World’s Fair—The Romance and Thrill of Chicago’s ‘Century of Progress’ in Full Color is one of the most stunning early Technicolor No. IV films. It is a documentary from 1934 in the new three-strip process and depicts the World’s Fair in Chicago 1933 to 1934.
The film features spectacular views of the utopian architecture in unusual pastel colors. The gallery on Timeline of Historical Film Colors displays photographs taken of a vintage nitrate print from 1934 at the Library of Congress with the support of Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, during a research visit in August 2014.
[Edit 2017: The Technicolor dye-transfer print shows very unusual hues and it has a completely different look than later standard dye-transfer prints. This makes the film a very intriguiging case study for the new research project ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors (2015–2020].
A Century of Progress (1933-34). Credit: Library of Congress. Photograph of the nitrate film print by Barbara Flueckiger.
See Schrenk, Lisa D. (2007): Building a Century of Progress. The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933–34 World’s Fair. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
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James Layton
Hi Barbara,
The film is actually called “World’s Fair” and was made as a promotional short for Chrysler Motors. It was shot in October 1933 and received some theatrical screenings in the spring of 1934. We have more information about this film in our forthcoming book, “The Dawn of Technicolor.”
James