COLOUR FILMS

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 9

COLOUR FILMS

TO BE MADE IN ENGLAND

Several British talkies will be made in colour in the next 12 months, according to present indications. Britain’s first colour film factory has been erected a few miles outside London at a cost of £250,000, writes Joan Littlefield in The Herald, Melbourne. The only English colour film so far is Robert Kane’s “Wings of the Morning,” and this had to be sent to Hollywood to be processed before it could be shown here.

The joint managing director of the new company is Frank R. Oates, an American who has been experimenting in technicolour in Hollywood since 1924. He has brought from America 15 other experts, who will train British technicians and so help to build up the new industry over there. Eight of the 15 are Englishmen who went to Hollywood to learn their job. The plant is capable of handling 24 million feet of film each year. The process is so delicate that the smallest particles of dust can ruin it. For this reason, double windows have been fitted throughout the factory and waxed cement floors are used.

Temperature is important, and the most exact air-conditioning system in Europe has been installed. Dyes for colouring have to be absolutely pure and are specially prepared under secret formulas.

The new factory and the service of its cameras are at the disposal of all English film companies. If a British producer decides to make his next film in colour he carries on in the normal way, but a special camera and camera staff with technical equipment are sent to the studio from the colour factory. When the film is completed it is processed there.