HITCHOCK’S “VERTIGO” RESTORED 60TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION SCREENINGS (1 Viewer)

[haineshisway]

Interesting piece. A few errors.

A few errors.

 

[Paul Rossen]

So basically the banner should read Filmed in VistaVision. This is all new to me. I sssumed as I’m sure just about everyone who saw a ‘VistaVision film that’s what I was seeing. Two such films stand in my memory both seen at local theaters... One Eyed Jacks and The Ten Commandments . Both exhibited crystal clear images. Thus, I imagine that prints derived from the VistaVision negative were pristine looking.

 

[Robert Harris]

So basically the banner should read Filmed in VistaVision. This is all new to me. I sssumed as I’m sure just about everyone who saw a ‘VistaVision film that’s what I was seeing. Two such films stand in my memory both seen at local theaters... One Eyed Jacks and The Ten Commandments . Both exhibited crystal clear images. Thus, I imagine that prints derived from the VistaVision negative were pristine looking.

Prints derived from VVLA OCNs were amazing. All Eastman Color. One possible exception - an Italian production. Don’t recall name offhand.

 

[john a hunter]

According to Alain Dorange there were some more movies projected in VistaVision:

To Catch a Thief
The Seven Little Foys
The Far Horizons
Battle of the River Plate
Oeil pour Oeil

The first three each ran in more than one cinema, while the other two only ran in one theater in the UK and France respectively.

VistaVision presented in Horizontal Projection

There was certainly a horizontal V V print of River Plate in the UK. I have a frame somewhere.
Apparently it was a royal film performance and I am sure their majesties would have appreciated "Motion Picture High Fidelity".

In the U.S, Michael Coote over at Digital Bits has found 5 cities that showed To Catch a Thief horizontally.
There is also a somewhat worn frame.

 

[OliverK]

There was certainly a horizontal V V print of River Plate in the UK. I have a frame somewhere.
Apparently it was a royal film performance and I am sure their majesties would have appreciated "Motion Picture High Fidelity".

In the U.S, Michael Coote over at Digital Bits has found 5 cities that showed To Catch a Thief horizontally.
There is also a somewhat worn frame.

I was quite sure it was you, thanks for bringing it up.

Forgot about that article by Michael Coate, it is here:

The Master, VistaVision and the French Riviera: Remembering Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” on its 60th Anniversary

“VistaVision makes you feel like you’re actually on the beautiful Riviera!“ The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of To Catch a Thief, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic romantic thriller set on the French Riviera and starring Cary...

thedigitalbits.com

It includes the faded frame and some screening dates and durations.

 

[Robert Harris]

I was quite sure it was you, thanks for bringing it up.

Forgot about that article by Michael Coate, it is here:

The Master, VistaVision and the French Riviera: Remembering Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” on its 60th Anniversary

“VistaVision makes you feel like you’re actually on the beautiful Riviera!“ The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of To Catch a Thief, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic romantic thriller set on the French Riviera and starring Cary...

thedigitalbits.com

It includes the faded frame and some screening dates and durations.

I’ll believe Michael on this. More info would be interesting. Would have meant special theater installations, unless those same venues had also run the early VVLA films.

In my days running various projection equipment, running Vista was the most nerve-wracking. Making certain that all was properly set before hitting the power switch, as the projector began its rise to 180 feet per minute.

 

[OliverK]

I’ll believe Michael on this. More info would be interesting. Would have meant special theater installations, unless those same venues had also run the early VVLA films.

In my days running various projection equipment, running Vista was the most nerve-wracking. Making certain that all was properly set before hitting the power switch, as the projector began its rise to 180 feet per minute.

Definitely worth asking Michael about those other horizontal presentations, there weren't that many after all.

It is also quite interesting that with projectors already installed not more prints were struck of later VistaVsion movies. I thought it would have been because the installations were dismantled rather quickly but apprently this was not always the case. There is a very interesting thread at filmtech forum where even a possible UK IB Tech production of Simon and Laura is brought up:

Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Vistavision ????

www.film-tech.com

Where did you manage to run VistaVision? At Paramount or at Universal?
It is sad that of all the more widespread large format processes VistaVision / Technirama cannot be shown anywhere these days and that not even a single print seems to be available for public exhibition, not even a faded one. Those prints of To Catch a Thief must have looked fantastic back in the day!

 

[Robert Harris]

Definitely worth asking Michael about those other horizontal presentations, there weren't that many after all.

It is also quite interesting that with projectors already installed not more prints were struck of later VistaVsion movies. I thought it would have been because the installations were dismantled rather quickly but apprently this was not always the case. There is a very interesting thread at filmtech forum where even a possible UK IB Tech production of Simon and Laura is brought up:

Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Vistavision ????

www.film-tech.com

Where did you manage to run VistaVision? At Paramount or at Universal?
It is sad that of all the more widespread large format processes VistaVision / Technirama cannot be shown anywhere these days and that not even a single print seems to be available for public exhibition, not even a faded one. Those prints of To Catch a Thief must have looked fantastic back in the day!

Ran Vista in my office using gear from Boston Light & Sound. Huge screen. Probably six feet.

 

[OliverK]

Ran Vista in my office using gear from Boston Light & Sound. Huge screen. Probably six feet.

Sounds like the projector was bigger than the screen.

 

[Robert Harris]

Sounds like the projector was bigger than the screen.

Just about...

 

[Vern Dias]

I think there is a simple reason why horizontal VV was never widely installed: The projectors were 100% INCOMPATIBLE with any other film formats.
No theatre was going to rip out their 35mm equipment installation and totally replace it with equipment that could not run 95+% of the available releases.

I could probable count on one hand the number of theatre projection booths that were equipped to support more than three projectors to allow the installation of horizontal VV equipment while maintaining the existing projection equipment.

CinemaScope was successful because the only projection booth equipment it required were anamorphic lenses and potentially a penthouse magnetic reproducer.

Todd AO and other 70mm processes were successful because 70mm projectors were dual format and could easily be changed to run 35mm in less than 5 minutes.

So, to a former projectionist, the outcome of horizontal VV projection was a foregone conclusion.

 

[OliverK]

If Paramount had been smart and offered some kind of conversion kit (not easy but possible) they might have put those VistaVision projectors in theaters before Todd-AO had shown their projectors to be multi format capable. They still would have had to solve the issue of the missing multichannel magnetic sound but that wasn't impossible as shown in the Colonial Williamsburg production.

With lower production costs it may have meant more large format productions than what we have ultimately gotten with Todd-AO and its derivatives.

Instead a completely separate projection setup with 2 additional VistaVision projectors was necessary that did not even have proper multichannel high fidelity sound - can't blame the cinemas for not being convinced.