Narrated by Leonard Maltin, Cinema’s First Colors surveys the elaborate history of inventions and evolutions in early technology to bring color to the motion picture screen, from 18th-century pre-cinema to the dawn of Technicolor. Grounded in a wealth of recent scholarship and illustrated with rare ephemera and excerpts from restored films preserved in eighteen international archives, the film offers a visually rich, engaging narrative of scientists, technicians, and businessmen working together to satisfy our desire to see color in motion.

Experience this influential story of progression and breakthrough that showcases color cinema’s gradual trajectory toward its status in mainstream feature production.