This is a very complex book with a lot of technical information, some of which I didn't understand. However, I did get the overall gist of the writer's arguement which is the Technicolor process was vastly superior to the Eastmancolor process that replaced it. I've seen some 16mm film collector prints in Technicolor which were gorgeous. One of them was "The Adventures of Robin Hood" which was beautiful. Rich and vibrant...it took my breath away. I also saw 16mm Technicolor prints of "North by Northwest" and "Singin' in the Rain" which were spectacular. Boy do I love Technicolor. You can actually buy these prints on ebay if you have a lot of money.

I can't believe Hollywood abandoned this process. It's hard to compare old Technicolor movies with current Eastmancolor films like "Minority Report" which is drained of color and looks terrible. Are current directors color blind? I guess most people have never seen a Technicolor print and don't know what they're missing...

This book is better than Fred Basten's "Glorious Technicolor" in that it details all the different processes that used dye transfer printing including Cinerama, Technirama, 3-D, VistaVision and CinemaScope. Basten's book only covers the 3 strip camera and pretty much ignores the fifties and sixties. This book lists every film that was printed in Technicolor and lists them in each category or process. My only complaint is that unlike the Basten book, there are no color pictures. There are a lot of technical diagrams though.

In Haines second book, "The Moviegoing Experience 1968-2001", he made the technical aspects of his subject a bit easier to understand but this book is still an excellent reference source.

Haines is also a film director and made a very interesting 'film noir' movie called "Unsavory Characters" which I saw on DVD. The color portions of that movie resembled a Technicolor film from the era so he seems to understand the aethetics of cinematography. I also saw his "Alien Space Avenger" on videotape. According to The Perfect Vision magazine, it was printed at the Technicolor lab in China!

I read that Technicolor dye transfer printing was revived a couple of years ago and used on "Rear Window" and "Apocalype Redux" but few people in Hollywood cared and it was shut down again. Shame on them!

There's no question that the author is the greatest champion of Technicolor and has made an impact on film history by chronicling the story. He's one of the most interesting writers and directors out there and I hope someone discovers him soon!

This book provides an extensive review of the technicolor procsss and its development over the history of its use.

The author correctly points out the weaknesses of the Eastmancolor process and gives support to the superiority of dye transfer processed films. Mr. Haines has an excellent eye for color, and he lists a complete history of films using three strip technicolor and dye transfer matrices. He is not afraid to attack the studios and Kodak's short sightedness in dumping the process. As a result, film negatives are fading fast, and many films are losing their original look. He does list one chinese company that still uses the process, and I hope that they are still in business. Sadly films will never look as good again. END

I was able to read a special preview copy of this book which I borrowed from a friend. It's an excellent follow up to the author's other book, "Technicolor Movies" but is less technical and easier to understand. In the Technicolor book, Haines describes the fabulous process that brought the rich colors to the Golden Age of Hollywood. This book explains why Technicolor along with movie palaces, large screen cinemas, drive-ins and 70mm disappeared from 1968-2001.

I was quite surprised at the author's outlook. I had always read that 'New Hollywood' saved the movie business. According to Haines, they destroyed the moviegoing experience. There are charts showing weekly attendence declining as more and more R rated movies are produced and fewer G and PG films. I guess it makes sense because children can't get into R films and many adults don't like movies with graphic sex and violence. The lack of mainstream films forced the movie palaces to fold and large screen theaters to twin. I had no idea that Jerry Lewis was the first person to build multiplexes.

The chapters on the blacklist, counterculture, exploitation, sexploitation and blaxploitation are facinating and give a whole new perspective to these subjects. Haines is very critical of directors who use film for propoganda rather than entertainment. While he's opinionated, the book is well researched and he makes a good point about how too many message movies alienate a lot of viewers.

Haines also shows the corner cutting methods that theater owners used in reaction to declining attendence. He discusses platters which ruins the prints. I always wondered why new movies looked so scratchy after only a few days.

Haines also gives a history of home video and cable and how they affected exhibition. As home entertainment improved, cinemas got worse while ticket prices kept going up. Really interesting
trivia. It was news to me that 65 theaters were set up with video projectors in the fifties along with cable stations and pay per view boxes in the home. I thought all that stuff was new.

There is so much information in this book I'll have to re-read it. There's a chapter on videocassettes, laserdiscs and DVD. There's a history of revival theaters that played old movies and film collecting. I didn't know that so many people had projection rooms in their house to show Technicolor and Cinerama movies! The last chapter talks about digital projection and why it's inferior to film.

There's a section in the back of the book that lists all of the surviving movie palaces and drive-ins. It's worth owning a copy just for that! After reading this book, I want to go check them out.

One of the most interesting film books I ever read.