lighting effect in camera

[Ken Zukin]

I watched an old B&W film on TCM called "Sh...the Octopus", made in 1937, that was campy and entertaining. In the movie's climax, an old woman ripped off her wig, pulled out a knife and terrorized the rest of the cast.

 

As she did this, her complexion changed from normal to ruddy to seriously disfigured, all in about 5 seconds. It was done in real time; it was simple and really effective. I suspect the effect was completed by turning up some lamps with colored gels on them that revealed some oil on her face. I seem to remember reading something like this in a text book. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

[Michael Nash]

How did her face turn "ruddy" in a B&W film?

 

If it was in B&W then they could have used colored makeup in conjunction with complementary colored gels.

[Ken Zukin]

yeah....her face took on a very blotchy appearance...almost like it was smudged with charcoal. It was a cool transformation, and one that was done over 70 years ago.

[Chris Keth]

Perhaps they used a graduated filter. You could do something very much like what you describe with colored makeup and a filter that graduated from clear to the color complementary to the makeup. The idea is that you apply the makeup so it looks invisible to the unfiltered lens, and becomes very visible once the filter is changed during the shot.