Agfacolor is a series of colour photographic products produced by Agfa of Germany. It was originally introduced in 1932 as a 'screen plate' version, similar to the Autochrome process, but in late 1936 Agfa introduced Agfacolor Neue. The new film was a 'tripack', like Kodachrome, introduced by Kodak the previous year.

Unlike the Kodachrome tri-pack process however, the colour couplers were integral with the emulsion layers. (In Kodachrome the colour dyes have to be diffused into the film during development). This greatly simplified processing of the film.

During World War II, large quantities of raw Agfacolor stock were seized by the Soviet Union and served as the basis for the Sovcolor process, which was widely used in the USSR and other Eastern bloc nations. Agfacolor consumer products were also marketed in North America under the names Ansco Color and Anscochrome (from Agfa's U.S. subsidiary, Agfa Ansco, which was later purchased by General Analine and Film), but met with limited success. Ansco Color was also used in several Hollywood films, many of which were produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, including Brigadoon, Kiss me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Lust for Life, the final film shot on this stock.

Reference

• Coe Brian, Colour Photography: The First Hundred Years 1840–1940, Ash & Grant, 1978

Photographic films