Per post #6, the reason it looks so good is that the frames themselves are black-and-white images that are not prone to fading. There was a very popular colour process for still photos from this era called Autochrome that employed the same principle; Autochrome plates were black-and white plates with colour filter "pixels" on the surface that also produced excellent colour rendition.
One of the reasons the colour reproduction was so good was that they used what's known as the additive process which is also used in video screens. The additive process works by mixing varying amounts of red, green and blue light to produce the desired colour. These systems were implemented by taking photos of the same scene through red, green and blue filters, then projecting those images through the same filters. The advantage was near-perfect reproduction of colours as the filters used for the exposures were the same ones used for viewing, but the drawback was that the photographer had to make three separate exposures then align three projectors, or in the case of Autochrome they sacrificed resolution because of the lattice of filters over the image.
Modern colour films (and colour inkjet printers) reproduce colours using what's known as the subtractive process. Instead of combining red, green and blue light to form the image, it works by starting with white light and using dyes to remove varying amounts of red, green and blue light. Yellow dye blocks blue light, magenta dye blocks green light, and cyan dye blocks red light. This is why you cannot print a colour image on black paper with an inkjet printer, because the white light is provided by the paper. The advantage of the subtractive process is that a high-resolution colour image can be created with a single exposure, because the surface of colour film has three layers of these dyes. There are several drawbacks, though, due to the fact that the dyes are not a perfect match to the original colours; the orange-pink background of colour negatives is a very complex and not-quite-perfect workaround for this. Also, because the dyes are organic chemicals formed during processing and are prone to decay, they are subject to fading (filters used in additive systems can be more easily engineered for stability and in some systems can be replaced), and worse still, the different dyes fade at different rates causing the colours to shift as the images fade. This is why most old colour photos look so awful; at the time they were printed they were almost as good as photos taken today on colour film.
In the case of the film in the article here, for cinema they rigged a system where successive frames of the film were alternately exposed through red, green and blue filters then projected through the same filters. Mismatches between the filters and the frames could produce some rather bizarre results.
A lot to take in on a Friday nite, but I’ve copied it for later and thanx.
When I told folks walking up to inquire whether I was doing a photo-documentary they were surprised when I explained the process and couldn't believe the camera was actually black and white and that filters could make a dramatic difference.
The camera is about 2.5” x 4.2” x 7.8”, weighs about six pounds and is separate from the recorder to which the camera is attached using a six-foot video cable. In total, the combination weighs about 20 pounds and was quite a load.
I've gone through about seven subsequent recorder cameras and each produces better results; but, I still remember fondly the early days but still wouldn't want to revert from our era with stick it in your shirt pocket convenience.
Thanks for the wonderful explanation that triggered this memory.