Technicolor Monopack / Kodachrome Professional Type 5267 / Eastman Monopack 7267
Description
During the 1940s Kodachrome was used as camera material for films that were blown up to 35mm Technicolor projection prints. Technicolor used this technology from 1942 until the mid-1950s when Eastman Kodak introduced the Eastmancolor negative-positive system. Like Eastmancolor, Kodachrome was a chromogenic color system, and it could be used in a normal camera, without the Technicolor beam split system. This increased the possibilities for outdoor scenes, for example in non-fiction films. An important number of documentaries was produced this way during the 1940s and the early 1950s, like for example, Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures series of which four won Academy Awards (Pope 2016, 76). Occasionally, Kodachrome was even used as camera material for feature films. For example, Gert Koshofer explains that the outdoor scenes in Lassie Come Home (USA 1943, Fred M. Wilcox) were filmed in Kodachrome. Another feature that was made this way was Thunderhead. Son of Flicka (USA 1945, Louis King), which was entirely filmed in Kodachrome.
Technicolor never mentioned the name Kodachrome when referring to the technology used in its communications to the press and stock holders. Instead it used descriptions such as ‘an experiment in monopack’, ‘the Monopack procedure’ and even ‘Technicolor Monopack’ for the system used. But no matter how it was called, the technology was very probably the same, especially since in its Annual Report from 1944 Technicolor also mentioned the need to collaborate with the Eastman Kodak Company “…so that the Technicolor monopack process may gradually supersede the present Technicolor 3-strip process and thus eliminate the necessity of special Technicolor cameras (Gundelfinger 1944, 68).”
The 16mm material camera material used for Technicolor Monopack was Kodachrome Professional Type 5267 that was introduced in 1942. Dive Bomber (USA 1941, Michael Curtiz) was filmed with 35mm Kodachrome material. However, Kodachrome was unsuccessful as 35mm material. It was too expensive, and the emulsion was a bit uneven, which was still acceptable for 16mm, but became disturbing on 35mm.
Secondary Sources
Anonymous (na): The New Kodachrome. Rochester, pp. 56–72, on pp. 60–63 View Quote, on p. 66 View Quote and on p. 70. View Quote
Basten, Fred E. (1980): Glorious Technicolor. The Movies’ Magic Rainbow. South Brunswick: Barnes, on pp. 137–156. View Quote
Bordwell, David; Staiger, Janet; Thompson, Kristin (1985): The Classical Hollywood Cinema. Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960. London: Routledge, on pp. 356–357 View Quote and on p. 357. View Quote
Clarke, Charles G. (1945): Practical Utilization of Monopack Film. In: Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 45, Nov. 1945, pp. 327-332.
Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 476-477. View Quote
Kitsopanidou, Kira (2009): “Glorious Technicolor”. La stratégie d’innovation de la couleur de Technicolor dans l’industrie cinématographique Américaine. In: Raphaëlle Costa de Beauregard (ed.): Cinéma et couleur. Paris: M. Houdiard, pp. 193–206, on pp. 199–200. (in French) View Quote
Lightman, Herb A. (1969): Color in the Motion Picture. In: American Cinematographer, 50,1, Jan. 1969, pp. 80-83, on p. 164. View Quote
Petrie, Duncan (2013): Interview. Stan Sayer. In: Simon Brown, Sarah Street and Liz Watkins (eds.): British Colour Cinema. Practices and Theories. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 97–102, on pp. 99–102. View Quote
Ryan, Roderick T. (1977): A History of Motion Picture Color Technology. London: Focal Press, p. 78. View Quote
Tompkins, E.S. (1944): In Defence of “Glorious” Colour. In: British Journal of Photography, 3 March, p. 74. View Quote
Pope, Norris (2016): Kodachrome and the Rise of 16mm Professional Film Production in America, 1938-1950. In: Film History. An International Journal., pp. 72-76.
Films
Dive Bomber (USA 1941, Michael Curtiz)1, 5
Captains of the Clouds (USA 1942, Michael Curtiz)1, 5
Forest Rangers (USA 1942, George Marshall)1, 5
Saludos Amigos (USA 1942, Wilfred Jackson/ Jack Kinney/ Hamilton Luske/ Bill Roberts)
Lassie Come Home (USA 1943, Fred M. Wilcox)1, 2, 7
Report from the Aleutians (USA 1943, John Huston)
Fighting Lady (USA 1944, Edward Steichen)4
Marines at Tarawa (USA 1944, Louis Hayward)
Memphis Belle (USA 1944, William Wyler)
English Village (GBR 1944-1945 [exact year unknown], Darrel Catling)6
Thunderhead- Son of Flicka (USA 1945, Louis King)1, 3, 5
XIV Olympiad – The Glory of Sport (GBR 1948, Castleton Knight)
King Solomon’s Mines (USA 1950, Compton Bennett/ Andrew Marton)1
Stars and Stripes Forever (USA 1952, Henry Koster)
Some Fitzpatrick Travelogues [without titles], (US 1949-1955, James A. Fitzpatrick)
1 Behlmer, Rudy (1964): Technicolor. In: Films in Review, 15,6, pp. 333–351, on pp. 348–350.
2 Kitsopanidou, Kira (2009): “Glorious Technicolor”. La stratégie d’innovation de la couleur de Technicolor dans l’industrie cinématographique Américaine. In: Raphaëlle Costa de Beauregard (ed.): Cinéma et couleur. Paris: M. Houdiard, pp. 193–206, on pp. 199–200. (in French) View Quote
3 Huntley, John (1949): British Technicolor Films. Cornhill, London: Skelton Robinson, on pp. 199–201.
4 Déribéré, Maurice (1954): Les problèmes du cinéma en couleurs français. In: Technique Cinématographique, 25,145, pp. 185–189. (in French)
5 Basten, Fred E. (1980): Glorious Technicolor. The Movies’ Magic Rainbow. South Brunswick: Barnes, on pp. 137–156. View Quote
6 Cleveland, David; Pritchard, Brian (2015): In: How Films were Made and Shown. Some Aspects of the Technical Side of Motion Picture Film 1895–2015, Manningtree, Essex: David Cleveland, on p. 223 and on p. 226. View Quote
7 Cleveland, David; Pritchard, Brian (2015): In: How Films were Made and Shown. Some Aspects of the Technical Side of Motion Picture Film 1895–2015, Manningtree, Essex: David Cleveland, on p. 223. View Quote
Production Reports
English Village (GBR 1944-1945 [exact year unknown], Darrel Catling):
Cleveland, David; Pritchard, Brian (2015): In: How Films were Made and Shown. Some Aspects of the Technical Side of Motion Picture Film 1895–2015, Manningtree, Essex: David Cleveland, on p. 223 and on p. 226. View Quote
With the Marines at Tarawa (USA 1944, Louis Hayward):
Alt, Dirk (2011): ‘Der Farbfilm marschiert!’. Frühe Farbfilmverfahren und NS-Propaganda 1933-1945. München: belleville Verlag Michael Farin, on p. 355. (in German) View Quote
