Recent content by Les Mangram

Airport was most certainly not regarded as a "disaster movie" when it was released. It was an old fashioned Hollywood melodrama from a best selling novel. Some people retrospectively call it the first of the disaster movie cycle (wrongly in my view). The Poseidon Adventure started the cycle of...

In the UK The Hallelujah Trail managed 20 weeks at the Casino Cinerama in London from July 29th 1965, the second "single lens" Cinerama presentation there after The Greatest Story Ever Told (April 8th, 16 weeks).

70mm was only really useful regarding quota if you played mostly 70mm. Quota rules specifically referred to 35mm, anything else didn't count for quota (this is the reason for Around the World in 80 Days playing at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road in 34mm). If you played nothing but 70mm you had...

The reason for Mary, Queen of Scots being shown to the public in 35mm was British quota. By the rules of the Board of Trade, the film was British and therefore counted for quota. This sort of thing happened occasionally, as with Zulu, which was shown to the UK press in 70mm, but was shown to the...

Regarding the aspect ratio debate, in the UK Thoroughly Modern Millie, like all 35mm non anamorphic films, was shown at 1.75:1 which was the British standard.

I transferred the VHS tape to DVD-R, it definitely runs 202 minutes. The VHS label clearly states that it is PAL. They would not be able to describe it as such if it was NTSC as that would be an illegal product description and anybody who bought it and couldn't play it because of equipment...

The various running times of this film are somewhat bemusing. The "basic" version runs 162 minutes. Supposedly this is 26 minutes shorter than the LA premiere version, which makes that version 188 minutes. However the version passed by the BBFC in the UK (and presumably shown at the Astoria...

1.75, 1.85, for heavens sake, 16x9 TV is 1.78, so what's the difference? Presumably the film was shot open matte and was shown in cinemas at whatever ratio they were equipped to show, which may have been 1.66:1, 1.75:1, 1.85:1 or even, in some slow adopters, Academy.

There were five Hitchcock VistaVision films. You've overlooked The Trouble With Harry!

The overture was on every UK release print, both 70mm and 35mm.

I stand corrected. I can't remember noticing on the one occasion that I've watched the disc!

I have the 2011 Sony BD of The Guns of Naverone and it does not have an intermission. In fact I have never seen this film on any format with an intermission.

The Battle of the River Plate played at the Odeon Leicester Square, not the Plaza.

If by "true VistaVion" you mean horizontal "lazy eight" projection, both Rank's Odeon Leicester Square and Paramount's Plaza in London were so equipped. Not sure which films were presented this way as such technical details were not mentioned in advertising.

Sentimental attachment? Cleopatra was the one and only film that Taylor made in Todd-AO. Why didn't she insist on Raintree County being made in Todd-AO, or any other film that she ever made?