LA CUCARACHA IN HD TECHNICOLOR
HD
SCAN FROM A
MINT ORIGINAL 16MM
I.B.TECHNICOLOR
PRINT
This video is an HD scan from an original
16mm I.B.
Technicolor print of
La Cucaracha which the film department at
University of Southern California produced in the 1960's in very limited quantities. For this film project, they went back to the original
35mm negative. The print is complete with the original forward by
USC describing the project.
Because of advancements in HD film scanning, DiJiFi of
Brooklyn, New York was able to capture for the first time in video the deep and beautiful colors of the three-strip Technicolor process, especially the rich purple used throughout the film.
La Cucaracha is a 1934 short musical film directed by
Lloyd Corrigan. What sets it apart from other short subjects of this time period is the fact that it was the first live-action featurette to be filmed in the new three-strip Technicolor process #4.
The producers took every opportunity to show off this technological advancement by concentrating on the deep blues, vibrant yellows and vivid purples that were impossible to accurately convey in the old two-color process.
Jock Whitney and his cousin
C. V. Whitney, the owners of
Pioneer Pictures, were also major investors in theTechnicolor
Corporation. La Cucaracha was made like a short feature and cost about $65,000. The usual short cost aout $15,000.
Producer Kenneth Macgowan won an
Academy Award in 1935 for
Best Comedy Short Subject.
In and of itself, La Cucaracha is a modestly entertaining two-reeler concerning the antics of a jealous
Mexican cantina girl (
Steffi Duna) in love with a stuck-up dancer (
Don Alvarado). Steffi tries to sabotage his efforts to land an important dancing engagement in
Mexico City, so that she won't be left alone.
First, she sabotages a salad being prepared for an important theatrical impresario (
Paul Porcasi). When this plan fails, she throws
Alvarado off his dance by loudly singing the film's title song. All ends happily of course, as two-reelers of the time often did.
La Cucaracha was successful enough to encourage its production company, Pioneer Pictures, to release in 1935 a full-length Technicolor feature,
Becky Sharp, which was distributed by film studio
RKO.
- published: 06 Feb 2013
- views: 11245