Has 'This Is Cinerama' ever seen Video or DVD release?

[willy]

And, if not, how feasible would it be to release it for home viewing?

[Steve Hoffman]

Good question, I don't know. It was restored a few years ago and shown locally but I don't know if it went any turther than that..

[guy incognito]

Wouldn't watching something like this at home, on a TV set (even a "big screen" one) kind of defeat the purpose?

[Steve Hoffman]

Totally. You'd need three TV's, heh. :)

[willy]

I suppose I'd just love to see the wonderful footage at home (I've never seen 'ITC' but have only read many thumbs-up reports) in widescreen and with surround.
Could the three screen sections be successfully joined?

[Steve Hoffman]

I guess so, if you used plasma screens. Just like that "Circle-vision 300" all-around theatre that used to be in Disneyland. Those screens weren't exactly joined either but your eye "completes" the picture so the illusion is real..

Of course the real Cinerama was one giant curved screen with three projectors...

[RDK]

The movie ("TIC") is pretty weak and wouldn't stand up to home viewing. You really need the cinerama experience for this one.

[Steve D.]

I recall how annoying it was to watch on tv, the feature, "How the West Was Won." Orignally produced in Cinerama. Even in letterbox format the three images are joined by an obvious separation line that distorts the picture. I do recall seeing TIC at the Warner Hollywood theater as a kid. The rollercoaster sequence was the highlight of the film. The promo tag line was "You're in the Picture."


-Steve

[RDK]

The rollercoaster sequence was the highlight of the film. The promo tag line was "You're in the Picture."



The roller coaster sequence is great. The rest of it, not so much. If I want to see Busch Gardens, I've got home movies in Super 8 that are just as interesting... :D

[Ski Bum]

I saw TIC as a kid in Cinerama. The roller coaster was great.

The film was re-released for "normal" theaters sometime between 1973-75. It was shown in NYC at the Ziegfeld Theater to largely chemically-treated audiences. It was a huge disappointment; it simply wasn't impressive on the normal screen, was distorted where the images had joined, and was a bit faded IIRC. On the other hand, everyone laughed for days about a certain high-voiced kid in the Vienna Choir Boy segment.

[jojopuppyfish]

Like Steve said, in Hollywood, they restored the cineramadome and showed it.
I think they show it ocasionally. Check for Arclight cinema on the web and browse around.

[Pinknik]

I saw it and HOW THE WEST WAS WON in Cinerama at a little theater in Dayton, Ohio, several years ago. I don't think they still screen Cinerama there anymore, and the equipment was all personally owned by a Cinerama buff who lived in Ohio, IIRC. If you EVER get the chance to see the real thing, I recommend it, especially HTWWW. Not unlike 3-D films, there's often little reason to see it any other way. Check google for some cool sites on Cinerama, including thewidescreenmuseum.com.

[Mister Kite]

I vividly recall seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in Cinerama back in the sixties when they first came out. What a great format! Too bad it never enjoyed truly widespread popularity.

[Steve Hoffman]

I vividly recall seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in Cinerama back in the sixties when they first came out. What a great format! Too bad it never enjoyed truly widespread popularity.
Gary, those two films were not actual three camera Cinerama; just an offshoot using one camera. NOT THE SAME THING!

[Ken_McAlinden]

According to the semi-reliable Internet Movie Database, the only three-camera Cinerama productions were:

This Is Cinerama (1952)
Cinerama Holiday (1955)
Seven Wonders of the World (1956)
Search for Paradise (1957)
South Seas Adventure (1958)
Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich (1958)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, The (1962)
Best of Cinerama (1963)
Cinerama's Russian Adventure (1966)

Non 3-Camera 65mm productions that were printed to "Super-Cinerama" for projection on giant curved screens include:

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Circus World (1964)
Golden Head, The (1964)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Greatest Story Ever Told, The (1965)
Hallelujah Trail, The (1965)*
Grand Prix (1966)
Khartoum (1966)
Custer of the West (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)*
Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
Song of Norway (1970)
Last Valley, The (1971)

* - (Directed by John Sturges, Ken's current Avatar :))

Regards,

[Jeff H.]

Gary, those two films were not actual three camera Cinerama; just an offshoot using one camera. NOT THE SAME THING!


Weren't both of those films shot using the Panavision 65mm cameras and lenses, thus the reason for their wide "Cinerama" like composition?

[Steve Hoffman]

Yes, and the "playback" screen was curved in an attempt to emulate CINERAMA.

Also, actual three-camera/three-projector CINERAMA was never used at the CINERAMA DOME theater in Hollywood whatever the name of the theater might indicate.

[charlie W]

It takes the very, very deep pockets of Paul Allen to maintain this Cinerama theater in Seattle.
http://www.cinerama.com/

[RDK]

Also, actual three-camera/three-projector CINERAMA was never used at the CINERAMA DOME theater in Hollywood whatever the name of the theater might indicate.

Minor quibble (which you probably meant): you are correct that the Dome never actually showed any Cinerama films at the time. But they've recently shown both TIC and "How the West was Won" in true Cinerama.

[EditDave]

I posed this same question to a friend of mine who is a top film collector/historian, and he said that "This Is Cinerama" has never been released in any video version, and there are no plans for it to be released anytime soon (if ever).

[Ed Bishop]

Gary, those two films were not actual three camera Cinerama; just an offshoot using one camera. NOT THE SAME THING!

Which is why they look so good on home vid, while HTWWW does not, you can see the lines between the three pieces of film. That one doesn't work on home video, probably never will no matter how they try to restore it...I'd imagine a true Cinerama image on home video, letterboxed properly, would just about look like a thin band across the screen...:eek:

:ed:

[Mister Kite]

Gary, those two films were not actual three camera Cinerama; just an offshoot using one camera. NOT THE SAME THING! Thanks, Steve. I never knew that. I also recall seeing Windjammer and How The West Was Won, which according to the list are both "true" Cinerama films.

I believe I still have the Mad, Mad World laserdisc boxset kicking around here so I will try to check it out over the weekend, but IIRC, in all of the restoration footage spliced into this edition, there are two very noticeable seams (one on the left and one on the right side of the image.) I believe the liner notes indicate that this is a result of compositing the three 65mm camera images together. So, I guess there is considerably more to the Cinerama process than a three-camera setup? I wish now I had paid more attention to this growing up. It is really fascinating! Cheers!

[Ken_McAlinden]

I don't remember the seams in the long laserdisc version of IAMMMMW (it's been a while, though), but some of the extra footage had distortions indicating that it came from a print element made for curved screens.

Regards,

[Mister Kite]

I don't remember the seams in the long laserdisc version of IAMMMMW (it's been a while, though), but some of the extra footage had distortions indicating that it came from a print element made for curved screens.

Regards, Ken, I just checked the ld and that appears to be pretty much the case. (It's been a long time for me, too.) :) I do not see hard seams, but in all of the restoration footage, the left and right sides of the image do not look to be color-timed the same as the center image. As soon as I noticed it, I remembered that was how I identified the additional 30 minutes of footage they managed to salvage and put back into the film. According to the liner notes, "...To begin the restoration process, the 70mm trims were sorted, catalogued, assembled onto 5 large reels and sent out for rejuvenation. The best copy of each trim was then mastered to digital videotape."

The liners also include this... Note: Due to the physical condition and unique aspect ratio of the elements used for restoration, the viewer will occasionally notice a difference in color, density and image orientation within scenes.

Despite the technical shortcomings of this laserdisc, I am glad I hung onto it for the extended version (which, sadly, is still not the complete, original roadshow version.) In this day of seamless branching DVD technology, it remains a mystery why MGM did not see fit to include this extra footage on the DVD. Perhaps a "special edition" will one day emerge...