John Paul M. Joaquin Culture 09.28.2022 21:Sep PM EDT

#EntertainmentTech Is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Really the First Color Movie?

We've probably heard the saying "follow the yellow brick road" a bunch of times in our life for a good reason: the movie it's referencing is one of the most iconic movies of all time, the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz."

It was revolutionary at the time because it was widely considered the first movie that showed color in the greyscale-focused movie industry at the time of its release, per Screen Rant.

Unfortunately, despite what most people would tell you, it isn't the first movie that pioneered the use of color.

What Was The First Color Movie?

The honor of being the first movie to be shown in theaters in color is, in fact, an eight-minute short film directed by George Albert Smith titled "A Visit to the Seaside." According to the Nashville Film Institute, Smith used the Kinemacolor process to better showcase the everyday happenings around his area of Brighton, England.

Although the film mostly utilizes seafront shots, its use of color is revolutionary for a movie made in 1908 due to it capturing "natural color."

Yes, the color that can be seen on "A Visit to the Seaside" isn't hand-painted; thanks to the Kinemacolor process, Smith was able to display color through alternating red and green filters.

Kinemacolor was the most successful of the "natural color" process in that period of cinema history, per Film Colors. It was an additive process that involved changing between red and green filters in front of a camera's shutter or a projector.

However, using only two filters made rendering blue to violet hues impossible, while items displaying white hues are often displayed with a "yellowish tinge." To solve this problem, George Albert Smith added a third blue-violet filter to the mix, creating a "satisfying result."

To achieve this, though, a camera operator must consider the color temperature of the camera/projector's lamp to adjust the green filter to an appropriate hue.

Smith is the inventor of the Kinemacolor process, per the Science & Media Museum.

Kinemacolor was lauded by its contemporary witness for being "realities" instead of pictures due to how close to life pictures or movies captured using the technique were at the time.

In fact, the slogan for the advertisement for Kinemacolor said that the colors were so realistic, "it's as if you were actually there."

'The Wizard of Oz's Contribution To The Movie Industry

Despite the misconception that "The Wizard of Oz" is the first commercially available color movie, its use of color did leave an effect on the movie industry.

You may recall that the movie was considered revolutionary when it was released in 1939, making it one of the most influential films made among the likes of "Star Wars," "The Godfather," and "Casablanca," per researchers Livio Bioglio and Ruggero G. Pensa.

The Technicolor and sepia tone used in the movie's set evoked "a sense of childlike wonder" that is difficult to top even with today's technology. Without "The Wizard of Oz" capturing the imagination of people in 1939, the movie industry might have taken a longer time to make its transition to using color.