COLOUR FILM EXPERT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19377, 15 July 1937, Page 13

COLOUR FILM EXPERT

Brilliant Work By A Woman

W/OMEN on the technical side of ” motion pictures are tew and far between. Apart from one director— Dorothy Arzner—and one producer— Mary Pickford—women are mostly employed for scenario writing, frock designing, film cutting, and script work. Yet one woman who has invaded a new profession excels even its most brilliant male members. She is Natalie Kalmus, the woman who has put the colour into pictures. It is 15 years since Mrs. Kalmus, her husband, Dr. Kalmus, and another scientist, Dr. Comstock, began experimenting with Technicolour, and it has taken them all of those 15 years to bring’ it to the degree of perfection it has now attained. Only in the past 12 months have colour films reached the point of naturalness and true values where one hue does not predominate and another becomes obscure; where the whole is restful to the eyes and not tedius and glaring, where harmony prevails and those bizane discordant notes have vanished.

black, or grey would be used. In this way the colours are kept in unison with their screen characters.

Then, again, there must be colour “separation,” that is, when one colour is placed in front of or beside another there must be enough difference in their hues to separate one from another photographically. For example, there must be enough difference in the colours of an actor’s face and costumes and the walls of the set to make him stand out from the colours at the back of him.

On the set, Mrs. Kalmus moves about quietly, but with the air of a woman who knows exactly what she wants. Her charming personality and friendly, helpful manner have made her a popular figure with those with whom she works. Men respect her advice and opinions. They know that in the hands of Natalie Kalmus their film will receive the most thorough and highly skilled treatment it is possible to obtain.