For a while it was thought that to get color on film back in the turn of the century, one had to have physically paint onto the film. Film legends like Thomas Edison, Georges Meilies and Segundo de Chomon all did this to hypnotic effect:
It wouldn't be until much later that the technique of film colorization would be at all viable, but Kodak certainly was in the running by 1922 with their Kodachrome film:
Kinda creepy to think that most likely all these people are dead... even creepier to see them this way... looking like living antique porcelain dolls.
Anyway.
In 2012, the first film ever recorded in color was found. The process, invented by Edward Raymond Turner (ironic that nearly 90 years later, another Turner would be vilified for trying to colorize black and white classics) allowed him to actually record in color. The playback aspect was, unfortunately, never to be perfected in his lifetime. His projector never worked.
UNTIL NOW (of course)!
I'm not too clear on the tech aspect of this, but suffice it to say they used a computer, and yadda yadda yadda here we are:
