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In those days, color film stock was quite expensive. The cameras that shot color were not owned by the studios, but by Technicolor Inc and the studios paid a high price to lease them. The units were gigantic, and seriously weighed quite a lot.

If you DID have a Director of Photography who was versed in such equipment, you still had to hire a Technicolor Consultant

Since film was "slower" in those days, everything had to be lit much hotter than anything filmed in Black and White. Color exteriors and location shooting was a nightmare.

Add to this the fact that most of the scenes involving animals with human actors were rear projections, and you can see why MGM, who started the series with Wieismuller wanted to keep the budget as low as possible.

After a few years, the franchise moved to RKO Studios, who had less money than MGM.

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14y ago

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