The Bold Caballero (1936) in Magnacolor

[Saimo]

This is supposed to be the first Zorro film in color, but I see that it is currently available on DVD both in b/w and in color. I am not familiar with the Magnacolor process, but some screenshots from the color version look somehow uneven (almost like colorized). Any hint if this is the original Magnacolor look? Or is this just a poor master? Thanks.

[Richard P. May]

Magnacolor was a 2-color process, similar to Cinecolor or Trucolor.

[Saimo]

Thanks for your message. I understand this is a 2-color process, but have found little documentation on the original Magnacolor look. The only useful samples are the frame enlargements to be found here, with good blues but yellowish/orange skin tones.

[Brooksie]

Here for comparison is a Hirlicolor feature available on YouTube. It was a very similar system to Magnacolor (in fact, some sources claim they were identical). Both were two-color systems based around blue and orange, rather than the more familiar red/green combination used by Technicolor. Arguably, it was a more effective combination given that it covers two of the things we're most likely to see in a film - skin tones and skies - but the example originally posted seems much too saturated, which is probably (though not definitely) a mastering problem rather than an issue with the original source.

You might search the Media History Digital Library (https://lantern.mediahist.org/) to see if original reviews of The Bold Caballero make specific reference to color/picture quality. Productions using these early color systems had to be carefully lit and planned to maximize their effectiveness, and it's possible that one company might do that better than another.

[Saimo]

Good points, thanks!

[Brooksie]

Further on that last point, it seems that the problem occurred at the production level after all. This is from Harrison's Reports of 30 January 1937:

"The Bold Caballero" with Robert Livingston and Heather Angel

(Republic, January 18; time, 71 min.)

If there were any entertaining values in the story, they have been killed by the atrocious color; the faces are grotesque, and the outlines of the bodies fringed. As to the outdoor scenes, which ordinarily bear much punishment from over-coloring, even these are unpleasant to behold, for the different colors run wild, one having no regard for the rights of the other.