I moved this thread here from General Ques.:
In early color movies (the 1960’s are just my approximation), why do all the actors’ (many of whom were blond) blue eyes seem to stand out (or shine, or whatever you wanna call it)?
Just for example, in Lawrence of Arabia the eyes of the actor (I forget his name) who plays the part of T.E. Lawrence seem to sparkle. Was this intended or is it just a byproduct of the filmmaking techniques of the times?
I’m no expert on film stock, but I believe the Technicolor film stock used until the 70’s was of much higher quality than the stock used today. Three-strip Technicolor was used for awhile (a camera process where three different strips of film record blue, red, and yellow separately) which had fantastic results.
Also, dye-transfer technology was also used at times (making film prints with metallic inks) which resulted in very brightly colored films. This process is still in occasional use, but is fairly expensive.
At the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, I saw a dye-transfer print of “Apocalypse Now Redux” that was pretty stunning.
Also, maybe the directors of photography in that day placed a emphasis on strongly lighting the actors’ faces?
Just speculation…I’m sure there’s someone on this board who knows more details about photochemical science and film history.