Film News

Early Technicolor discoveries from the BFI National Archive

• 2nd May 2018

This week BFI announced the discovery of a cache of extremely rare Technicolor film fragments from the 1920s held by the BFI National Archive, including previously unseen footage of Louise Brooks dancing in colour. The very image of the modern iconic woman, this tantalising glimpse of Louise Brooks comes from The American Venus (1926), her first credited film role and is one of the only images we have of her in colour. Other clips include from the early musical revue Show of Shows (1929) and highlights how many of these early talkies were also released in what was known as Technicolor Process 3.