Release Prints in the 1950's

[J. Anthony Gonzales]

As far as technique and style, would Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson been able to shoot JFK in the 1950's? What I mean is, would it have been possible to mix formats and film stocks, 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, B/W, Color and release it?

 

Also, what film stocks were available in the 1950's? Is there somewhere I can view a near complete list?

 

John G.

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure -- they had to convert all the stocks to a 35mm anamorphic dupe negative using an optical printer for "JFK", which would be how they would have done it in the 1950's. Not that a studio would have allowed them to shoot a movie in such a style.

 

There was regular 8mm but no Super-8. There was Kodachrome and by 1958, there was Ektachrome. There was b&w negative and there was 16mm b&w reversal, just like now. There was only one 35mm color negative at a time, first Eastmancolor 5247 (16 ASA, daylight) then 5248 (25 ASA tungsten) and by the end of the decade, 5250 (50 ASA tungsten). One followed the other. See:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products....1.4.20.4&lc=en

 

There was even 3-strip Technicolor photography up until 1955. Some 3-strip movies mixed in some footage shot on 35mm Kodachrome Commercial.

 

35mm anamorphic appeared in 1953 with CinemaScope.

 

Back then, movies were released either on Eastmancolor print stock, Technicolor Dye Transfer prints, or a few oddball processes like CineColor.

 

There were some movies that mixed b&w and color. Besides the famous "Wizard of Oz", even more complex was the intercutting of color and b&w scenes in "Matter of Life & Death" (1946).

[John Pytlak RIP]

I recall that many of the Disney "True Live Adventure" nature series shorts were filmed using 16mm, and released as 35mm dye transfer prints. A skilled optical printer operator could do almost anything you can do today with the latest digital techniques. Linwood Dunn's work on "Citizen Kane" is a masterpiece. B)

[J. Anthony Gonzales]

Thanks for the great info. Do you know of any other pictures shot in the 50's that mixed b/w and color?

 

John G.

[John Pytlak RIP]

Not the 50's, but there are some very interesting slow fades from B&W to color in movies like "The Night They Raided Minskys", and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Hello Dolly" has an opening wipe from a sepia toned B&W still image to color.

 

Of course, the work Kodak Cinesite did on "Pleasantville" with selective coloration of scene elements showed the power of digital intermediate. The girl in the pink coat was an earlier example of selective coloration from "Schindler's List".

[David Mullen ASC]

I forgot about "This Is Cinerama" which begins with a b&w prologue before cutting to the 3-panel image shot in Eastmancolor.

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

Speaking of B&W changing to color, was "Wings of Desire" shot entirely on color negative? Or just the scene when it changed to color? I really love the look of the B&W material in that movie, espescially the film prints.

[Mitch Gross]

Wings of Desire was photographed entirely on color neg. by Henri Alekan, who was in his eighties at the time.