Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm 1962 (1 Viewer)

Any word on a dvd of this? I know the negs. are long gone from what I hear.
I just watched my LaserDisc of this and would like something a little better.
Also any news about How the West Was Won?
Roger

It would need a lot of work was the last I heard. How The West Was Won should be released some time in 2007.

Hopefully in SmileBox format.

A few months ago, How the West Was Won was announced to be on its way in Smilebox format. I must've read about that here on HTF. A Brothers Grimm DVD in Smilebox using whatever materials are available would be much better than no DVD at all.

I recorded BROTHERS GRIMM off TCM a couple of years ago, and that's what I use to get my "fix." Seems like Warners folks were asked about it at one of the chats and they said it was nowhere on the horizon.

HOW THE WEST WAS WON would be a most welcome addition especially since the last DVD wasn't even anamorphic. Even that enhancement would give it some additional clarity.

Smilebox format? What is this?

Real Cinerama was achieved by simultaneous projection of three images on a very curved screen (almost a semi-circle.) In order for it to look right on a television screen, the image should be curved (looking like a smile, thus smilebox.)

In the 1950s, Cinerama movies were travelogues (This Is Cinerama, Cinerama Holiday, The Seven Wonders of the World, Search for Paradise, South Seas Adventure.) Cinerama returned in 1962 with two -- and only two -- "story" movies, "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "How the West Was Won." The remaining Cinerama movies, starting with "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," weren't really Cinerama at all, but "Ultra" or "Super" 70MM film. So, as far as the "story" movies go, only "Grimm" and "West" need to be smile-boxed.

Is there any chance that the original five Cinerama travelogues will ever be out on DVD, smileboxed or not?

Joe, I've often wondered about this myself, even if only for the historical aspect. After all, these are the films that started the widescreen revolution. Anyone know if that documentary that was being made about Cinerama is any closer to a release, even if it was straight to DVD?

They are an undeniable part of movie history. For instance, "Cinerama Holiday" was the highest-grossing movie of 1955 (at the time - "Lady and the Tramp" later surpassed it, but due to many reissues at inflated prices.) This is even more remarkable in that it only played at one theater in a limited number of cities.

A friend of mine gave me the original "This is Cinerama" program this year...pretty cool stuff!

I was lucky enough to see both THIS IS CINERAMA and HOW THE WEST WAS WON back when they were still running on a regular basis in Dayton, OH. Sadly, that theater tore out their Cinerama installation several years back.

I admit to buying too many dvds ( is that possible? ) because after reading this thread it occured to me that somewhere in my collection of close to a thousand titles there was a documentary or subject in the special features that showed some of the early This Is Cinerama film(s). It wasn't alot but it was interesting. I'm sure it was a Warner's title but I am taxing my memory attempting to remember which dvd had it. Can anyone help me on this?

Not sure about the BROTHERS GRIMM release, but Warner did announce a while back that we will see a deluxe dvd version of HOW THE WEST WAS WON in 2007, using the Smilebox process and including the CINERAMA ADVENTURE documentary as an extra. If you want to see an example of the Smilebox, take a look at the extras from the 1933 KING KONG dvd. The documentary about Merian Cooper (producer of KONG and one of the people who backed Cinerama) has a section on Cinerama and they show clips of THIS IS CINERAMA using this process. I too trekked out to Dayton to see real Cinerama for myself about a decade ago. There is nothing like it.... and it is an important part of our cinema heritage.

After How The West Was Won is released on DVD, if it does well, the travelogues might be released.

There were four different This Is Cinerama programs that I know of from the US. Cinerama theatres overseas had there own programs depending on the country.

1 - The original from the New York Broadway Theatre
2 - Similar one from the New York Warner Theatre
3 - Another for it's release at other Cinerama theatres.
4 - One with horizontal printing on the cover.

It's not one of the first programs because it mentions the first anniversary. It is probably from other Cinerama theatres.

Here are some pictures of three different This Is Cinerama programs:

http://home.att.net/~gmmachinery/cinerama2.jpg

http://home.att.net/~gmmachinery/cinerama1.jpg

http://i6.ebayimg.com/02/i/08/e2/75/b3_1_b.JPG - has Cinerama Holiday too

It's the third one...the picture on the right is the one I have with the black cover.

I'd like to have The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm on DVD someday too... and I'm eagerly awaiting the promised release of How The West Was Won. Apart from the visual spectacle, I found it very moving - despite the fast pace and relatively short "episodes" within. Great cast made me care about their characters.

I just pulled out my King Kong disc to have another look at the SmileBox sequences from This is Cinerama. Definitely the best way to put out HTWWW on DVD. Here's hoping they can find good enough elements to do Brothers Grimm as well.