Aspect Ratio Documentation (3 Viewers)

[RolandL]

The London Casino was not a purpose built Cinerama theatre and was totally different from the Loews and Warners in NYC. There was no stage and no proscenium at the NY theatres. And unless someone shows me a photo demonstrating otherwise, I will continue to maintain that the screen was floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

The Loews Astor Plaza (1974-2004) was also built for Cinerama, but no Cinerama film ever played there. While there was no stage or proscenium there either, there was some masking and/or side or top curtains.

I know that for "This Is Cinerama" it opens with a single smaller 35mm image that had masking, but I really think that's besides the point.

The theatres that were built for Cinerama and some others that were converted did have floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall screens but, they did have masking. Below is a picture of the screen at the Denver Indian Hills Cinerama theatre. It is masked at the top and bottom for 1.85.

70mm Cinerama theatres had similar masking as D-150 theatres (see masking for various AR below).

 

[Bob Furmanek]

The world premiere of our SEPTEMBER STORM 3-D/CinemaScope restoration is December 8 at the Aero in Santa Monica, CA!

http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/september-storm-0

 

[zoetmb]

The theatres that were built for Cinerama and some others that were converted did have floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall screens but, they did have masking. Below is a picture of the screen at the Denver Indian Hills Cinerama theatre. It is masked at the top and bottom for 1.85.

70mm Cinerama theatres had similar masking as D-150 theatres (see masking for various AR below).

You're still missing my point. There was no masking when playing Cinerama films at purpose-built Cinerama theatres like the Warner and Loews in NYC, which during the prime age of Cinerama did not play non-Cinerama films.

 

[DP 70]

Thanks for the Pics Roland.

 

[RolandL]

You're still missing my point. There was no masking when playing Cinerama films at purpose-built Cinerama theatres like the Warner and Loews in NYC, which during the prime age of Cinerama did not play non-Cinerama films.

The New York Warner and Loews were not built for Cinerama, they were converted.

The NYC Strand opened in 1914 and changed the name to Warner in 1951. THIS IS CINERAMA premiered 6/5/53 at the Warner on a 67 by 24 deeply curved louvered screen and played for 88 weeks.

The NYC Loew's Capitol opened in 1919. The name was changed to Loew's Cinerama for the premiere on 8/7/62 of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM on a 90 by 33 deeply curved louvered screen and played for 33 weeks.

What do you consider the "the prime age of Cinerama"?

 

[zoetmb]

The New York Warner and Loews were not built for Cinerama, they were converted.

The NYC Strand opened in 1914 and changed the name to Warner in 1951. This Is Cinerama premiered 6/5/53 at the Warner on a 67 by 24 deeply curved louvered screen and played for 88 weeks.

The NYC Loew's Capitol opened in 1919. The name was changed to Loew's Cinerama for the premiere on 8/7/62 of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM on a 90 by 33 deeply curved louvered screen and played for 33 weeks.

What do you consider the "the prime age of Cinerama"?

Once again, you're missing the point. They were each completely rebuilt for Cinerama. There was nothing left of the interiors of both theatres. Seat count was drastically reduced. When renovated, they were purpose-built for Cinerama. No stage, no proscenium. (And no other architectural elements left of the old theaters - they were totally modernized.)

Were you ever in these theaters? I was.

 

[RolandL]

Were you ever in these theaters? I was.

What years? The Warner had different screens depending on the year.

 

[Gary16]

This weekend the Starz Encore Action HD channel is airing the 1953 "The War of the Worlds". The Paramount logo and the main title are in the standard 1.37:1 ratio but the rest of the movie is cropped to fill the 16:9 screen. But the whole movie should be 1.37 correct?

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Yes, it should be 1.37.

 

[SteveJKo]

Gentlemen, I hope these help. I found these pictures at the Cinematreasures site. The first two pictures seem to be from the time period just before the Capitol was converted to Cinerama (with the screen masked to 1.85 X 1). The second two pictures show the theater as it was always described to me by those who were there, a giant curved screen with no masking and no sign of the original proscenium.

 

[RolandL]

Gentlemen, I hope these help. I found these pictures at the Cinematreasures site. The first two pictures seem to be from the time period just before the Capitol was converted to Cinerama (with the screen masked to 1.85 X 1). The second two pictures show the theater as it was always described to me by those who were there, a giant curved screen with no masking and no sign of the original proscenium. View attachment 35350 View attachment 35351 View attachment 35352 View attachment 35353

Some of those pictures came from this page on my web site. When possible, I always mention where the pictures came from on my web site.

You're still missing my point. There was no masking when playing Cinerama films at purpose-built Cinerama theatres like the Warner and Loews in NYC, which during the prime age of Cinerama did not play non-Cinerama films.

There was masking at most Cinerama theatres. I showed an example of the Denver Indian Hills Cinerama theatre on post # 6421 above. If you consider the 70mm Cinerama titles as part of the "prime age of Cinerama" non-Cinerama films did play during that time at the Loews.

Below is the list of Cinerama titles that played at the Loews. After Circus World, the Loews did play non-Cinerama titles

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Premiere: August 7, 1962
Duration: 33 weeks
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
Premiere: March 27, 1963
Duration: 39 weeks
THE BEST OF CINERAMA
Premiere: December 25, 1963
Duration: 13 weeks
WINDJAMMER (Return Engagement)
Premiere: April 29, 1964
Duration: 8 weeks
CIRCUS WORLD
Premiere: June 25, 1964
Duration: 19 weeks
THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL
Premiere: June 30, 1965 (World Premiere)
Duration: 11 weeks
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Premiere: April 3, 1968
Duration: 24 weeks

I'm just wondering without masking how the films below were shown on the Loews Cinerama screen. Cheyenne Autumn was 70mm, Casino Royale might have been a 70mm blow-up. They would have been stretched with a distorted image to fill the Cinerama screen. The Dirty Dozen was also a 70mm blowup but filmed flat and must have looked even worse than the previous two titles. In the Heat of the Night was 1.85 35mm so how was that shown?

Below from 12/23/64

Below from 4/28/67

Below from 7/14/67

Below from October 6, 1967

 

[SteveJKo]

Roland, thanks for the link to your site, what a great resource! Do you happen to know if the 90 foot width of the Capitol's screen was the measurement along the arc or the chord? I'm thinking it's probably the arc, with the chord being somewhere around 70 feet.

 

[RolandL]

Roland, thanks for the link to your site, what a great resource! Do you happen to know if the 90 foot width of the Capitol's screen was the measurement along the arc or the chord? I'm thinking it's probably the arc, with the chord being somewhere around 70 feet.

Around the arc for sure. That would give it around the 2.76:1 needed for Ultra Panavision - although THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL was the only one. Surprising to see how few Cinerama titles they did show. I guess they didn't want to pay royalties to Cinerama Inc. for every movie they showed. Plus Warner was also showing Cinerama titles.

 

[Mark Pytel]

hey Bob, quick question
Since Tobor the Great is 1954 but I think was shot in 1953, what is the OAR? Was it shot before the conversion to widescreen?

 

[Robert Crawford]

hey Bob, quick question
Since Tobor the Great is 1954 but I think was shot in 1953, what is the OAR? Was it shot before the conversion to widescreen?

According to AFI, Tobor the Great was filmed January of 1954 and OAR is 1.66:1.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

TOBOR began filming on January 5, 1954 and is composed for 1.66:1.

On January 12, Variety reported: "Director Lee Sholem has problems filming Tobor in wide-screen. Has to keep an eight-foot robot and four-foot youngster in frame."

 

[Gary Couzens]

Does anyone have a definitive for the aspect ratio of THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER? I watched it again today on Mubi UK - it expires there at midnight tonight. Mubi's HD copy is in a ratio of 1.78:1 - which I gather is the same as the BFI Blu-ray, which I don't own. IMDB says the OAR is 1.66:1 but I'm wondering if that's simply another case of "all 60s British movies are in that ratio, aren't they?". It didn't look unduly cropped in 1.78:1, as a film genuinely in 1.66:1 might do, so I'm wondering if it's in fact in 1.75:1 or even 1.85:1.

While I'm here, the film's DP, Walter Lassally, celebrated his ninetieth birthday earlier this month.

 

[Douglas R]

Does anyone have a definitive for the aspect ratio of THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER? I watched it again today on Mubi UK - it expires there at midnight tonight. Mubi's HD copy is in a ratio of 1.78:1 - which I gather is the same as the BFI Blu-ray, which I don't own. IMDB says the OAR is 1.66:1 but I'm wondering if that's simply another case of "all 60s British movies are in that ratio, aren't they?". It didn't look unduly cropped in 1.78:1, as a film genuinely in 1.66:1 might do, so I'm wondering if it's in fact in 1.75:1 or even 1.85:1.

While I'm here, the film's DP, Walter Lassally, celebrated his ninetieth birthday earlier this month.

Sorry, there's no aspect ratio or any other studio information given about the film in Kine Weekly. Probably because it was an all-location shoot.

 

[Gary Couzens]

Oh well, thanks for checking.

BBC2 is showing ON THE WATERFRONT this coming Saturday, following the documentary LISTEN TO ME MARLON. The BBC are showing it in HD and widescreen. I wonder which ratio they'll be showing it in?

(It's probably the same copy they last showed in 2015, but I didn't catch that showing. I haven't seen the film in about thirty years, though that was a 35mm print at the National Film Theatre - projected in 1.37:1 as I remember.)

 

[Bob Furmanek]

I've had several inquires on this one:

THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA began production in Rome in January 1954 and was composed for widescreen. When released in October 1954, the AR listed in the trades (Variety, Boxoffice, Exhibitor) was 1.75:1.