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SPECIAL OFFER

When Technicolor Died - How Hollywood Coped
Back in 2008, the National Film and Sound Archive issued the last of the somewhat ill-fated
series of its Journal, Vol. 3, Nos. 2-3. The heyday of the ‘curatorial’ approach to managing
the Archive came to an end with a solid long article by Russell Merritt, adjunct professor at
University of California, Berkeley.

In this double-size issue, ‘Crying in Colour’ shows how Hollywood handled the post-1950s
emergence of new colour stocks. They were cheaper and more simple to use than traditional
big-studio Technicolor had been, but Merritt does not offer a tale of woe. He shows that the
principles of design in colour were further developed in that decade.
Films cited are Prince Valiant, Rear Window, Life with Father, The Robe, King Solomon’s
Mines, A Star is Born, Leave Her to Heaven, East of Eden, Moulin Rouge and quite a few
more. No less than sixty colour illustrations bring out Merritt’s theses about the principles
of colour design not only in Hollywood but in the wider world of advertising.

Finally, Merritt promises to tell us about the use of colour in the smash hits of the fifties by
Vincente Minnelli and Douglas Sirk, giants of melodrama that they were. But alas, the next
issue was not to be. Paolo Cherchi Usai went off to direct the Haghe Film Foundation in
the Netherlands. The Archive never published the second instalment of Merritt’s long article.
Offer to Contributors

The first four people who write in to Reel Deals with further information (preferably in
publishable form) about colour film as experienced by collectors are welcome to claim a
copy of the Crying in Colour issue. Just ask.

Offer and idea by David Donaldson ph 08 8267 5069

16mm for trade (condition reports available upon request):

Circle of Deceit (Die Falschüng) (1981, Bruno Ganz, Hanna Schygulla, In German, no Subs
Come see the Paradise (1990, Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono – Excellent print!)
Crucible 1996, Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield – Excellent print)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984, Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan –
(not scope) – Very good)
Julia (1977, Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards) – (Excellent print)
Quatermass and the Pit (5 million years to earth) (1967, James Donald, Andrew Keir, (fading)
Romeo+Juliet (1996, Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo) (Very good print)
Speed (1994, Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock) (Excellent print)
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928, Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence) (Needs checking)
Contact:
Ole Sundsby (0457 543 326 / sundsby@gmail.com)

Reel Deals - 9 - March 2014