List of early color feature films

This is a list of early feature-length colour films (including primarily black-and-white films that have one or more color sequences) made up to about 1936, when the Technicolor three-strip process firmly established itself as the major-studio favorite. About a third of the films are thought to be lost films, with no prints surviving. Some have survived incompletely or only in black-and-white copies made for TV broadcast use in the 1950s.

Excerpt from the surviving fragment of With Our King and Queen Through India (1912), the first feature-length film in natural colour, filmed in Kinemacolor

Background

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The earliest attempts to produce color films involved either tinting the film broadly with washes or baths of dyes, or painstakingly hand-painting certain areas of each frame of the film with transparent dyes. Stencil-based techniques such as Pathéchrome were a labor-saving alternative if many copies of a film had to be colored: each dye was rolled over the whole print using an appropriate stencil to restrict the dye to selected areas of each frame. The Handschiegl color process was a comparable technique. Because transparent dyes did not impact the clarity or detail of the image seen on the screen, the result could look rather naturalistic, but the choice of what colors to use and where was made by a person, so they could be very arbitrary and unlike the actual colors.

Edward Raymond Turner's process, tested in 1902, was the first to capture full natural color on motion picture film, but it proved to be mechanically impractical. A simplified two-color version, introduced as Kinemacolor in 1909, was successful until 1915, but the special projector it required and its inherent major technical defects contributed to its demise. Technicolor, originally also a two-color process capable of only a limited range of hues, was commercialized in 1922 and soon became the most widely used of the several two-color processes available in the 1920s.

Beginning in 1932, Technicolor introduced a new full-color process, "Process 4", now commonly called "three-strip Technicolor" because the special camera used for live-action filming yielded separate black-and-white negatives for each of the three primary colors. The final print, however, was a single full-color strip of film that did not need any special handling. This became the standard process used by the major Hollywood studios until the mid-1950s.

List of films

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Year Title Country Color process Length Production company
1903 La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ   France Pathéchrome Pathé Frères
Extant. Also known as The Passion Play and Vie et Passion du Christ. Not released as a single feature, but as 32 individual shorts in three different groupings and shot at different times. Some scenes are partially hand colored (e.g. 98 min. copy on YouTube (with Dutch intertitles)). The later scenes feature different actors and costumes from the earlier scenes.[1] On DVD.
1909 Ukhar Kupets   Russia hand-colored Pathé Frères
Extant. Also known as The Dashing Merchant and The Happy-Go-Lucky Merchant. Not a feature film, since it only last 6 minutes.
1912 With Our King and Queen Through India   United Kingdom Kinemacolor 16,000 ft. Natural Color Kinematograph Company
First feature-length documentary capturing natural color rather than colorization techniques. The original footage ran for 2½ hours (16,000 ft.), presented in two different programmes. The main film of the Delhi Durbar itself was shot on 12 December 1911. The rest of the film was made in other locations in India up to 30 December 1911, of which only a ten-minute extract still exists. Released in UK on 2 February 1912.[2]
1912 Making of the Panama Canal   United States Kinemacolor 2 hours Kinemacolor Company of America
Most successful Kinemacolor documentary after With Our King and Queen Through India. The film was nine reels long and ran for 2 hours. It was also shown by Charles Urban in Britain. Only black and white stills remain.[3]
1912 The Miracle   United Kingdom Éclair process 7,000 feet Joseph Menchen (personal project)
First full-colour (hand-colored) dramatic feature film. Filmed in Austria in October 1912; hand-colored in Paris by seventy people;[4] UK release on 21 December 1912 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Original UK length 7,000 feet;[4] censored versions showed at 5,000 and 5,500 feet. Designed to be accompanied by score for full symphony orchestra and chorus by Engelbert Humperdinck. A B&W print of a cut version is extant, held at the CNC Archives, France. Available on YouTube and final scene only, with extracts of the score recorded in 1932.
1914 The World, the Flesh and the Devil   United Kingdom Kinemacolor Natural Color Kinematograph Company
First feature-length narrative film in natural color. Lost.
1914 Little Lord Fauntleroy   United Kingdom Kinemacolor Natural Color Kinematograph Company
Lost film. Only black and white stills remain.
1914/15 With The Fighting Forces of Europe   United Kingdom Kinemacolor c. 20,000 ft[5] Color Films Ltd.
Documentary film about the First World War, produced by Color Films Ltd., successor to the Natural Color Kinematograph Company. Some scenes were reused from the pre-war period, but many were shot during the war, particularly on the Western Front. The film was released shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914 and was constantly updated with new material until 1915. For this reason, the length of the film varied, with contemporary accounts reporting around 20,000 feet. The film has been lost.[6]
1915 Britain Prepared   United Kingdom Kinemacolor inserts Jury's Imperial Pictures
First British propaganda film. Extant.
1916 Joan the Woman   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts Famous Players–Lasky
Survives complete with color sequences. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. (Color was billed as the "DeMille-Wyckoff Process")
1917 The Gulf Between   United States Technicolor feature Technicolor Corporation
First American film shot in color. Lost film. Only a few frames from test prints, showing star Grace Darmond, have survived.
1917 The Devil-Stone   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts Famous Players–Lasky
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Only two reels survive in AFI collection at Library of Congress.
1918 Cupid Angling   United States Douglass Natural Color feature Douglass Natural Color Film Inc.
Lost film. Only feature film made in this process.
1918 Our Navy   United States Prizma feature Prizma
First feature film shot in Prizmacolor.
1920 Treasure Island   United States Hand coloring (Handschiegl?) Paramount Pictures
Lost film.
1920 Roman Candles   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts Cineart
Prints exist.
1920 Way Down East   United States Technicolor insert D.W. Griffith Productions
Extant in black-and-white only.
1921 Bali the Unknown   United States Prizma feature Prizma Inc.
Five-reel documentary opened 27 February 1921 at Capitol Theatre in NYC. Considered lost.[7]
1921 The Three Musketeers   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts United Artists
Restored in 2022.
1922 The Toll of the Sea   United States Technicolor feature 3190 ft. Technicolor / Metro Pictures
The first natural-color feature film made in Hollywood. The final two reels are apparently lost. Available on DVD.
1922 A Blind Bargain   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts 188 ft. Goldwyn Pictures
Lost film.
1922 The Glorious Adventure   United States/
  United Kingdom
Prizma feature United Artists
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton. Extant at the British Film Institute. On DVD.
1922 Flames of Passion   United Kingdom Prizma insert Astra Film
Directed by Graham Cutts. Lost film.
1922 Foolish Wives   United States Hand coloring inserts Universal Pictures
Hand coloring by Gustav Brock.
1923 Red Lights   United States Handschiegl Color inserts Goldwyn Pictures
Extant in black-and-white only.
1923 The Ten Commandments   United States Technicolor inserts, Handschiegl Color inserts Paramount Pictures
Survives complete. Is on DVD.
1923 Vanity Fair   United States Prizma insert Goldwyn Pictures
Directed by Hugo Ballin. Lost film.
1923 The Virgin Queen   United Kingdom Prizma insert J. Stuart Blackton Productions
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton. Status unknown.
1923 I Pagliacci   United Kingdom Prizma insert Napoleon Films
Starring Lillian Hall-Davis. Status unknown.
1923 Maytime   United States Technicolor insert 200 ft. B.P. Schulberg Productions
Partially restored.
1924 The Uninvited Guest   United States Technicolor insert Metro Pictures
Preservation status unknown.
1924 Cytherea   United States Technicolor inserts 230 ft. Technicolor / Goldwyn Pictures
Lost film. First Technicolor film shot under artificial light.
1924 Wanderer of the Wasteland   United States Technicolor feature 3854 ft. Paramount
First western in color. Lost film.
1924 Venus of the South Seas   United States Prizma Insert Lee-Bradford Corp.
Extant. Restored by the Library of Congress in 2004. Final reel is in Prizma.
1924 The Heritage of the Desert   United States Technicolor inserts 34 ft. Paramount
Starring Bebe Daniels. Unknown status.
1924 Greed   United States Handschiegl Color Process inserts Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Short version of film extant, coloring lost (a few specimen frames may survive). On DVD.
1924 The Dance of the Moods   United Kingdom Friese-Greene Natural Color (formerly Biocolour) Friese-Greene Productions
Unknown if a feature or short film.
1924 Moonbeam Magic   United Kingdom Friese-Greene Natural Color (formerly Biocolour) Spectrum Films
Produced by Claude Friese-Greene. Status unknown, possibly at BFI.
1925 Ben-Hur   United States Technicolor inserts 1029 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant. On DVD.
1925 Cyrano de Bergerac   Italy/
  France
Pathéchrome feature 9501 ft. Unione Cinematografica Italiana
Starring Pierre Magnier. Extant.
1925 The Phantom of the Opera   United States Technicolor inserts, Kelley Color /Handschiegl Color 497 ft. Universal Pictures
One color segment survives. On DVD.
1925 The Merry Widow   United States Technicolor insert 136 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Film survives, including two-minute color sequence.
1925 Stage Struck   United States Technicolor inserts Paramount
Extant with color sequences. Restored by George Eastman House. Starring Gloria Swanson.
1925 Pretty Ladies   United States Technicolor insert 597 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant only in black-and-white.
1925 His Supreme Moment   United States Technicolor inserts 517 ft. First National Pictures
Lost film.
1925 The Big Parade   United States Applied color by Technicolor 154 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Feature and color exists. On DVD.
1925 So This Is Marriage   United States Technicolor insert 729 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Lost film.
1925 The Splendid Road   United States Handschiegl Color inserts First National Pictures
Status unknown.
1925 Seven Chances   United States Technicolor insert 275 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant with color. On DVD.
1925 The King on Main Street   United States Technicolor inserts 105 ft. Famous Players–Lasky
Survives complete.
1925 Lights of Old Broadway   United States Technicolor inserts, Handschiegl Color Process inserts Cosmopolitan Productions
Extant in Library of Congress.
1925 Peacock Feathers   United States Technicolor insert 82 ft. Universal Pictures
Lost film.
1926 Fig Leaves   United States Technicolor insert 969 ft. Fox Film Corporation
Extant only in black-and-white.
1926 Beverly of Graustark   United States Technicolor insert 354 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1926 Monte Carlo   United States Technicolor inserts 1000 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1926 Into Her Kingdom   United States Technicolor insert 221 ft. First National Pictures
Lost Film.
1926 The Yankee Señor   United States Technicolor insert 475 ft. Fox
Extant.
1926 The Far Cry   United States Technicolor insert 807 ft. First National Pictures
Extant.
1926 Hell's Four Hundred   United States Technicolor insert 321 ft. Fox
Extant.
1926 The Open Road   United Kingdom Friese-Greene Natural Color (formerly Biocolour) Friese-Greene Productions
Series of documentary films shot between 1924 and 1926. A print was restored and shown on the BBC in 2006. On DVD.
1926 Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii   Italy Pathéchrome feature 12083 ft. Società Italiana Grandi Films
Extant. US Title: The Last Days of Pompeii On DVD.
1926 Irene   United States Technicolor inserts 972 ft. First National Pictures
Survives complete with color sequences.
1926 Beau Geste   United States Technicolor inserts Paramount Pictures
Extant.
1926 The Flaming Forest   United States Technicolor inserts 203 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant at Library of Congress.
1926 The American Venus   United States Technicolor insert 1574 ft. Paramount
Lost film. Two trailers, and brief clip of color insert, survive at the Library Of Congress.
1926 Volcano   United States Handschiegl Color inserts Paramount Pictures
Extant at Library of Congress. Preserved by UCLA and Television and The Museum of Modern Art.
1926 Mike   United States Handschiegl Color inserts Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant at Library Of Congress. Complete print of 70 minutes found at Library Of Congress in December 2015.
1926 The Black Pirate   United States Technicolor feature 8124 ft. United Artists
Original Technicolor Process 2 print survives at the BFI. Commonly seen version was created from surviving negatives. Outtakes survive in black-and-white. On DVD.
1926 The Fire Brigade   United States Technicolor inserts, Handschiegl Color inserts 692 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Film extant, but color is incomplete. At Library of Congress .
1926 The Joy Girl   United States Technicolor insert 285 ft. Fox
A copy may survive in the Museum of Modern Art film archive.
1926 Flames   United States Handschiegl Color inserts Associated Exhibitors
One reel exists in the Library of Congress.
1926 The Girl from Montmartre   United States Handschiegl Color inserts First National Pictures
Preserved by Warner Bros. from original negative and nitrate handschiegl print.
1927 Long Pants   United States Technicolor insert 950 ft. First National Pictures
Extant.
1927 White Pants Willie   United States Technicolor insert 533 ft. First National Pictures
Extant.
1927 The Girl From Rio   United States Technicolor insert 125 ft. Gotham Productions
Extant.
1927 Frisco Sally Levy   United States Technicolor insert 381 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1927 The King of Kings   United States Technicolor inserts DeMille Productions / Pathé Exchange
Survives complete. Is on DVD.
1927 Winners of the Wilderness   United States Technicolor insert 180 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
16mm print extant. Starring Joan Crawford. On DVD.
1927 Annie Laurie   United States Technicolor insert 204 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant with color at the Library of Congress.
1927 The Wizard   United States Hand coloring Fox
Lost film.
1927 Napoléon   France Keller-Dorian process sequences Abel Gance / Gaumont
Extant. Keller-Dorian process proved to be impractical.
1927 La revue des revues   France Pathéchrome inserts
Extant.
1928 The Garden Of Eden   United States Technicolor insert 277 ft. First National Pictures
Extant.
1928 The Actress   United States Technicolor insert 121 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1928 Revenge   United States Technicolor insert 329 ft. United Artists
Lost film.
1928 The Big Hop   United States Technicolor insert 500 ft. Buck Jones Productions
Lost film.
1928 The Woman and the Puppet   France Keller-Dorian process
Extant. Directed by Jacques de Baroncelli
1928 None but the Brave   United States Technicolor insert 549 ft. Fox
Unknown
1928 The Wedding March   United States Technicolor insert, hand coloring. 294 ft. Paramount
Extant. Directed by Erich von Stroheim
1928 Red Hair   United States Technicolor insert 57 ft. Paramount
Lost film. Color tests survive at UCLA Film and Television Archive.
1928 Casanova   Germany Pathéchrome insert Ciné-Alliance / Pathé
Extant. Based on operetta by Ralph Benatzky.
1928 The Viking   United States Technicolor feature 8398 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant. The first Technicolor feature with sound (synchronized music score and sound effects only, no dialog or "live" sound). On DVD.
1928 The Water Hole   United States Technicolor inserts 332 ft. Paramount
Status unknown.
1928 Court-Martial   United States Technicolor insert 473 ft. Columbia Pictures
Status unknown.
1929 Redskin   United States Mostly Technicolor with sepia-toned sequences 4463 ft. Paramount
Synchronized music score and sound effects but no dialog or "live" sound. Survives complete. On DVD.
1929 On With the Show!   United States Technicolor 9592 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant in black-and-white. 20-second color clip exists in private collection. The first all-talking color feature. On DVD.
1929 Harmony Heaven   United Kingdom Pathéchrome sequences British International Pictures
Extant at British Film Institute
1929 A Romance of Seville   United Kingdom Pathéchrome feature British International Pictures
Sound version released July 1930. First British sound film released in color, using the Pathéchrome stencil-coloring process. On DVD.
1929 Devil-May-Care   United States Technicolor insert Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Prints survive.
1929 The Show of Shows   United States Technicolor feature 9987 ft. Warner Bros.
Only survives in black-and-white except "Chinese Fantasy" number with Myrna Loy and Nick Lucas and part or all of "Meet My Sister" number. On DVD with latter number in black-and-white (color footage only recently discovered).
1929 Pointed Heels   United States Technicolor inserts 270 ft. Paramount
Extant complete at UCLA. Broadcast master is in black-and-white.
1929 Paris   United States Technicolor inserts 3645 ft. Warner Bros.
Picture lost except 3 fragments at Seaver Center. Soundtrack extant.
1929 Gold Diggers of Broadway   United States Technicolor feature 9122 ft. Warner Bros.
Two incomplete reels and some short fragments extant. Complete disc soundtrack extant. Surviving reels on DVD.
1929 Sally   United States Technicolor feature 9280 ft. First National-Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white. Two-minute color sequence also extant. On DVD.
1929 Glorifying the American Girl   United States Technicolor insert 897 ft. Paramount
Extant complete at UCLA. On DVD.
1929 The Broadway Melody   United States Technicolor insert 307 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Technicolor sequence survives in black-and-white only. On DVD.
1929 The Desert Song   United States Technicolor insert 306 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant in black-and-white only.
1929 Sunny Side Up   United States Multicolor inserts Fox
Extant in black-and-white only.
1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929   United States Technicolor inserts 1360 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant
1929 Broadway   United States Technicolor insert 198 ft. Universal
Survives in a talking version and a silent version made for theaters without sound equipment. The talking version is missing the final reel, the color sequence, which does survive in the silent version.
1929 Married in Hollywood   United States Multicolor insert Fox
Only final reel in Multicolor survives at UCLA Film and Television Archive.
1929 Red Hot Rhythm   United States Multicolor insert Pathé Exchange
Only one number in color, the title song, survives.
1929 This Thing Called Love   United States Multicolor insert Pathé Exchange
Lost film except for color sequence.
1929 The Dance of Life   United States Technicolor insert 779 ft. Paramount
Extant in black-and-white.
1929 Footlights and Fools   United States Technicolor inserts 1183 ft. First National-Warner Bros.
Lost film.
1929 His First Command   United States Multicolor inserts Pathé Exchange
Extant in black-and-white. Status of Multicolor sequences unknown.
1929 It's a Great Life   United States Technicolor inserts 1391 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant. On DVD from Warner Archive Collection.
1929 The Mysterious Island   United States Technicolor feature 8569 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant at UCLA. Complete Technicolor print was discovered in Prague, December 2013 and premiered at the 33rd Pordenone Silent Film Festival in October 2014. On DVD.[8]
1929 Rio Rita   United States Technicolor insert 2680 ft. RKO Radio Pictures
Survives in a cut re-release copy with all color sequences. On DVD.
1929 William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929   United States Multicolor inserts Fox
Lost film.
1929 The Great Gabbo   United States Multicolor inserts Sono Art-World Wide Pictures
Survives in black-and-white except for missing color musical number "The Ga-Ga Bird". On DVD.
1929 Smiling Irish Eyes   United States Technicolor inserts First National Pictures
Lost film. Soundtrack discs survive at UCLA.
1930 The Rogue Song   United States Technicolor feature 9565 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Lost film. Complete soundtrack extant on discs. Trailer and fragments preserved at UCLA.
1930 The Life of the Party   United States Technicolor feature 7202 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Hold Everything   United States Technicolor feature 7280 ft. Warner Bros.
Survives in black-and-white.
1930 The Vagabond King   United States Technicolor feature 9413 ft. Paramount
Only complete copy restored by UCLA
1930 Just for a Song   United Kingdom Pathécolor sequences Gainsborough Pictures
Lost film
1930 Alf's Button   United Kingdom Pathécolor sequences British Gaumont
Lost film
1930 Paramount on Parade   United States Technicolor inserts 2517 ft. Paramount
Plotless all-star revue. Most survives, but one black-and-white and one color sequence are missing, the color finale with Maurice Chevalier survives only in black-and-white, and the sound for two of the color sequences is missing. Restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive
1930 Under a Texas Moon   United States Technicolor feature 7501 ft. Warner Bros.
First all-talking western shot entirely in color. Survives in a complete color copy.
1930 Whoopee!   United States Technicolor feature 8681 ft. United Artists
Survives in at least one complete color copy.
1930 The School for Scandal   United Kingdom Raycolor feature Albion Films
Only feature film photographed in this process. Lost film.
1930 Elstree Calling   United Kingdom Pathéchrome Inserts British International Pictures
Extant at the British Film Institute. Co-directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
1930 Hell's Angels   United States Multicolor insert 866 ft. United Artists
Color sequence and film survive complete. Scene filmed in Multicolor, printed by Technicolor
1930 Knowing Men   United Kingdom Talkicolor feature United Artists Corporation
Second British sound feature in color. Lost film.
1930 King of Jazz   United States Technicolor feature 9320 ft. Universal
Extant.
1930 Chasing Rainbows   United States Technicolor insert 1249 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Black-and-white parts survive, color sequences are completely lost.
1930 They Learned About Women   United States Technicolor insert Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Survives in black and white only.
1930 Good News   United States Multicolor insert Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Color was used for the finale, which is now completely lost. The rest survives.
1930 Madam Satan   United States Multicolor Sequences Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Color was used for the airship party sequences, but survive only survive in black and white.
1930 Showgirl in Hollywood   United States Technicolor insert 832 ft. First National-Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Bride of the Regiment   United States Technicolor feature 7418 ft. First National-Warner Bros.
Picture lost. Soundtrack extant.
1930 Puttin' On the Ritz   United States Technicolor Insert 953 ft. United Artists
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Mammy   United States Technicolor Inserts 1497 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant. The first Al Jolson film with color.
1930 Call of the Flesh   United States Technicolor insert 721 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Bright Lights   United States Technicolor feature 6416 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Children of Pleasure   United States Technicolor insert ~700 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Survives complete in black-and-white. Color sequences extant in sections.
1930 General Crack   United States Technicolor insert 532 ft. Warner Bros.
Survives in a silent copy with no color sequences made for theaters without sound equipment.
1930 The Melody Man   United States Technicolor insert 826 ft. Columbia Pictures
Extant.
1930 Follow Thru   United States Technicolor feature 8383 ft. Paramount
Extant.
1930 The March of Time   United States Technicolor inserts Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production never completed. Several musical sequences extant.
1930 New Movietone Follies of 1930   United States Multicolor inserts Fox
Extant. Only copy at UCLA.
1930 The Florodora Girl   United States Technicolor insert 608 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1930 Mamba   United States Technicolor feature 6998 ft. Tiffany Pictures
Extant complete. First all-color all-talking feature which was not a musical. On DVD.
1930 Sweet Kitty Bellairs   United States Technicolor feature 5846 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white. On DVD.
1930 Son of the Gods   United States Technicolor insert 442 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white.
1930 Song of the Flame   United States Technicolor feature 6501 ft. Warner Bros.
.
1930 Song of the West   United States Technicolor feature 7189 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant. On DVD from Warner Archive Collection.
1930 Viennese Nights   United States Technicolor feature 9191 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant, preserved at UCLA.
1930 Golden Dawn   United States Technicolor feature 7546 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant in black-and-white only. Color fragment found circa 2015.
1930 Peacock Alley   United States Technicolor insert 651 ft. Tiffany
Extant; color sequence is at the Library of Congress.
1930 No, No, Nanette   United States Technicolor Sequences 3895 ft. First National-Warner Bros.
BFI National Archive holds a 35 mm incomplete nitrate print 160 ft.
1930 The Lottery Bride   United States Technicolor insert 358 ft. United Artists
Color sequence survives at the George Eastman House. On DVD.
1930 Lord Byron of Broadway   United States Technicolor insert 878 ft. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Extant.
1930 Leathernecking   United States Technicolor insert 1474 ft. RKO
Survives in Warner Bros. vault.
1930 Hit the Deck   United States Technicolor insert 3772 ft. RKO
Lost film.
1930 Dixiana   United States Technicolor insert 2006 ft. RKO
Extant.
1930 The Cuckoos   United States Technicolor insert 833 ft. RKO
Extant.
1931 Delicious   United States Multicolor inserts Fox
Extant only in black-and-white.
1931 Woman Hungry   United States Technicolor feature 6119 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant. On DVD.
1931 Manhattan Parade   United States Technicolor feature 6692 ft. Warner Bros.
16mm Safety color print (ca. 3200 ft) is held at UCLA.
1931 50 Million Frenchmen   United States Technicolor feature 6480 ft. Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white. On DVD.
1931 Kiss Me Again   United States Technicolor feature Warner Bros.
Extant only in black-and-white. On DVD. 2 fragments in color are held at Seaver Center
1931 The Hawk   United States Multicolor feature Romantic Productions
Shot as the first feature entirely in Multicolor, it had a very limited release. Five years later using the new process Cinecolor it was re-edited and re-recorded as "Phantom of Santa Fe". On DVD.
1931 The Runaround   United States Technicolor feature 5714 ft. RKO
Extant only in black-and-white, except for color first reel at Museum of Modern Art. On DVD.
1931 Fanny Foley Herself   United States Technicolor feature 6699 ft. RKO
Complete copy at BFI under title 'Top of the Bill'. Technicolor trailer extant at George Eastman House.
1931 Flying High   United States Technicolor sequences MGM
Extant in black and white.
1932 Tex Takes a Holiday   United States Multicolor feature Argosy Productions Corporation
Final feature-length film shot entirely in Multicolor. Extant. On DVD.
1931 Carnival   United Kingdom Sequences In British Multicolor British & Dominions Film Corporation
Unknown Status.
1932 Doctor X   United States Technicolor feature 7048 ft Warner Bros.
Extant. On DVD.
1932 The Girl from Calgary   United States Magnacolor insert Chardwick Productions
First reel was shot in color. Extant, status of color sequence is unknown.
1932 The Death Kiss   United States Hand-colored inserts Sono Art-World Wide Pictures
Extant. Hand color by Gustav Brock.
1933 Mystery of the Wax Museum   United States Technicolor feature 7184 ft Warner Bros.
Extant. On DVD.
1933 Sairandhri   India UFacolor feature Prabhat Film Company
First color film shot in India, but processed and printed in Germany. Extant. On DVD.
1934 Radio Parade of 1935   United Kingdom Dufaycolor inserts British International Pictures
Two sequences were filmed in Dufaycolor. Extant.
1934 Adventure Girl   United States Hand-colored fire scene Van Beuren Studios
Extant. Hand color by Gustav Brock.
1934 Sweden, Land of the Vikings   United States Cinecolor feature
First feature-length film in Cinecolor. On DVD.
1934 The Cat and the Fiddle   United States Technicolor, Process 4 insert Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Black-and-white with final reel in color. First use of three-strip Technicolor in a feature-length film. On DVD.
1934 The House of Rothschild   United States Technicolor, Process 4 insert 20th Century Pictures / United Artist
Black-and-white with final sequence in color.
1934 Hollywood Party   United States Technicolor, Process 4 insert Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Black-and-white with animated cartoon sequence in color.
1934 Kid Millions   United States Technicolor, Process 4 insert Samuel Goldwyn / United Artists
Black-and-white with "Ice Cream Factory" musical finale in color.
1934 Seetha Kalyanam   India Hand-coloured film Prabhat Film Company
Tamil language film. First hand-colored film in South India. Lost film.
1935 Karnaval cvetov   Soviet Union Russian two-color process feature Mezhrabpomfilm
First Russian color film. Extant complete. On DVD.
1935 Jeunes filles à marier   France Franciacolor feature Paris Color Films
First French feature in natural color. Extant. On DVD.
1935 Legong: Dance of the Virgins   United States Technicolor Process 3 (two-color) feature 5054 ft DuWorld Pictures (US) / Paramount (intl)
Produced by Constance Bennett and Henri de la Falaise. Feature-length documentary filmed entirely in two-color Technicolor, one of the last uses of the older process. Restored in 1999 by UCLA Film and Television Archive. On DVD.
1935 The Little Colonel   United States Technicolor, Process 4 insert Fox
Black-and-white with one Technicolor sequence
1935 Becky Sharp   United States Technicolor, Process 4 feature Pioneer Pictures / RKO
First feature-length film entirely in three-strip Technicolor. On DVD.
1936 Kliou the Killer   United States Technicolor, Process 3 (two-color) feature 4917 ft Bennett Pictures / DuWorld Pictures (US)
Final two-color Technicolor feature. Extant only in black and white. On DVD.
1936 The Trail of the Lonesome Pine   United States Technicolor, Process 4 feature Walter Wanger Productions / Paramount Pictures
First three-strip Technicolor feature filmed outdoors by natural light.
1936 We're in the Legion Now!   United States Magnacolor feature George A. Hirliman Productions
Also known as The Rest Cure. Extant. On DVD.
1936 The Phantom of Santa Fe   United States Cinecolor feature Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises
Filmed in Multicolor five years earlier as "The Hawk", re-edited version released in Cinecolor as "Phantom of Santa Fe". Extant. On DVD.
1936 La terre qui meurt   France Franciacolor feature Paris Color Films
Also known as "The Land That Dies". Restored in 1992. On DVD.
1936 Pagliacci   Italy/
  United Kingdom
UFAcolor inserts Trafalgar Film Productions
Extant with color. On DVD.
1936 Solovey-Solovushko   Soviet Union Russian two-color Process feature Mezhrabpomfilm
First Russian feature-length narrative film in color. Extant.
1936 Bajo el sol de Loret   Peru Unknown color process feature
Also known as "Under Loreto's Sun". First Peruvian color feature film. Extant.
1936 The Devil on Horseback   United States Hirlicolor feature George A. Hirliman Productions
Long presumed lost until found in private collection in the 1980s. Complete in UCLA Film and Television Archive. On DVD.
1936 The Bold Caballero   United States Magnacolor feature Republic Pictures
First "Zorro" film shot in color. Extant complete. On DVD.
1936 Captain Calamity   United States Hirlicolor feature George A. Hirliman Productions
Extant complete. Released on DVD.
1937 Kisan Kanya   India Cinecolor feature Imperial Pictures
First Hindi color film made entirely in India.
1937 The Wedding (Wesele księżackie w Złakowie Borowym)   Poland Agfacolor Tadeusz Jankowski
First Polish color film (10 minutes, sound). Film (16 mm reel) survived in The National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw.[9]
1938 The Land of My Mother   Poland Eastman Kodak Ève Curie and Romuald Gantkowski
Second Polish color film (37 minutes, sound). Film (35 mm reel) survived in The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London. Later Ève Curie added sound commentary about the Second World War.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Abel, Richard (1998) The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896-1914. University of California Press ISBN 9780520912915, p.576
  2. ^ McKernan, Luke (2009). ‘The modern Elixir of Life’: Kinemacolor, royalty and the Delhi Durbar, in Film History, Vol. 21, pp. 122–136, 2009.
  3. ^ McKernan, Luke (2018). Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978-0859892964.
  4. ^ a b "Film show in Covent Garden" (PDF). New York Times. 9 December 1912.
  5. ^ "Scala Theatre". Weekly Dispatch. 22 November 1914.
  6. ^ McKernan, Luke (2018). Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978-0859892964.
  7. ^ "List of 7200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films 1912-29" (PDF). Library of Congress. 2016.
  8. ^ http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/allegati/2014_CalendarioGCM_w3.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "O roli obserwatora w filmie etnograficznym 1 : Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie".
  10. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "SIK 1068 - Land of my mother (35mm copy)". YouTube. 28 November 2017.
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