RAINTREE COUNTY on Blu? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas R]

It is strange that there is no mention of screen sizes anywhere for so many movie theaters.

I can understand people who feel that screens below a certain size simply are not that well suited for the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur or in this case Raintree County.

Yes indeed. The biggest and widest screen I saw was seeing BEN-HUR at the Empire, London (early 1960s 70mm reissue) advertised as the largest screen in Europe. Contrary to Paul’s comment above about Cleopatra, I didn’t think the Dominion screen was all that wide - and I was sitting fairly close to the screen.

 

[OliverK]

Yes indeed. The biggest and widest screen I saw was seeing BEN-HUR at the Empire, London (early 1960s 70mm reissue) advertised as the largest screen in Europe. Contrary to Paul’s comment above about Cleopatra, I didn’t think the Dominion screen was all that wide - and I was sitting fairly close to the screen.

I cannot find an Empire with such a big screen on Cinema Treasures, which one was it?

 

[RolandL]

Empire, Leicester Square - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square in London, GB - Cinema Treasures

The Empire Theatre was designed and built as a music hall by architect Thomas Verity and could seat 3,000. It opened on 17th April 1884. The old P...

cinematreasures.org

 

[Robert Harris]

I saw Cleopatra at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach late ‘63 - early ‘64.

Magnificent presentation.

 

[trajan007]

UNITED ARTISTS THEATER 63 Detroit

 

[trajan007]

I had heard that the projectionist who showed the Michigan premier of Cleopatra for Ford motor showed one of the reels in the wrong order. True story.

 

[RobertMG]

I saw Cleopatra at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach late ‘63 - early ‘64.

Magnificent presentation.

Was it better in theaters did it change the perception of the film? Have u ever seen the cut footage?

 

[OliverK]

Empire, Leicester Square - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square in London, GB - Cinema Treasures

The Empire Theatre was designed and built as a music hall by architect Thomas Verity and could seat 3,000. It opened on 17th April 1884. The old P...

cinematreasures.org

Yes I am aware of this cinema and it even says it showed Ben-Hur on the cinema treasures site but it was far from being the biggest screen in Europe at the time with only 52 feet provided that cinema treasures is correct. In Germany and France there were a couple of 70 to 80 ft screens at the time and I am sure there were also bigger screens in the UK which is why I asked.

 

[RolandL]

Yes I am aware of this cinema and it even says it showed Ben-Hur on the cinema treasures site but it was far from being the biggest screen in Europe at the time with only 52 feet provided that cinema treasures is correct. In Germany and France there were a couple of 70 to 80 ft screens at the time and I am sure there were also bigger screens in the UK which is why I asked.

A few of the larger screens in Europe:

108 by 43 feet - Grugahalle theatre in Essen, Germany
100 by 36 feet - Empire theatre in Paris, France

 

[Douglas R]

Yes I am aware of this cinema and it even says it showed Ben-Hur on the cinema treasures site but it was far from being the biggest screen in Europe at the time with only 52 feet provided that cinema treasures is correct. In Germany and France there were a couple of 70 to 80 ft screens at the time and I am sure there were also bigger screens in the UK which is why I asked.

I was only repeating what the Empire cinema marquee banner said about the screen being the “largest in Europe” at the time.

 

[OliverK]

A few of the larger screens in Europe:
108 by 43 feet - Grugahalle theatre in Essen, Germany

That was a bit later but yes it must have been huge!

 

[OliverK]

I was only repeating what the Empire cinema marquee banner said about the screen being the “largest in Europe” at the time.

I know that you did not make it up but it is really strange they would say that - I guess it would not have been so easy to search the internet back then to find out that this was not even true for the UK!

52ft is still a very substantial screen and at that screen size one would have the ability to achieve a much brighter picture compared to screens that needed two to four times as much light due to their size. Even today anything beyond 80 ft is not that easy to properly illuminate with only one projector and several film techs confirmed to me that back then the biggest screens often were relatively dim even with 70mm projection.

 

[Charles Smith]

I saw Cleopatra at the Lincoln Theater in Miami Beach late ‘63 - early ‘64.

Magnificent presentation.

If only I'd been into Cleopatra then! But My Fair Lady followed at the Lincoln, and my memories of that remain one of my top personal references for how films were meant to be experienced.

 

[RolandL]

Even today anything beyond 80 ft is not that easy to properly illuminate with only one projector and several film techs confirmed to me that back then the biggest screens often were relatively dim even with 70mm projection.

150 by 92 feet - Minneapolis France Ave. Drive-In
180 by 62 feet - Los Angeles Pacific's Century Drive-In

 

[RolandL]

Apparently at the time of its release, the projectors that could show 70mm films were still tied up with showings of Around the World in 80 Days, that little film made by Elizabeth Taylor's husband, Mike Todd.

It premiered at the Louisville Brown theatre which had a 2.2 Todd-AO screen. Their previous showings were Oklahoma! and Around The World in 80 Days. They would need the proper lens to unsqueeze the 2.76 MGM Camera 65 image. I guess they could have shown it on a smaller part of the screen with masking or MGM could have sent them a cropped flat 2.2 70mm print.


8/21/56

05/28/57

10/2/57

 

[marcco00]

150 by 92 feet - Minneapolis France Ave. Drive-In
180 by 62 feet - Los Angeles Pacific's Century Drive-In

ee-gad, those century drive- pics take me back!! i can remember as a kid seeing Diamonds are Forever, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and Frenzy there.

 

[marcco00]

ooo and also What's the Matter with Helen?

 

[OliverK]

150 by 92 feet - Minneapolis France Ave. Drive-In
180 by 62 feet - Los Angeles Pacific's Century Drive-In

Impossible to get a properly illuminated picture on those even with 70mm, probably best to watch Cinerama movies on them- In any case indoor screens rarely got much wider than 100 feet and to have a 180 feet screen showing a Cinerama movie must have been a sight even thought he audio in most cases would have been underwhelming.

Edit, I can see now that they claim a silver screen - no idea how that is supposed to work with cinerama but it would have added some brightness in the best seats or better said in the best parking spaces.

 

[RolandL]

No reviews that I can find.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

No reviews that I can find.


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Hopefully @Ken Koc can share his thoughts!