Those early two-strip Technicolor films are awesome to watch - they were produced specifically to present a colorful effect, rather than just catch the everyday. Most of the great early two-strip Technicolor spectacles from the late 1920s and early 1930s have been lost because the film stock was so volatile and negatives needed to be renewed every so often. Only the B&W versions remain (for some).Tim Casey wrote: ↑April 30th, 2025, 10:45 am I saw the colorized Kong once, or at least some of it. Yech.
But I forgot "Doctor X" (1932)! The blu ray two-strip technicolor restoration is gorgeous, and the disc includes the entire black and white version (shot with different cameras from different angles) as well. It's a great study in color vs black and white, and I can't make up my mind which version I like better.
The ULTIMATE surviving color extravaganza from that era, assiduously filmed so as to emphasize just the colors that the two-strip process highlighted - is Paul Whiteman's "King of Jazz" (1930), which was restored and released in Blu-Ray about 7 years ago ... OMG the beauty of the production numbers - not to say anything of the priceless nature of the performances by some of the Jazz Age great musicians, dancers and vaudeville comedians. Watching that restored film is like stepping into the past - and a world that, in many ways, I would very, very much like to have been a part of.
My own personal experience with this involved Al Jolson's 1930 musical "Mammy" (about a traveling minstrel show) that originally contained about 4 two-strip technicolor numbers ... but for 6 decades, only the original movie audiences had seen them (the movie that survived in the Warner Archive contained the B&W versions of the color original sequences that had long ago decayed away).
*BUT THEN*!!!! Around 1991 a copy of the film was found in the archive of one of the Scandinavian countries in Europe - with the faded color sequences still mostly intact!! The Al Jolson Society (which still exists but is slowly fading away like those early technicolor reels), was then still a world-wide organization with many eminent old Hollywood members - and its members personally funded, to the tune of over $100,000, the restoration of these sequences in Hollywood at a museum that specializes in this type of project.
The restored film was eventually released through the online Warner Archive where you can still find it. I got a DVD in 2009 and remember popping it into the player, then waiting, with baited breath, for the first color sequence, almost not believing it was gonna be true. But when a familiar sequence suddenly "popped in" in color, I had chills ... the effect of seeing Jolson was akin to a feeling of actually being in the audience. I am sure I shed a few tears seeing him "as he really was". Amazing.
Anyway ... I would HIGHLY recommend to y'all seeing any of those precious few late 1920s/early 30s technicolor films. They are not like films of today. They were seen as unique and created specially to emphasize the color - experimenting, if you will, with a brand-new art form. Whiteman's restored "King of Jazz" is an absolute "Bucket List" item - and watch the extensive extra features, including extensive commentary by Michael Feinstein.
Someone has actually uploaded the entire HD version of King of Jazz to youtube - and its still up. You can see it at the link below - Paul, Bing, and hundreds of timeless artists, including comedians, acrobats, dancers - Jazz, more traditional compositions, Gershwin - you name it - a veritable eclectic smogasbord of the popular types of entertainment of the era. Some dated by today's standards, but many more refreshingly modern, jazzy, etc. At the link below (you won't be sorry - and you'll get "Happy Feet" (my favorite song and number of the picture)
)The Link to "The King of Jazz": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea1KXVbvWvY
