8. The First Colour Film

Probably the earliest colour film the average viewer is likely to have seen is The Wizard Of Oz, but in fact the process was already 37 years old when that classic was released, despite the fact that almost no one knew it. The earliest surviving bit of printed colour footage was a test reel by Edward Turner from 1901 or 1902 of a busy street, his children with a goldfish tank, and a pet scarlet macaw. While hardly staggering, the colour and image quality for the film is pretty surprising for how new the process was and how badly maintained the film strip had been. Sadly, just as Turner was about to innovate photography forever by commercializing this very effective process, he died of a heart attack at the age of only 29. Apparently whatever curse that befell the makers of the Roundhay Garden Scene wanted to get one last film pioneer before it was done. This left what was thought to be the first practical use of full colour film as we understand it today to wait until 1922 when the Technicolor process was used for the film Becky Sharp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEhd-iq9QAY