Great color movie from 1913

[Robert]

These color motion pictures were taken in 1913 during the wedding of Viktoria Luise (Wilhelms doughter) and were recently restored. They used three separate frames with color filters (unlike the later Technicolor which used only two). The streats appear yellow because sand had been spread on the pavement for the event.

The movies use the Realplayer format. If you have the time, have a look at the large version :thumb up: !

Small version (5.8 MB)
Large version (33 MB)

 

[joerookery]

Now that was awesome =D> !!
Thank you

 

[Gilles C.]

Wonderful! Thanks a lot Robert! Shame on us, new generations, who always think they invented everything...
Regards
Gilles

 

[Liongules]

Wow! That was great!

I wish the first part didn't move so fast, I had trouble taking the details in. I did notice near the end, where the speed is a bit slower, a carriage drove by and it contained Kaiser Wilhelm II dressed in a Russian uniform and Czar Nicholas II dressed in a Prussian guard uniform. I'm guessing Nicholas was wearing the uniform of Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1, since he was chief of that regiment.

 

[Robert]

I wish the first part didn't move so fast

Is it too fast? I transformed the speed a bit down and it looks about normal on my screen. Does it display correctly for you others? I can try to make a slow-motion version tomorrow but the download size will be even larger.

Kaiser Wilhelm II dressed in a Russian uniform and Czar Nicholas II dressed in a Prussian guard uniform

I have a b/w picture of them and I think they appear real short from a distance in the middle of the parade (see the cut below).

 

[Liongules]

Kaiser Wilhelm II dressed in a Russian uniform and Czar Nicholas II dressed in a Prussian guard uniform

I have a b/w picture of them and I think they appear real short from a distance in the middle of the parade (see the cut below).

Robert,

I fully agree that still photo you show above is the same carriage and uniform scene shown in that particular frame of the film.

Is it possible there is more than one parade shown in this film? I ask because the part I was referring to with Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nicholas is closer to the end of the film and they are not wearing the uniforms you show. The Kaiser is wearing a Russian uniform with a shako and the Czar is wearing a Prussian Garde uniform with a mitre cap.

 

[Lost Skeleton]

Sorry to rain on this parade, but the subjects, er, sovereigns, in the photograph are HM King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Wilhelm is wearing the uniform of the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry.

Furthermore, based on the frame capture from the motion picture, I honestly believe this is black and white footage "colorized" by computer. The plume of the Blues and Royals is red, yet in the film it appears black. Furthermore, the lanterns seen at the front of the carriage appear various shades of gray, when they would have been brass.

There were no reliable three-color subtractive processes in 1913. "Kinemacolor," a two-color additive process exploited by the Natural Colour Kinematograph Company, would have been available at this time. However, the color palette of this frame is nothing like Kinemacolor.

http://www.charlesurban.com/color.htm

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/726114/

Chas.

 

[Robert]

Here is the slow-motion version:

Slow version (44 MB)

I ask because the part I was referring to with Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nicholas is closer to the end of the film

I see what you mean, is that really Kaiser Wilhelm? I noticed that right at the end of that cut they both salute into the camera, which the Kaiser never did. Maybe this is an attendant of the zar.

I honestly believe this is black and white footage "colorized"

I saw the restoration in a documentation. These are additive frames with a much to steep gamma curve. That means that you get very little intermediate tones. I know Kinemacolor, this here was only an experimental trail.

That is a good point about the plume color. This is probably orthochromatic film and a very monochrome red would appear black. I assume they used an orange or yellow filter anyway allthough the frame was later projected red.

BTW, who is the bearded chap on the bike driving behind the royals?

 

[Liongules]

Sorry to rain on this parade, but the subjects, er, sovereigns, in the photograph are HM King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Chas.

Chas,

You are absolutely right! The frame I'm really concerned with is later on in the film and I got so caught up on Czar Nicholas that in the frame you're referring to I didn't bother to notice the British uniform on the Kaiser nor that the other guy was his near identical twin, George!

 

[Liongules]

I see what you mean, is that really Kaiser Wilhelm? I noticed that right at the end of that cut they both salute into the camera, which the Kaiser never did. Maybe this is an attendant of the zar.

It is rather difficult to tell, but I have a postcard of the Kaiser wearing, what I recall, as being the same Russian uniform. I don't have it here, so I'll have to check on it later. I'm still leaning on that being the Kaiser, but as I said, I could be wrong.

 

[Lost Skeleton]

Hi Robert:

What is the documentary? Color cinematography is a passion of mine, and I would like to investigate this further. Any state of the art restoration would utilize digital manipulation to simultate the rotating green and orange filters of the original projection apparatus. There is a red record in the frame (the horseman to the right), and no reason for that color to be entirely absent in the Household Cavalry plume.

Thanks,

Chas.

 

[Robert]

Skeleton,

the name of that documentary was "Majestät brauchen Sonne" by Peter Schamoni. It focuses on the personality of the Kaiser, not so much the history.
Too bad they do not give many details about the technical side of those color sequences. I know other experiments in that direction such as by Sergei Michailowitsch Prokudin-Gorski whos color pictures are absolutely fabulous compared to this film strip (my favorite example).

All of these were not intended for printing. They used color projection. Today they are combined to one image on the computer, so some amount of manipulation is always involved.

I was always wondering about the red frames in such pictures. This is never covered in documentations. Do you know more about that? It seems, all they could do was to use an orange filter instead of red, and maybe increase the sensitivity of the red frame chemically. As most colors are not a single wave lenght but rather a mixture, normal red cloth etc. would probably appear to some extent on orthochromatic film.

 

[Glennj]

The Kaiser is wearing the uniform of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons of which he became Colonel-in-Chief on the 5th of May 1894.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Lost Skeleton]

Glenn is correct. The 1st (Royal) Dragoons and Royal Horse Guards were not amalgamated until 1969. Glenn, would the Kaiser's uniform as Colonel-in-Chief have resembled the Corp's modern dress?

Hi Robert:

Thanks for the additional information on the documentary. I ordered the DVD from amazon.de. I further noticed the narrator is Mario Adorf (I first became aware of him in the role of "Wagner" in 08/15.

For anyone else interested:

http://www.amazon.de/Majestät-brauchen-Sonne-Peter-Schamoni/dp/B000DZIE6O/sr=8-1/qid=1165165084/ref=pd_ka_1/303-7538496-8251422?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

With respect to color, this discussion ties into the following analysis of orthochromatic film (which was red blind):

http://www.pickelhaubes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2417

The question is how was red created in orthochromatic motion picture film?

Examine the following example of Technicolor from 1915:

Here, the color was created by floating the positive print, one side at a time, first on a red chemical solution and then on a blue green bath. I understand the subtractive processes reasonably well, but as for the additive processes, I'll have to dig deeper.

More to follow.

Chas.

 

[Glennj]

Chas,

Glenn, would the Kaiser's uniform as Colonel-in-Chief have resembled the Corp's modern dress?

This from the Zeitschrift für Heerekunde in 1986.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Lost Skeleton]

Thanks Glenn!

Straying somewhat off topic, I've been spending a bit of time exploring the Open Road archive:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/openroad/

These clips provide excellent examples of the Biocolour process which utilized panchromatic film.

The companion DVD really showcases the footage to best advantage.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-World-Friese-Greene-Dan-Cruickshank/dp/B000FA5780/sr=1-1/qid=1165181453/ref=sr_1_1/202-6808779-0507017?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Chas.

 

[Robert]

The question is how was red created in orthochromatic motion picture film?

Thanks for the references. I see how in an additive process a frame would project red (simply ba using a red light in the projector) but it would be difficult to record it. As this was used by several experimentators of that time, there seems to have been a practicable way to get neat three-color pictures.

When I built up a dark room years ago my first attempt to make a red lamp failed. I had used ordinary red glass over a normal light bulb. It darkend my photographic paper almost as if I had used no filter at all. From this exerience, I assume that the color spread actually involved in appearently red colors make them darken orthocromatic film to an extent. Really monochromatic red that appears plain black may be rather rare in real life.

 

[Lost Skeleton]

I received my DVD of Majestät brauchen Sonne (Majesty needs Sun) earlier today and viewed the color footage on a calibrated ProScan monitior. As Robert indicated, the parade was allegedly photographed and projected using alternating filters of red, green, and blue (the primary additive colors for light). However, the brief analysis of the process did not convince me the color existed to any real degree beyond the realm of digital enhancement. In other words, I sincerely doubt rotating filters combined with a manual shutter and orthochromatic film would be capable of producing color of this fidelity and consistency. I may be wrong, but it seems to me a process this sophisticated would never be so completely anonymous. We know nothing of the inventor(s), his name, his patents, his other experiments. It's all rather vague and inconclusive.

However, the documentary itself was fascinating and I thank Robert for calling it to my attention.

Chas.