alfred Hitchcock directs his second Technicolor film, Under Capricorn (1949), alongside the company’s full-service crew. Courtesy of Mason Cardiff.

 

CAPTION: Gene Kelly was one of the biggest Technicolor stars of the 1940s, with major roles in Anchors Aweigh (1945), The Three Musketeers (1948), and On the Town (1949). He continued this string of successes in the early 1950s with An American in Paris (1951) and Singin’ In the Rain (1952), seen here. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: Though most Technicolor films of the 1950s were epics, adventures, and musicals, a number of smaller films also boasted “Color by Technicolor.” Even film noir, famous for its gritty black and white cinematography, got the Technicolor treatment in Niagara (1953), starring Marilyn Monroe. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: The “Technicolor look” underwent radical changes during the 1950s. Disenchanted with heavily saturated cinematography, many directors experimented with muted and expressionistic tones. John Huston led the way, filming Moulin Rouge (1952) in the palette used byof its subject, painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. George Eastman House.

 

CAPTION: Technicolor introduced its stereoscopic camera rig in 1953. That same year, 24 three-dimensional films were released in Technicolor prints. Comedy duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’s first color film, Money from Home (1953), was shot with an elaborate two-camera setup that exposed six strips of film simultaneously. George Eastman House.