Sweet Kitty Bellairs (Warner Bros.) (1930)

“SWEET KITTY BELLAIRS” — A Warner Bros. and Vitaphone Production in Technicolor HOW THE COLOR WAS PUT INTO TECHNICOLOR FILM “SWEET KITTY BELLAIRS” “How is it done??’—ask those who have seen “Sweet Kitty Bellairs,” the Warner Brothers and Vitaphone musical film, now at the Theatre, and other recent pictures photographed with technicolor. ‘It is a natural question, with the film industry stampeding to color, just as, two years ago, it went pell mell for sound. One hundred feature _ productions entirely, or partly in technicolor are scheduled for this year. In fact, certain producers predict the early knell of the black and white film. “Sweet Kitty Bellairs” was filmed completely in technicolor. The development of technicolor to its present state of perfection has engaged the untiring energy of a group of scientists, for sixteen years. Consequently, any accurate description of how the magie process works cannot be condensed into a few sentences. Yet like all things that are the realization of a dream of which men have expended their inventive genius, technicolor, although quite technical, is relatively simple in its ap “plication. Technicolor is not entirely a photographie process. In fact, after the negative has been exposed, it almost ceases to be photography at all and becomes something like a lithographic process, except that the colors are not put on by a heavy impression as in the printing of a colored plate on paper nor as they are laid on in the making of a lithograph. They are put on the film by what is called the imbibition process. In other words, the emulsion on the film drinks in the colors which are in the form of liquid dyes when applied. To begin at the beginning, a technicolor negative differs very little from the ordinary motion picture negative film, except for some necessary chemical treatment added to the usual photographie emulsion. Otherwise, it is the same as the negative used in black and white photography. It is twice as long, however, because, while photographing a black and white scene only one frame of negative is exposed at a \ instant of time, in technicolor frames are exposed simultan_ The reason for this double length is that behind the lens in the technicolor camera there is a prism which splits the scene into two images, each identical with the other. One image—or scene—reaches the negative through a red filter. The other reaches the complementary bit of negative which is being exposed at the same instant through a green filter. Thus there are on the negative two images, one right side up, the other bottom side up, the top lines being parallel with each other. Now, to follow the operations necessary to get the positive of this egative printed on one side of film so that it may be vn a motion picture screen. ‘ositive film, somewhat chemical action, is treated with hot water; then a ‘green” etching, or relief map of the scene, is recorded upon _ it. Next a “red” relief map is obtained by the same method on another positive film, which, of course, has been exposed to the “red” part of the negative. While “red” and “green” are used as the terms designating the two parts of the negative, neither an absolute red nor an absolute green color is meant. By “red” is meant the warm colors of the spectrum. By “green” is meant the cold colors of the spectrum. The red side is more in the nature of an orange red, while the green side is more of a blue green. So in the subsequent paragraphs the words “ved” and “green” must be taken as meaning groups of colors rather than pure reds greens. or These two relief map films are the matrices from which are to be made the hundreds or more prints required for distribution to the theatres. Technicolor Is NEWS TODAY! Editors Want Stories Telling How The Magic New Process WORKS! He Puts Color in Movies |Technicolor Films Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, President of the Technicolor Corporation. coated celluloid film and the latter drinks in from the red matrix all the color necessary to furnish the gradations of red required in the picture. The same process is repeated with that strip of positive film which has To Improve Styles Says Fashion Expert The coming of technicolor to motion pictures is going to improve even further the taste in dress of American women, it was asserted yesterday by H. M. K. Smith who designed the gowns worn by such stars as Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Bebe Daniels, Elsie Ferguson and Mary Brian. “Sweet Kitty Bellairs,” the Warner Brothers and Vitaphone picture at the Theatre was photographed entirely in technicolor. “The motion picture is greatly responsible for the fact that even in the smaller towns the American woman today is dressing with just as good taste as the women in the cities,’ Mr. Smith said. “The only thing they lack is a practical appreciation of color—an understanding of what color can do to make them more beautiful, more slender and more attractive generally. “This the motion picture is now certain to teach them for the color wave is coming just as definitely as the sound wave came a year ago. Next year there will be more than 100 technicolor pictures. Two women will learn from studying their favorite stars that a blonde with blue eyes looks best in blues, lavenders and purple. And the brunettes will learn that they look like a million dollars in reds but like a dollar and a half in browns.” Technicolor is a Box-Office Name ADVERTISE If? Vy Ee a producer makes a picture in Technicolor he adds thousands of dollars to its box-office value. The exhibitor reaps his share of that added box-office value when he tells the public “It’s In Technicolor.” A year or so ago “All Talking” was a box-office phrase. Today the public wants Technicolor. The name Technicolor in your advertising gives your ex ploitation additional pulling power—just as, a year ago, “All Talking” helped fill your seats. Technicolor’s monster advertising campaign backs up every Technicolor picture. The public wants Technicolor. In all your advertising for “Sweet Kitty Bellairs,” tell the public: With these two matrices ready, a blank celluloid ribbon, which later is to become the film to be exhibited in the theatre, is treated with gelatin so that it readily will accept color dyes in liquid form. Then the positive which bears the outlines, or microscopic hills and valleys, of the red matrix is brought in, soaked with the requisite amount of dye and applied like a master printing plate to this blank strip of gelatine-coated celluloid. During this operation of transferring dye from the matrix to the blank celluloid, both the matrix and blank are rigidly mounted on metal backings. The result is that the red parts of the image, or scene, are impressed or printed on the gelatine. “It’s ALL TECHNICOLOR.” been exposed to the green portions of the negative; that is, a green matrix is made from it in the same manner that the red one was made. This green matrix is later soaked with dye of a greenish cast and laid on the gelatin-coated strip of celluloid directly over the color which already has been imbibed from the red image—or scene. Through this second application the gelatin coating now drinks in from the green matrix all of the color necessary to furnish the required gradations or shades of green. Thus the gelatin layer is interpenetrated with both dyes—red and green—in exactly the same proportions that those colors with their varying shades existed in the scenes as originally photographed. a When this has all been done, these colors are “set”? on the film and we have a motion picture with every one of its many and _ diversified scenes all recorded in natural colors on one side of the film and ready for showing in the theatre. Because of the perfection of this process of putting the color all on one side of the film, theatre projection machine operators are able to run a film in technicolor exactly the same as a black and white pieture. No special appliance nor any adjustment whatever of his projection machine is required. Before the difficult problem of getting the color all on one side of the film had been successfully solved, technicolor was printed on both Spee eR = at Great Beauties Come To Screen Via Technicolor Color in motion pictures is bringing before the public a number of great beauties who are at present unknown to filmgoers, among them lovely Claudia Dell, who plays the title role in “Sweet Kitty Bellairs,” the Warner Brothers and Vitaphone all-technicolor picture at the .. Theatre. Some of these new stars will be actresses of the legitimate stage who had failed in black and white camera tests, it is pointed out by Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, President of the Technicolor Corporation. Others will be obscure extra girls in Hollywood. Girls from all walks of life will gain their big chance because color will reveal their true charm. “With more than one hundred feature productions in technicolor showing throughout the United States next year it seems certain that 1931 will see the rise of great beauties who are at present entirely unknowu to the motion picture audiences,” Dr. Kalmus said. “Recent improvements in the technicolor process have made it possible to reproduce flesh tints accurately and the exact color of hair — and eyes. While this is not of so much importance in photographing men, it is vital in presenting women on the screen. Now, when you see a close-up of an actress in color, you es on the stage, from a seat in the fronc row. Beauty is not so much contour of face as it is coloring and at last the motion picture producer is able to give you his stars exactly as they appear in the flesh. “Their beauty, also, is enhanced by color in costumes and in settings. Many of the stars now in motion pictures will be re-glorified in eolor. Motion picture fans will find that they have not realized the true beauty of some of their favorite actresses. It is not unlikely that color will discover great beauties among the extra girls in Hollywood—girls who have been snubbed by the black and white camera.” The coming of technicolor into motion pictures is going to tame the camera. It probably will not sound the kneli of many of the girls now established as screen favorites. They, and their hair-dressers and the lighting experts and the photographers and the make-up men, have learned how to fix up their blemishes and to turn bad lines into good lines. These girls will suffer only in those cases in which the colors of their eyes and their hair, are by nature, undistinguished, but which may have been satisfactory in black and white. sides of double-coated film. This necessarily was thicker than ordinary film and operators in the theatre often failed to make the proper adjustments for the free passage of this doublecoated film through their projection machines. This resulted in the picture sometimes being out of focus. Also, the emulsion frequently was scraped off one side of the film, causing great green or red streaks to be thrown on the screen. Now, thanks to the perfected new technicolor process, these unhappy results have been eliminated. Ags < matter of fact, technicolor pr’? have been proved by actual test i have longer life than black anc white prints. Because of this du ability, a technicolor picture look exactly the same in a small tow picture house as it did sever. months earlier when presented in large New York theatre.