MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > FAQ error - not FILMED in Technicolor!

FAQ error - not FILMED in Technicolor!

posted 8 years ago by notmicro
2 replies | jump to latest

The last movie FILMED using the classic legendary 3-strip Techincolor camera was Foxfire http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048091/ (filmed 1954 released 1955). This movie was filmed using the new standard single-strip color-negative film (presumably from Eastman). Then, like hundreds of titles up through the 1960s, Techicolor made the 35mm release-prints (utilizing a very complex process where the single-strip negative was optically printed to 3 separation-negatives, then on through their standard CMYK printing process).

[–] wrfarley 8 years ago

Good call. I never thought it was filmed in 3-strip, which would have been illogical for a lot of reasons, specifically because most of the shots filmed on the ocean are hand-held, and as far as I know, there were no 3-strip Technicolor cameras built for "on the fly" documentary-style filming.

But here's another question I've asked myself. Why was the film shot in 1:33:1 aspect ratio and not in Cinemascope or VistaVision (or whatever Warner's wide screen projection system was)? Could that have been a camera issue also? Huston's next film, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON, was his first foray into wide-screen filmmaking, and it's a fine looking film. MOBY DICK is a film which could have benefitted from a Cinemascope treatment.

[–] rnmboon (412) 4 years ago

Not sure if that 1:33:1 aspect ratio you mention is correct. IMDB mentions 1.66:1 as the aspect ratio and that is how it is presented on the UK blu-ray release. Not sure either why Huston didn't use Cinemascope though. Maybe he needed time to adjust to the new format?