Color Combat film

[werwulf]

Hello all,
What year did Combat Correspondents start using color? I picked up a DVD set on WWII in color. The problem is the it starts at Dunkirk. Is this real color footage or colorized?
Thanks.
Dave

[Patrick]

Not sure specifically about the use of color film in combat, but I've seen color footage of the Nuremburg rallies, so it existed prior to 1939.

[r. burns]

Color motion pictures were filmed by using a large camera running three strips of film simultaneously. That's the Technicolor process. Not really suitable for actual combat footage and expensive to boot. The Wizard of Oz was filmed using the Technicolor process.
Hollywood director George Stevens took his own color camera to North Africa and Western Europe. Personal film only as the Army required all official motion pictures be filmed in 35mm black and white. The reason was black and white could be shown in movie theaters world wide where color couldn't.
Stephens sent his color film back to Hollywood for processing. It was taken with his personal 16mm camera using Kodachrome film.

[ak74u]

there is possible to "re-colour" B/W film. There is a series on Discovery called Battlefield that does that, alot of the clips used in that series is shown in B/W in the World at war series