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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?

This is exactly what I mean by people mistakenly thinking that Taylor still had an interest in Todd AO. Fox owned Todd AO, there would be no question of hefty licensing payments! I repeat, Fox had already made Can-Can in Todd AO, so this is all nonsense, but if it were true why did Taylor not...

The whole "Elizabeth Taylor insisted on Todd-AO" thing was started by people who had the mistaken belief that Taylor still had a financial interest in the Todd-AO Corporation, inherited from Mike Todd. This was not the case, Fox acquired the Todd AO Corporation after Todd's death in 1958. What...

Since when has Wikipedia been an authoritative source? For what it's worth, I believe that Cleopatra was originally conceived in the late fifties as a relatively cheap CinemaScope production to be filmed on the Fox backlot and starring Fox contract artist Joan Collins. Then Fox acquired Todd-AO...

Cleopatra was made between 1960 and 1963!

Just because a story has been bandied around over the years doesn't make it true. Fox obtained control of the Todd-AO corporation in 1958 after Mike Todd's death (as related in John Belton's authoritative book "Widescreen Movies", Harvard University Press, 1992). Having made Can-Can in Todd-AO...

I do not believe that Taylor forced Fox to use Todd-AO, by the time that Cleopatra went into production Fox owned the Todd-AO process (and had already used it on Can-Can) and as the film was to be their response to MGM's Ben-Hur in the epic stakes, there was never any doubt that it would be in...

I've always believed that Giant being filmed flat was due to Elizabeth Taylor's aversion to CinemaScope (in particular the CinemaScope mumps), Miss Taylor's first wide format film was Raintree County, filmed in MGM Camera 65 with Panavision lenses and although Butterfield 8 carries a CinemaScope...

Rank's Astoria was not really a "Cinerama" theatre. Its 1968 refurbishment resulted in a new curved screen similar to the Odeon Marble Arch and the Gaumont 1s at Sheffield and Bournemouth ( a similar screen was installed at around the same time at the Odeon Merrion Centre in Leeds). The Astoria...

Yes, The Golden Head played at the Royalty Cinerama theatre from April 8th to July 29th 1965. It came off to make way for The Greatest Story Ever Told, transferring from the Casino Cinerama. The Royalty was one of three theatres operated by Cinerama in London at that time, the Casino...

It was shown on Channel 5 in a cropped 16x9 version.

Not only MGM's first CinemaScope production, but the first in the UK as well, having been shot at MGM-British, Borehamwood and various locations, including some in Ireland (so Ireland's first CinemaScope film as well!).

In the vast majority of circuit owned cinemas (in the UK at least) the only option the projectionist had was widescreen or scope. They did not have loads of different aperture plates and lenses available, nor was the screen masking infinitely variable (usually just "in" for widescreen or "out"...

There was a time when British films suffered massive cuts when released in the US. For example, the well regarded "Ice Cold in Alex" (1958) which ran 132 minutes became the 79 minute "Desert Attack" when it crossed the pond!

Sleeping Beauty opened in the UK on July 29th 1959 in 70mm at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, the first 70mm presentation there after the two year run of Around the World in 80 Days in 34mm (yes, really) Cinestage.

VistaVision was an open matte process which could, according to Paramount, be shown at any ratio from 1.37:1 to 2:1. There was no OAR, but it was recommended that 1.85:1 was used. This became the US standard for all non-anamorphic widescreen, but that was not the case elsewhere. In the UK 1.75:1...