"This is Cinerama" on TCM.........

[dvdjunkie]

Don't know how many of you watch Turner Classic Movies on a regular basis, but yesterday (Thursday) they premiered the 1952 movie "This Is Cinerama".

Robert Osbourne hosted the premier and Lowell Thomas was the narrator of this new "film process" that they hoped would revolutionize the motion picture industry.

Using three movie projectors on a wrap-around screen, the movie experience was supposed to be the next step in the evolution of film entertainment. The screen was approximately 180 degrees, surrounding with picture and 6-channel stereo sound.

As Robert Osbourne explained, TCM has taken great lengths to restore and preserve this great film The vertical lines where the three projectors pictures come together have been all but eliminated. The realism is truly amazing. The "Smilevision" letterboxing was unique and even on the smallest of screens would provide the viewer with sensations of movement and the sound was sensational

It open with a standard frame black and white introduction by Lowell Thomas. This introduction runs about 13 minutes, and when it comes time to reveal the Cinerama screen it was amazing. I remember as a kid seeing the original and it was almost that good.

I know Midge has a big screen HDTV, as I do, and I sure hope that she watched this innovative film process. 10 films were made using this process and most of them played for more than a year at the theater.

I saw "This Is Cinerama" at the Warners Theater in Hollywood. This was years before the Pacific Cinerama Dome was built. I was in attendance for three other premiers of Cinerama productions. This included "Cinerama Adventure" and "How The West Was Won".

Hope you all were watching and enjoyed the presentation as much as I did.

[Midge]

I also remember seeing a Cinerama feature, most likely This is Cinerama, at the same theatre in Hollywood. I was very young then and don't remember much about the movie except that I had a big cherry lollipop which tasted very good. I think my favorite part of the movie must have been the roller coaster.

Last night I missed the TCM restoration of This is Cinerama, but I did see the very interesting documentary on the Cinerama process that they showed afterward. Then I saw How the West Was Won, which followed. TCM did a nice job with the restoration, and it was impressive on a wide screen HDTV.

[dvdjunkie]

Since I DVR'd all three of those films, I am going to have them for a while. I have to find my connection cables and then I can transfer them all to DVD-RW.

I thought the 'Smilebox" letterboxing was an amazing process and really captured what Cinerama was all about. You are right about the Roller Coaster sequence. It was the opening scene after the introduction on "This Is Cinerama". Basically what it was was a travelogue taking us all around the world and making use of the big screen and the six-channel stereo sound. One of my favorite sequences was the helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

"How The West Was Won" I already own on Blu-ray, but it isn't in this "Smilebox" format, so I want to get that on DVD-RW to save for my collection of movies.

[dvdjunkie]

I must be very special, as my daughter just walked in and presented me with the Blu-ray version of "How The West Was Won". It is a two-disc Blu-ray, one has the regular 70 mm print in beautiful color and a great 5.1 Dolby mix. Disc number two is the one that they showed on TCM Thursday night, with the Smilebox Letterboxing. On my 60-inch television it looks wonderful. I am going back to watch it from beginning to end. Just thought you would like to know.

[Midge]

Wow, what a coincidence, Bill! I'm glad you will get to see the restored version of How the West Was Won. I have to say it's not my favorite movie in the world, but the cinematography is impressive, and CInerama effect in "Smile Vision" was spectacular. Blu-Ray will make it even better than what I saw on TCM. Enjoy!

[dvdjunkie]

Totally agree with you Midge on "How The West Was Won" not being one of the best westerns, but even with its plotholes, and rearranging history moments, it was the cinematography that put this movie in the 'want list' of most movie buffs.

After I watched it, the bonus features on the second disc of the Blu-ray set included the feature "Cinerama Adventure" that also was on TCM.

Just looked in Amazon, and "South Seas Adventure" the second of the 'cruise' Cinerama films is being released in December as a two-disc Blu-ray. Disc one will have the 70mm version of the travelogue, disc two will have the "Smilebox" letterbox version of the film. On the second disc one of the extras will be trailers, shown in Cinerama, to all of the films originally shot in the Cinerama format.

"The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm" was another of the films that I remember seeing at the Warner theater in Cinerama. It has been released in a widescreen format, but edited very poorly according to the reviews. I hope that they will release this film in the "Smilebox" version on Blu-ray sometime in the future. TCM has it on their schedule regularly and I hope that they show it in the "Smilebox" version.