The world’s earliest colour moving pictures dating from 1902 have been found in Bradford, England, rewriting film history.
The films were shot by photographer and inventor Edward Turner, who died aged 29 after having shot the test films just a year previously.
The films feature colourful subjects such as a macaw, a goldfish in a bowl, and Turner’s three children playing with sunflowers.
Turner’s pioneering method was to record successive frames on film through red, green, and blue filters and to project these superimposed through similar filters. The film needed special cameras and a projector in order to work, both of which were manufactured by Brighton-based engineer Alfred Darling.
The process Turner invented was subsequently developed after his death, resulting in the commercially successful Kinemacolor system, patented in 1906 by Charles Urban.
The films were discovered in the Charles Urban Collection at the National Media Museum by the collections manager, and were recognised as a “significant find” by curator of cinematography Michael Harvey.
Harvey worked with film archive experts to reconstruct footage and convert it into digital files.
“We sat in the editing suite entranced as full-colour shots made 110 years ago came to life on the screen,” Harvey said in a press release.
“The image of the goldfish was stunning: its colours were so lifelike and subtle. Then there was a macaw with brilliantly coloured plumage, a brief glimpse of soldiers marching and, most interestingly, young children dressed in Edwardian finery.”
Other films show one of Turner’s children on a swing, and shots of Brighton Pier and Knightsbridge in London from around 1902.
The footage can now be viewed at the National Media Museum in Bradford, and a documentary about its discovery will air on Sept. 17 on two regional BBC channels.
