Early colour and Kinemacolor show at a 1911 cinema

[Chris Bird]

In case this of interest, David Cleveland and I are putting on a show of very early colour films (1896-1912) at the Electric Palace, Harwich, on Saturday 30th November:
https://electricpalace.com/productio...to-the-movies/

All the films are 35mm safety prints, being shown on a hand-cranked 1919 Ernemann projector. This has been specially modified by Nigel Lister to be able to run Kinemacolor films using the red and green filter wheel in addition to the shutter. We have one of the finest silent film accompanists in the world to play for the show, John Sweeney. Hope some people are able to make it despite the remote location.

[Osi Osgood]

MAN! I totally wish I could be there, Chris! What an awesome show!

[Dominique De Bast]

Looks terrific!

[Paul Adsett]

What an absolutely awesome piece of equipment! Just beautiful!

[Chris Bird]

Doh! Sorry, I mistyped the date. It is Saturday 30th November, not 20th.

(moderator's note: The date in the first post has been corrected.)

The projector is a superb piece of work - by removing the colour wheel and cranking at a different speed (Kinemacolor films were shot at 32 fps), it can be used as a normal silent projector.

[David Hardy]

Chris i hope you have a great turnout for such a unique show and that it play's to a large audience . I would like to be there but i simply can't due to distance and health issues . Good job the film is not on the original nitrate stock though . I doubt if the health and safety mob would have given a green light to such a novel and historical public film presentation . Good luck on the night and i wish you a smooth and trouble free presentation .

[Brian Fretwell]

Having seen the NFT2 projectirs that are certified for nitrate I would say that one would definitely fail. Their's have cutters at the penings for film to enter from the reels in enclosed boxes, gun cotton over the film above the gate to activate them and the porthole shutters to the auditorium plus a CO2 cylinder in them to instantly cool the machine, if a fire is detected.

[Chris Bird]

Thanks for the kind words David. Yes, the projector in its current form doesn't even conform to the 1909 Cinematograph Act, let alone more modern health and safety concerns - no spool boxes and no booth! I have projected nitrate on a hand-cranked projector (my 1911 Pathé), but can't do that for a public audience. Brian, as I recall it's NFT1 that's equipped and licensed to run nitrate. Despite all the safety precautions, the booth was gutted as a result of a nitrate fire during a screening of THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE in the 1970s! When I did a show at the Electric Palace two years ago I burned a single frame of nitrate outside as a demonstration - even a single frame was quite impressive...

[Brian Fretwell]

Here's apicture of the box in NFT2 Possibly late 80's early 90's.

[Chris Bird]

Great photo! I should have said that I know NFT2 was once used for nitrate, but every nitrate print I've seen at the NFT in more recent years was in NFT1, so I'm not sure if NFT2 is still set up that way. According to the BFI website, NFT1 has more recent safety features added:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/all-about-nitrate-film

[Brian Harrington]

So the shutter normally sits in front of the projector? Interesting. So the actual film is B&W? Does the color wheel spin as well in sync, or do you set it to be static depending on the film or scene in the film?

[Steve Lee]

It works in a similar way to a DLP projector. The red and green filters on the front of the projector turn in sync with the shutter. The same setup was on the camera. This allowed alternative frames on the film to be polarized out with the red and green even though it was on black and white film. The filters on the projector then, put the colours back when being projected.
The process was improved by technicolor in the twenties, until the added the third colour blue, giving three strip technicolor.

[Brian Harrington]

I never knew that! Sounds similar to the 3D glasses that came with THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON from Universal 8. What's the minimum fps for the effect to work? (I know it's hand-cranked.)

[Chris Bird]

Kinemacolor is designed to run at 32 fps as opposed to the then standard 16fps. The original projectors were motorised, but this projector (which was not designed originally for Kinemacolor) has been modified so that one turn of the crank transports 16 rather than the usual 8 frames. So two cranks per second gives 32 fps - if the original gearing had been kept, then I would need to crank at four times per second, which isn't possible.

The colour wheel rotates at twice the rate of the shutter, so it's an impressive sight with both discs spinning round very fast. I shot some quick demo videos of it at our tech rehearsal, but they are too large to attach unfortunately. Having a black and white print in the projector, but a colour image on the screen is truly magical.

[Brian Harrington]

Cool. Kinda Rube Goldbergish, but if it works, it works.