Cinerama returns to Los Angeles

In case any of you film nuts want to see genuine, 3-projector Cinerama, it's coming up again in the Los Angeles area:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/arclightseptember.htm

If you are there on the 8th and spot a nurd in a "Cinerama Seattle" t-shirt, that's probably me. Be sure to say howdy!

Matt

 

....and that's 70mm "Cinerama," not three-projector Cinerama.

 

Hey, Dennis, don't feel bad in the least bit. This is strictly one of those branding issues that pops up now and then. If Cinerama, Inc., chooses to call a 70mm format "Cinerama," some would argue its within their rights to do so, but it sure was/is confusing. It's very much akin to what's going on currently with the loose usage of the brand name "IMAX" on some smaller, digitally-projected theatres.

In the closing credits of "2001," it even says "Presented in Cinerama" with the stylized Cinerama logo, right there on the screen. I'm sure it was still a killer presentation, regardless of format.

 

"The Dome" is an original Cinerama facility, and does have a deeply curved screen. Because they don't quite use the entire original intended width, the image covers something like 126-degree arc, as opposed to the 146-degree arc, but the difference is minimal -- it's still an outstanding presentation. (Also, it's a contemporary "single sheet" screen, not a "strip screen," as was was original used in Cinerama theatre. Yes, each projector has its own 35mm film (left, right, and center), all running at 26 frames per second ("This is Cinerama") or 24 frames per second ("How the West was Won"), 6-perforations high, not the standard 4 perfs, plus there is a separate 35mm mag film running in sync, carrying 7 channels of analog sound. (7 tracks appear in one of two formats. There are always 5 channels across the screen, and the two surround channels can be laid out either as left surround and right surround, or as rear surround and side surround (single channel split between left and right, in addition to the independent rear surround). The left and right projectors have a projectionist who has to actually watch the movie (carefully), and manually adjust the alignment with the adjoining frame. There is a doohickey called a "jigglo" (spelling may vary) that's like a little comb, and it bounces around inside the projector's aperture edge at the frame lines to intentionally blur the join lines on screen.

If you do make it to the show, listen for one really funny little anomoly in the soundtrack to THIS IS CINERAMA. There is one black & white scene, which was basically some test footage that was shot (very boringly, I might add) of a choir entering a church, and singing as they enter. The surround audio for this track is supposed to eminate from the rear (no side) speakers, and the choir would then progress from the direct rear of the theatre to the front screen area, paralleling what appears on screen. However, "back in the day," there was an employee whose job it was to sit at a little black box and MANUALLY steer the surround information between the two formats listed above. Nowadays, nobody has time for that, so the choir now emerges from the far left surround speakers, instead of from the back of the theatre. (The surround is now "permanently" set for left and right surround only.)

The fact that it ever works at all is truly a minor miracle!

I own what may be the only surviving Cinerama audio control panel, from which the surround steering would have taken place back in the 50s and 60s. The upper right knob is the one that would switch the system from L/R surround to Rear/Side surround formats. Here's a photo:

 

HOLIDAY IN SPAIN is a real yes/no. Here's the scoop. It was originally titled as SCENT OF MYSTERY and filmed in 70mm SMELLOVISION (yes, Smellovision), and you can probably guess what that included. (It was a real stinker, tee-hee.) Later, the 70mm negative was optically split into a 3-panel print that was compatible with both Cinerama and (arguably superior) Cinemiracle (which Cinerama had bought out by that point), and shown as a 3-strip film in 3-strip compatible theatres, and there is absolutely ZERO reason for doing this, except that it could be advertised as being "in Cinerama" or "in Cinemiracle."

BEST OF CINERAMA really didn't exist in a single version. Rather, Cinerama, Inc., was hard up for some $$$, and they literally cut up some of their old prints and assembled some highlight reels that varied a bit from city to city, with new titles added to make it all look official.

CINERAMA'S RUSSIAN ADVENTURE was actually filmed in the USSR using the copycat KINOPANORAMA system, which was Cinerama with 9-channel sound and the added feature of really grainy, cheap film stock. Cinerama negotiated a deal with the Russians, and showed the film in 3-panel 7-track stereo in one theatre: Eitel's in Chicago, IIRC. All other theatres who ran this title did so via a 70mm 6-track composite print. Bing Crosby narrated the American version.

 

The Cinerama Dome was built for 3-projector Cinerama in 1963, but by the time it opened, 3-projector Cinerama had essentially died, so the three projectors were never installed, and the theatre grand-opened with the 70mm "Cinerama" presentation of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, filmed in anamorphic Ultra-Panavision.

Zoom ahead a few years (well, almost 40). I think it was around Thanksgiving of 1999 that I was at the Cinerama in Honolulu, which was about to close. Lo and behold, their original Cinerama projectors and sound gear were still sitting IN PLACE in the projection booth upstairs, unused since 1963! I called a friend at Pacific Theatres (which owns Cinerama, Inc.), told him what all was there (he had already suspected), and the projectors were then shipped to Los Angeles for refurbishment, and installed in the Dome in Hollywood. When you see 3-strip there, you are seeing it via the old Honolulu projectors, which I personally think is pretty darned cool.

I've been in very nice theatres that were converted for Cinerama -- and some kinda cruddy ones -- and the nicest theatre I've ever seen in my life was built from the ground up for Cinerama: The Indian Hills Cinerama in Omaha, NE. The Cinerama Dome is very nice for three strip. For 70mm or 35mm, there are some issues that crop up because the projection angle is a bit high. (It didn't matter for 3-strip, but for widescreen projection from a single piece of film, the image suffers from a moderate degree of "horizon sag," in which straight lines become a little smily-facey on screen. Again, that problem does not crop up with 3-projector presentations, for which the building was originally constructed.) Personally, the horizon issued don't bother me, but I understand why some people don't like it. To my way of thinking, seeing, say, TERMINATOR 2 in 70mm on that big curved screen with a mild smily aspect is way better than seeing it on a flat screen. I like to sit right in the middle and go "ooohhh...."

To answer part two of your question, most custom-built theatres will have fantastic sight lines - not a bad seat in the house. Some conversions have some seats that may not be angled perfectly, etc., but those are usually pretty minor flaws. YMMV, as they say.

Matt

 

Image from widescreenmuseum.com. The center projector required two of these, one for each side of the center image. The side machines each use one.

 

Wave -- yep, the blocking is a little awkward. If you look at those scenes on a flat screen, or if you sit so far back in the theatre that the screen appears almost flat to you, it looks a little goofy. If, however, you are sitting up close, somewhat "inside the curve," it's more convincing -- but it's still not perfect. Aside from the perspective issues, the directors were very careful to stage the shots so faces would not be chopped up where a join line goes, but in some of the action scenes, an actors face might get stuck on a join line for a few seconds...and it looks weird, definitely.

 

Yes, I know the Indian Hills all too well, as I was one of the "lobbyists" from the day it closed, making 6 trips to Omaha from Seattle to participate in meetings, etc. Within the website you posted above, this page has a number of photos taken by yours truly:

http://www.indianhillstheatre.com/interior/index.htm

The day the bulldozers hit, I literally cried, and I'm a very manly man, so it takes a lot to make me cry.

Here's one of the shots, composited with a Cinerama screen shot. Yes, it was really like you could walk right into the screen. What a loss...

Wait a minute! That website has goofed! This picture is not the Indian Hills! It's one of my shots of the Cinerama in Seattle from 1997, another formerly-killer theatre. That's really funny. I'll track down a shot of the Indian Hills. In the meanwhile, here's a shot on the Indian Hills website, but it's actually of the theatre in Seattle!

 

OK, here's a photo from the 1960s showing the interior of the Cooper Cinerama in Denver, of which the Indian Hills was a virtual clone. (There were three of the round buildings constructed, first in Denver, then Minneapolis, then in Omaha, and the Omaha building was actually a hair larger than the other two, but essentially identical. All three are now gone.)

For Cinerama, the screen literally ran floor to ceiling, exit to exit. (The curtains did not gather on the side as is typical. Rather, they continued off to the side, around the corner, during the actual presentation.) It's a little hard to visualize in a 2-D photo, but that screen was close to being a half-circle -- 146 degrees.

 

If any of you are considering a trip to "The Dome" next week to catch Cinerama, here's a concise review of what you'll see in THIS IS CINERAMA:

http://www.rossanthony.com/C/cinerama.shtml

One little quibble: He states that THIS IS CINERAMA was the top grossing film of 1952 despite only playing in 30 markets. It did EVENTUALLY play in that many (after 1952), but in 1952, it opened on September 30th playing on ONE SCREEN, and that was it's run nationwide for 1952 -- ONE SCREEN for THREE MONTHS, period, and it was the top-grossing film for the year. Yes, those were some pretty consistent crowds in NYC!

The real draw, IMO, is HOW THE WEST WAS WON. Both films will be playing next week.

Here's a shot of my favorite sequence from THIS IS CINERAMA. In person, it's almost like you are right there on the canal!

 

Cinerama clips

For those of you who have never seen actual Cinerama footage, here's something to just give you a tiny taste. It's a Quicktime video clip in two parts from shows this past Tuesday and Wednesday at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Click here for the video:

http://web.mac.com/mlutthans/iWeb/Site%2032/Movie.html

Below is a shot of yours truly operating the "A" projector (aka "Able") during How the West was Won on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Both films shown this time (THIS IS CINERAMA and HOW THE WEST WAS WON) are new prints struck in (IIRC) 2003. The vault elements for HTWWW were in excellent shape and the print is gorgeous. The elements for TIC were in pretty bad shape, and the 2003 print -- although new and generally an improvement over old prints -- is far from perfect. (I suppose some may argue that the IB Tech prints of TIC from circa 1960 were of excellent quality, but I've seen them and they were chewed up enough that I think the new prints are an improvement overall, since they are scratch-free/splice free, etc.)

I'll see what I can dig up in terms of booth shots.