Blithe Spirit

This film was shot using the original 3-negative Technicolor system. Sometime in the 50's/60's when TV was buying up old movies, the negs were called up from the vaults in Denham to make new prints, only then was it discovered that one entire set (the magenta ones) had gone missing.

The re-issue prints were cobbled together extracting the magenta element of the picture using old prints and a sort of optical subtractive process. It was not wildly successful as anyone who watched the movie on TV in the 60's or bought the early VHS can attest. It has a sort of ethereal, greenish, washed-out look to it. I suspect the optical soundtrack master was also missing for the 1st 2 reels (22 mins)

The current TV release (2007 on TCM) and the DVD is a perfect Technicolor print, so either the magenta negative has been unearthed or (more likely) the magic of digital wizardry has recreated the missing component.