Early Color Talkies - Classic Movies, Great and Historic

Here's a complete list of early color talkies from 1929-1933

Now the reason lots of these movies only survive in black and white is because when T.V. came out in the 1950's the big movie corporations Like Warner Bros, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artist, and Paramount would throw away the film for the Early Color Talkies and air them on black and white T.V. . So today we only have the black and white remainings of most of these films only some still survive in full color or part color. This list incase you're wondering why does not have no periods because this is a list of films.

A Technicolor poster, 1922-1930 productions

The Broadway Melody (1929)
survives in a black and white copy

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (part color)
survives in a full copy with all 3 Technicolor sequences

Broadway (1929) (part color)
survives in a silent version because at 1929 not all theatres had sound equipment at this time, but the soundtrack still survives on phonographic records for each reel of the film

On With the Show (1929) (Full Color)
in 2006 a 20 second fragment of the color film was found and today is at UCLA the movie was originally in full color but today except the 20 second Technicolor fragment out of about 1Hr. and 45 Mn. of this film On With the Show mostly survives in black and white

Swedish poster for Broadway (1929)

Color Fragments From On With The Show

The Show of Shows (1929) (part color)
out of 2 hours and 8 minutes 1 hour and 47 minutes of this film was in color but today only one part of this film survives in Technicolor The Chinese Fantasy Scene which is about 8 minutes long

Sally (1929) (full color)
only a two minute sequence of this movie still survives in Technicolor the rest is in Black and White, here's the color sequence of Sally from YouTube

Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) (full color)
only about the last 20 minutes of this film still survive and those prints still survive in color. The remainings of this movie is on the 80th anniversary DVD realease of The Jazz Singer (1927) the first Feature Length Talkie. The Jazz Singer is on DVD for 40 Dollars

The Desert Song (1929) (part color)
only a black and white copy of this film still survives, some parts from one musical number is missing

The Mysterious Island (1929) (full color)
One part from a reel of this film survives only survives in color, the rest is in black and white

Here's the Chinese Fantasy Scene from the Show of Shows (1929)

The Dance of Life (1929) (part color)
Not know yet will do research later

Footlights and Fools (1929) (part color)
Survives in a full black and white copy

The Rouge Song (1929) (full color)
only some reels and fragments of this film survive
the surviving pieces of this movie are in Technicolor

Glorifying the American Girl (1929) (full color)
still survives in 2 strip glorious Technicolor

Here's a surviving Technicolor fragment from The Rouge Song (1929)

Fox Movietone Follies (1929) (part color)
lost film

His Last Command (1929) (part color)
not sure will research later

Paris (1929) ( part color)
lost film 4 reels of 10 reels where in Technicolor so about 40 or 50 mins are in color out of around 1 hour and 30 mins- 1hr and 50 mins

Married in Hollywood (1929) (part color)
lost film

It's A Great Life (1929) (part color)
The Technicolor Sequences still survives in color.

Pointed Heels (1929) (part color)
Survives in a full black and white copy

Rio Rita (1929) (part color)
5 reels of this film are lost due to a 1932 re-cut re-release.

This Thing Called Love (1929) (part color)
Sure this movie only survives in black and white
Jean Harlow was in a small part of this movie at age 18

Here's 1930 Technicolor Talkies

Hell's Angels (1930) (part color)
still survives in it's one Technicolor sequence
this was Jean Harlows first ever starring role in a film

King of Jazz (1930) (full color)
survives in a full Technicolor Copy, this was Bing Crosby's first ever movie appearance, at this time Bing Crosby was with The Rhythm Boys.

Whoopee (1930) (full color)
Survives in a full Technicolor copy.

The Life of the Party (1930) (full color)
survives in a full black and white copy

Here's Bing Crosby with the Rhythm Boys in The King of Jazz

Watch Whoopee on YouTube

The whole movie of Whoopee 1930 starring Eddie Cantor is on YouTube just type in A Musical Comedy of the Great Wide West. There's about ten parts of this movie on YouTube

Here are 2 Eddie Cantor songs from Whoopee

Under A Texas Moon (1930) (full color)
This movie still survives in a full Technicolor Copy
This is a early Myrna Loy movie this is her only early talkie to survive in Technicolor, at the time Myrna Loy wasn't that famous yet the movie that made her famous was the Thin Man (1934)

Children of Pleasure (1930) (part color)
survives in Technicolor sequences

The Floradora Girl (1930) (part color)
Survives in Technicolor sequence

The Vagabond King (1930) (full color)
survives in a full Technicolor copy, this is the oldest surviving all color talkie

Technicolor Sequence from The Floradora Girl.

Hold Everything (1930) (full color)
Lost Film only the soundtrack survives on Vitaphone phonographic discs

Song of the West (1930)
Lost Film only the soundtrack survives on Vitaphone phonographic discs

Bright Lights (1930)
Survives in a black and white copy with some musical numbers missing, no complete copy's of this film with all the musical numbers still survive

Song of the Flame (1930)
Lost Film only the soundtrack survives on Vitaphone phonographic discs

Show Girl in Hollywood (1930) (part color)
The film survives in a full black and white copy

Call of the Flesh (1930) (part color)
Survives in a black and white copy

Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930) (full color)
The film survives in a full black and white copy

Puttin' on the Ritz (1930) (part color)
The film survives in a full black and white copy

Here's the first ever performance of Puttin' on the Ritz

Bride of the Regiment (1930) (full color)
Lost Film

Viennese Nights (1930) (full color)
Survives in a full Technicolor Copy

Chasing Rainbows (1930) (part color)
Will know in November when it airs on TCM

Peacock Alley (1930) (part color)
Survives in a black and white copy

Paramount on Parade (1930) (part color)
Only 80 out of 100 minutes of this film survive, color sequences don't survive

No No Nanette (1930) (part color)
Lost Film

Mamba (1930) (full color)
Still survives in color

The Melody Man (1930) (part color)
Unkown

Dixiana (1930) (part color)
Still survives in a color

The Lottery Bride (1930) (part color)
Not sure at this time will no later

Leathernecking (1930) (part color)
Only Survives in black and white

New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930) (part color)
lost film

Mammy (1930) (part color)
The Technicolor sequence has lots of dutch words all over it and parts of this film is missing.

Lord Bryon of Broadway (1930) (part color)
Survives in a full black and white copy

Follow Thru (1930) (full color)
Survives in a full Technicolor Copy

The Cuckoo's (1930) (part color)
Survives in all Technicolor Sequences

Color Frame from Follow Thru

Here are early color talkies from 1931

There's not that many color films from this year only 4, none survive in color, and one of these films is lost, Woman Hungry photographed in full Technicolor. 2 films Fifty Million Frenchman and Kiss Me Again don't survive complete with all there musical numbers because already bt 1930 people were getting tired of watching too many musical pictures, Full copy's of Fifty Million Frenchman and Kiss me Again were in different countries, those full copy's with all the musical numbers like i said just to remind you don't survive complete today.The other film is Manhattan Parade starring Winnie Lighter. Manhattan Parade is a Pre-Code film, just to let you know. So here's the list of 1931 films originally photographed in full Technicolor.

Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931) (full color)
Survives in a black and white copy sadly like lots of these films few of them still survive in Technicolor

Kiss Me Again (1931) (full color)
survives only in a black and white copy missing musical numbers because lots of people were getting tired of musicals, but in other countries Warner Brothers released a full copy of the film, so only a black and white copy missing musical numbers of this film still survives

Woman Hungry (1931) (full color)
Lost film

Manhattan Parade (1931) (full color)
Survives in a black and white copy sadly like lots of these films from 1929-1933

Woman Hungry (1931) is a lost film just to remind you

Here's a complete list of 2 Technicolor films from 1932

At this year 1932 and the previous year 1931 the movie corporations stopped filming movies in Technicolor because the great depression was getting worst then it was in 1929 more and more so they stop making films in Technicolor at this time. If it wasn't for the great depression by the 1930's, 40's, or even the 1950's all the movies filmed at that time would have been filmed in color. It didn't take until the late 1960's and 1970's for movies to be in color so at that time people were getting use to seeing more color films and there wasn't a demand for color movies that much because color was already taking over in film. No one todays really sure about what the price for color films were in the the 1930's, but Wikipedia claims that in the 1930's it cost 3 times the price it did to film a color film than a black and white film cost, one movie cost lots of money to make imagine making 3 movies, today that's about the cost of making 1 or 2 movies. The Technicolor Cameras were so much money some times the movie corporations couldn't afford to but those cameras so what they would do is they would rent those Technicolor cameras.

Here's a 3-strip Technicolor camera and the inside of the camera

So here's the list of all 3 1932 Technicolor films in full, complete Technicolor this list even includes the first ever 3-strip Technicolor film

Flowers and Tress (1932) (full color) (cartoon short)
Survives in a full Technicolor copy not a feature length film, won an Academy Award for best short movie in 1932

Here's Flowers and Trees From (1932) BY Walt Disney in 3-strip Technicolor

Doctor X (1932) (full Technicolor all these movies in this Early Color Talkie list was filmed in full or partial Technicolor just saying that)
Survives in a full Technicolor copy

There was a sequel of Dr X in Hollywood's greatest year 1939 called The Return of Dr X Starring Humphrey Bogart.

The sequel of Dr X, The Return of Doctor X, The Return of Doctor X was made in Hollywood's greatest year 1939, but is not a classic, the sequel starred Humphrey Bogart, it wouldn't take Humphrey Bogart until The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942), the movie that made him a real big star was Casablanca, and also another movie helped make Humphrey Bogart a big famous acting star was The Petrified Forest with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard, like I said incase you're wondering or you didn't see this at the top this is a list of early Technicolor talking films so they are no complete sentences like the top says

Here's the trailer for Doctor X (1932)

First National Pictures logo from Doctor X (1932) in Technicolor of course like always

Here's a list of 1933 Technicolor Talkies

It would take another year until Technicolor would make a 3-strip Technicolor color motion picture process of 3 colors red,green, and new to Technicolor at the time blue for about a decade Technicolor was using a 2-strip Technicolor process with 2 pieces of black and white film that each had a filter behind them one piece of film had a red filter behind it the other had a green filter behind it and the rest was glorious Technicolor magic established in 1914 then on the big screen in Technicolors first feature length and the first ever feature length color film in america The Gulf Between in 1917. The Gulf Between was directed by Cecil B. Demille, today is a lost film only some frames of The Gulf Between still survive. The surviving frames of the Gulf Betwwen are still in color.

The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) (full color)
Still survives in a Technicolor copy complete

VHS cover

Thats the complete Early Color Talkie list 1929-1933

All these movies are in color by Technicolor, all these films and the information about these films came from these sources

Allmovie.com

IMDB.com

Wikipedia.com

Talkieking.blogspot.com

TCM.com

Youtube.com