I wanted to ask, is it only film prints that fade, or can the original negative also be affected. Reason I ask is that a movie I like (digital), Randolph Scott in 'Fighting Man of the Plains' is only available in B&W, even from the copyright holders 'Renown', even though it was made in colour, admittedly, it would be one of those lesser known colour films like Trucolor.

Very good question Robert. It makes you wonder whether the color negative was lost or had deteriorated so badly that it was felt that it would not be suitable for a digital release.

The original camera negative can fade. But the negative should have been given the best quality processing and rinsing and storage by the laboratory to avoid fading issues. I believe that when the neg was printed years later by the lab the colour balance would be adjusted to compensate for a shift in colour.

The old IB Tech three strip camera negatives were black and white so did not fade. And prints were printed with cour fast dyes similar to photogravure colour newspaper magazine.

But many 'modern' prints struck in the 60's and 70's were Eastman that fades. So many old films were never printed for TV or reissue in the mid 1980's when Kodak had finaly stabilised the dreadful Eastmancolor with their LPP print stock.

Ian

Is it possible that some prints were made from a positive print, rather than a negative.

The film studios didn't really care Ian, their vaults were emptied of old stock to make way for new, destroyed without a second thought
as they had no idea of home video etc, it was a commodity that had served its purpose, this was an industry after all.

Quote: Robert Crewdson wrote in post #4

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Is it possible that some prints were made from a positive print, rather than a negative.

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