- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,271
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I was a bit young when I was taken to see This is Cinerama in it's original release. And I still recall those giant curtains opening, and opening, and opening, to reveal the entire image. If you're lucky enough, you can share that experience the next time David Strohmaier and his merry band of fanatics runs How the West Was Won at the Dome in Hollywood.
I believe this is a complete list of the released three-panel Cinerama productions, but I could be missing something.
This is Cinerama - 1953
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 (in Cinemiracle)
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm - 1962
How the West Was Won - 1962
Cinerama's Russian Adventure - 1966
If one were to try to come up with true Event status motion picture exhibitions, TiC would have to be one of them.
When the move was made from huge travelogue to huge scripted motion picture in 1962 with Brothers Grimm, and HtWWW, things got a bit more interesting. To this day, for me, HtWWW remains the pinnacle of the process - entertaining in addition to being an exhilarating theatrical Event experience.
But let's get back to Dave Strohmaier, and his passion to save the Cinerama library.
As far as I'm aware, only two productions were kept well, and protected to decently, and those would be the M-G-M productions. Many of the others have fallen into distress, with problematic original negatives. While separation masters may survive for them, the cost to re-combine them would far outweigh any commercial value.
Which left Mr. Strohmaier trying to do the impossible. Make more than acceptable versions of the films available to the public, especially via Blu-ray and his Smilebox digital view, to give a modern audience an idea of what the films would have looked like, had they been sitting in the audience half a century before.
With the original negatives too problematic to print, Mr. Strohmaier and his digital restoration guru Greg Kimble, went to a 65mm dupe prepared in the early '70s, which in turn had been made from a set of defective dye transfer prints.
Enough words.
You can go here to learn about the process they used to create the HD master:
http://www.davidstrohmaier.com/TEST/Remastering%20TIC%20v-2-iPhone.m4v
Bottom line?
A beautiful HD restoration, which, in my humble opinion, successfully brings the thrill of that original Event to home theater.
Just a bit smaller, and with a bit less impact.
My ratings here are based upon what they began with, their process, and the final result. Going to the original masters would have yielded a better image, but who was going to pay for it?
Image - 4
Audio - 5
Highly Recommended.
RAH
I believe this is a complete list of the released three-panel Cinerama productions, but I could be missing something.
This is Cinerama - 1953
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 (in Cinemiracle)
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm - 1962
How the West Was Won - 1962
Cinerama's Russian Adventure - 1966
If one were to try to come up with true Event status motion picture exhibitions, TiC would have to be one of them.
When the move was made from huge travelogue to huge scripted motion picture in 1962 with Brothers Grimm, and HtWWW, things got a bit more interesting. To this day, for me, HtWWW remains the pinnacle of the process - entertaining in addition to being an exhilarating theatrical Event experience.
But let's get back to Dave Strohmaier, and his passion to save the Cinerama library.
As far as I'm aware, only two productions were kept well, and protected to decently, and those would be the M-G-M productions. Many of the others have fallen into distress, with problematic original negatives. While separation masters may survive for them, the cost to re-combine them would far outweigh any commercial value.
Which left Mr. Strohmaier trying to do the impossible. Make more than acceptable versions of the films available to the public, especially via Blu-ray and his Smilebox digital view, to give a modern audience an idea of what the films would have looked like, had they been sitting in the audience half a century before.
With the original negatives too problematic to print, Mr. Strohmaier and his digital restoration guru Greg Kimble, went to a 65mm dupe prepared in the early '70s, which in turn had been made from a set of defective dye transfer prints.
Enough words.
You can go here to learn about the process they used to create the HD master:
http://www.davidstrohmaier.com/TEST/Remastering%20TIC%20v-2-iPhone.m4v
Bottom line?
A beautiful HD restoration, which, in my humble opinion, successfully brings the thrill of that original Event to home theater.
Just a bit smaller, and with a bit less impact.
My ratings here are based upon what they began with, their process, and the final result. Going to the original masters would have yielded a better image, but who was going to pay for it?
Image - 4
Audio - 5
Highly Recommended.
RAH