Does Kino understand stereo sound? (1 Viewer)

[Alan Tully]

Yup, I saw The Last Valley at the Leicester Square Theatre, & loved it, a stunning looking film, & what a great John Barry score! I'm pretty sure I saw it again on its short run at the Casino, as you say, they were showing a lot of stuff then, I also saw Ben-Hur there in the early seventies (& the battle at sea with those model ships just looked so fake on that giant screen). It sounds like someone needs really deep pockets to do a proper job on this film, & it's not going to happen, is it.

 

[OliverK]

The Last Valley was only promoted as "On our Giant Cinerama screen" by Cinerama theatres. Many other films were promoted like this including the Gone With the Wind re-release.

Obviously I know that it was not shot in three strip cinerama but it was released in cinerama - single strip cinerama like the bulk of most movies shown in their theaters. I should instead have written "shown in cinerama theaters" to avoid unnecessary confusion.

I'm guessing Kino only gets titles from 35mm not 70mm.

Not sure about that, it may be more of a matter of no 70mm productions being available with at least a decent master. Obviously Kino is not doing their own scanning and preparation and I consider that good business sense as costs would be prohibitive.

 

[RolandL]

The last movie promoted by the London Casino as being in Cinerama.

 

[OliverK]

I wonder which movie had the last rollercoaster style shots that were intended to give that cinerama feeling. I remember them being comically out of place in Song of Norway and Custer of the West.

 

[john a hunter]

That's probably while Last Valley was not given a Cinerama release.
Run Run Joe is still being advertised as fun for all the family etc.
Last Valley was not a family friendly film I seem to recall.

 

[RolandL]

The last movie promoted (with movie programs, movie posters, ticket flyers, etc.) as being "In Cinerama" by Cinerama Inc. was Krakatoa East of Java released in 1969. It was also re-released in 1975 and re-titled as Volcano and again promoted as being "In Cinerama" and Feelarama at some Cinerama theatres.

Song of Norway was promoted as a Cinerama movie by Cinerama Releasing (U.K.) for Cinerama theatres in the United Kingdom.

The Great Waltz was promoted as a Cinerama film by MGM-EMI for Cinerama theatres in the United Kingdom.

Cinerama theatres throughout the world that still had the deeply curved screen would advertise any film as "On the Giant Cinerama Screen". Some would actually advertise as "In Cinerama"

 

[OliverK]

That's probably while Last Valley was not given a Cinerama release.
Run Run Joe is still being advertised as fun for all the family etc.
Last Valley was not a family friendly film I seem to recall.

No, definitely not family friendly, but a really good movie.

 

[Paul Rossen]

There was the same issue with TARAS BULBA. Wonderful, original stereo soundtrack on the DVD but mono on the Blu-ray.

A forthcoming blu ray release from Koch supposedly has a stereo track.

 

[john a hunter]

Good news if accurate!

 

[Worth]

For what it's worth, there's a Dolby Stereo credit during Link's end credit scroll. I'm not sure I would have noticed, but I took the stereo track from the DVD and married it to the blu-ray image.

 

[RolandL]

Song Of Norway will be released in 2020 by Kino. I hope but I doubt it will have stereo sound. Custer of the West and Krakatoa East of Java also from Disney had mono sound on the Blu-ray.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Song Of Norway will be released in 2020 by Kino. I hope but I doubt it will have stereo sound. Custer of the West and Krakatoa East of Java also from Disney had mono sound on the Blu-ray.

It's a shame that it's finally coming out after Florence Henderson passed. I've never seen it, but it's reputation is... something. I would have liked to have heard a commentary by her.

 

[GregK]

Each title will have it's own unique challenges, but often in these cases there are things going on behind the scenes that are never known.

For example, Kino's upcoming bluray of THUNDER BAY was Universal's very first multi-channel (L/C/R) theatrical release, just before "It Came From Outer Space" which was the studio's 2nd three channel stereophonic release.

But.. the only audio element being offered was a mono track. Kino knew this was important, did inquiries, and in the end tracked down and ensured the original 1953 3 channel mix made it onto the upcoming bluray edition, along with the far more compromised monophonic mix.

I've heard both mixes and the original 3 track is superior in every way. Directional sound throughout with increased fidelity and dynamic range. Highly recommended.

 

[RolandL]

Each title will have it's own unique challenges, but often in these cases there are things going on behind the scenes that are never known.

For example, Kino's upcoming bluray of THUNDER BAY was Universal's very first multi-channel (L/C/R) theatrical release, just before "It Came From Outer Space" which was the studio's 2nd three channel stereophonic release.

But.. the only audio element being offered was a mono track. Kino knew this was important, did inquiries, and in the end tracked down and ensured the original 1953 3 channel mix made it onto the upcoming bluray edition, along with the far more compromised monophonic mix.

I've heard both mixes and the original 3 track is superior in every way. Directional sound throughout with increased fidelity and dynamic range. Highly recommended.

Great news! I'll be buying Thunder Bay because of that.

Let's hope they can find the stereo tracks for Song of Norway.

Also a big thank you to the hard work of the staff at The 3D Film Archive. They also are concerned about sound and are able to re-create the original stereo sound when only offered mono track on some titles.

Edit: Checked the 3D Film Archive web site on Thunder Bay. They say "... so many 1.37 features were incorrectly shown wide throughout the rest of the year. They include Shane, Thunder Bay....". I wonder if the Blu-ray will be 1.85 or 1.37?

 

[RolandL]

It's a shame that it's finally coming out after Florence Henderson passed. I've never seen it, but it's reputation is... something. I would have liked to have heard a commentary by her.

Yeah, amazing that it played at the LA Cinerama Dome for eighth months!

 

[Jimbo64]

Great news! I'll be buying Thunder Bay because of that.

Let's hope they can find the stereo tracks for Song of Norway.

Also a big thank you to the hard work of the staff at The 3D Film Archive. They also are concerned about sound and are able to re-create the original stereo sound when only offered mono track on some titles.

Edit: Checked the 3D Film Archive web site on Thunder Bay. They say "... so many 1.37 features were incorrectly shown wide throughout the rest of the year. They include Shane, Thunder Bay....". I wonder if the Blu-ray will be 1.85 or 1.37?

I’m pretty sure I remember reading that they had 2 masters, 1:78 and 1:85

 

[john a hunter]

Yeah, amazing that it played at the LA Cinerama Dome for eighth months!

It's always written off as a great flop but managed a year at the Casino and did reasonably well in other 70mm showings around the UK.
It was also probably very low budget for a roadshow attraction so it was more successful than most give it credit for.
Given what happened to Cinerama after Norway's release, it was a good end for Cinerama (Run Run Joe-anybody).
Looked and sounded fabulous at the Casino.
I confess-saw it twice there!

 

[GlennF]

Saw this as a young kid. It did make money which is why they were given the go ahead to make THE GREAT WALTZ. It is not a good movie, (The animated troll sequence is mind boggling) and even as a kid I could tell it seemed like it was edited with a butcher knife, but the Norwegian scenery in Cinerama was breathtaking. Put Norway on my bucket list to visit and now, 49 years later, I am finally going next week.

 

[Dick]

Why do I suspect that those who refuse to buy films not in stereo would be more than happy to buy mono films remastered in stereo sound? They've invested all that money into their home theater sound systems and they want their money's worth, dammit! I mean films like My Dinner With Andre and Executive Suite would be so much more awesome in 5.1 sound, right?

MY DINNER WITH ANDRE should really be heard with the original directional sound, so that the back-and-forth repartee of the two chatters can be heard from separate front channels. And the restaurant ambiance should be audible from the rear. I won't buy this film until someone releases it with the intended soundtrack!

 

[RolandL]

It's always written off as a great flop but managed a year at the Casino and did reasonably well in other 70mm showings around the UK.
It was also probably very low budget for a roadshow attraction so it was more successful than most give it credit for.
Given what happened to Cinerama after Norway's release, it was a good end for Cinerama (Run Run Joe-anybody).
Looked and sounded fabulous at the Casino.
I confess-saw it twice there!