Originally developed for photographic glass plates by Louis Dufay in the early 1900s, the rights to the Dufaycolor three-color screen process were purchased in 1926 by Spicer Ltd, Cambridge, England. As manufacturers of paper and film products, including cellulose acetate wrapping material, they were aware of the growth of “safety” film in the motion picture industry, their intent was to refine the process to create a viable natural color motion picture stock. (See Dufaycolor (reversal) for more about the company’s history).

Engineers T. Thorne Baker, who had previously worked with Louis Dufay in France, and Charles Bonamico were hired to carry out extensive research and refinements to the manufacturing of the color screen (called the réseau – the French for “network” or “grid”). Later that year, Dufay, Baker, and Bonamico shot several thousand feet of 35mm negative in the south of France on 8-lines per mm réseau which they then printed on 15-lines per mm réseau. The results revealed the technical difficulties of the negative-positive process such as “color dilution” and moiré patterns in the prints (Baker, 1938: p.244). Further refinements to the réseau resulted in an improved 20-lines per mm print, which was demonstrated in 1931 at the Royal Society in London and at the British Kinematograph Society. At the time, the process was known as Spicer-Dufay. But problems with color saturation and moiré patterns in the positive prints persisted. 

On April 20, 1934, Dufaycolor Ltd, as the company was now known, publicly demonstrated 35mm and 16mm Dufaycolor reversal stock at the Savoy Hotel in London. The company’s initial primary interest had been to develop a viable color process for the motion picture industry, particularly as a competitor to Technicolor, but given the still-unresolved issues with duplicating the stock for release prints – essential for theatrical film distribution – the focus turned to marketing the reversal stock while solutions to the printing process were explored.

Dufaycolor 16mm reversal film was launched in the UK in late summer of 1934, particularly targeting amateur and non-theatrical filmmakers. However, a number of 35mm theatrical releases made somewhat successful use of the reversal process. The release in late 1934 of Radio Parade of 1935 – released in the US as Radio Follies – included two dance numbers filmed in the Dufaycolor reversal process by Claude Friese-Greene and printed as reversal prints for theatrical release. In 1935, British Movietone News filmed King George V’s Silver Jubilee celebrations using Dufaycolor 35mm reversal process. Several other 35mm shorts soon followed including Len Lye’s innovative A Colour Box for the General Post Office (UK, 1935), in which he painted directly onto clear film stock before being printed on Dufaycolor reversal stock.

Building on the many improvements made to the duplication process (detailed in the Technology section below), in 1937 Dufay-Chromex -- the company had merged the previous year with Chromex, a holding company for the takeover of British Cinecolor (Street, 2012: p. 270) -- hired Adrian Klein (later known as Cornwell-Clyne), an expert in color photo chemistry, from Gasparcolor to lead further research and development. Under Klein’s leadership, Dufay-Chromex formed a production company and commissioned documentary filmmaker Humphrey Jennings to make three short films. The improved negative-positive process along with Klein’s appointment opened the door for more commercial opportunities. Without the need for excessively complicated cameras or additional accessories, Dufaycolor was particularly attractive to documentary filmmakers, advertising companies and artists wanting to experiment with color. In the pre-war years, over 50 short films and commercials were made using the negative-positive process, with works from notable filmmakers such as Mary Field, Percy Smith, and J. V. Durden for their Secrets of Life series (1939); Lotte Reiniger (Heavenly Post Office, 1938); and Norman McLaren (Love on the Wing, 1938). Pathé Gazette filmed King George VI’s coronation in 1937 using Dufaycolor, and in 1939, the only feature-length Dufaycolor film, Sons of the Sea was released.

Even though all Dufaycolor film was manufactured exclusively in the UK, laboratories were equipped to process Dufaycolor film in Paris, Geneva, Rome, Johannesburg, Bombay [Mumbai] and Barcelona (Cornwell-Clyne, 1951: p. 22). Interest in Dufaycolor extended to filmmakers around the world, with productions such as Parures in Switzerland (Werner Dressler, 1939), Garden of Tasmania (Frank Hurley, 1938/39?), Roumania (unknown, 1937) and Follow the Sun, shot in Madeira (Ronnie Haines, 1940). Reportedly, one filmmaker who was using Dufaycolor negative to film in Tunis, Tunisia, was arrested and imprisoned for shooting what was believed to be prohibited matter, and the material was subsequently never allowed to be shown. (Brown & Cornwell-Clyne, 1956) 

Despite the engineering ingenuity, photochemical expertise and the extensive investment of time and money, Dufaycolor began losing traction in both the industry and amateur markets to subtractive processes such as Technicolor and Kodachrome. The many technical disadvantages with additive processes like Dufaycolor – brighter lighting conditions needed for filming, ongoing difficulties duplicating prints, visible pattern of the réseau when projected – contributed to its commercial downfall. In 1938, Ilford began backing out of its investment in Dufay-Chromex, selling its shares and terminating its agreement completely by September 1939. Despite this, Ilford did continue to apply emulsion to the réseau base until Dufaycolor production ceased years later. 

World War II forced a hiatus in research and production, and when work resumed, it had become clear that rival subtractive processes would be the future for both the industrial and amateur markets. Recognizing this, Dufay-Chromex shifted its research and development focus, investing in the pursuit of its own subtractive process as a rival to Technicolor (see Dufaychrome/British Tricolour). The production of film for the stills photographic market continued, both color and B/W, with operations finally ceasing in 1955. In January 1956, Adrian Cornwell-Clyne and Harold Brown oversaw the donation of Dufay-Chromex’s films to the British National Film Archive.