Cinecolor

Cinecolor is a color motion picture process developed in the United States by Cinecolor, Inc. It was introduced in the 1930s as a cheaper alternative to Technicolor's three-strip process, enabling color features at lower budgets. Cinecolor is a two-color (two-strip) subtractive system that reproduced primarily red and blue-green tones, with other colors approximated but often distorted. The format required special printing and projection materials, and produced a characteristic palette with a pinkish skin tone and strong cyan-blue skies.

Technically, Cinecolor recorded two color components that were later combined in a dye-transfer printing process to produce a single color print. The two-color limitation meant a narrower color range than full-color processes, but the approach was easier to operate and more economical for independent studios and smaller productions. The result was a cheaper, more accessible route to color for many mid-century productions.

Cinecolor gained popularity from the 1940s through the early 1950s for lower-budget features, serials, and animation, particularly in the United States and some international markets. It enabled films to be released in color without the higher cost of Technicolor, and several distributors used it as a practical option during the wartime and postwar era.

By the mid-1950s, Cinecolor faced obsolescence as companies adopted newer single-strip color processes, such as Eastmancolor, which offered broader palettes and simpler workflows. Cinecolor lingered on in limited use into the late 1950s and early 1960s before fading from production. The process is remembered as an important step in the expansion of color cinema for budgets that could not support three-color systems.