The Best Of Cinerama -1963 (1 Viewer)

[bujaki]

Mr. Strohmaier,
I thank you and admire your herculean efforts to bring back the Cinerama titles. I've bought and enjoyed every single one, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your output. A big WOW to you!

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

FWIW, Disney recently asserted they no longer have the rights to CUSTER OF THE WEST. Since it was produced by Philip Yordan's Security Pictures, I am hypothesizing that it has reverted to the Yordan estate. By that logic, I would guess their other Yordan collaboration KRAKATOA: EAST OF JAVA went there too.

Doesn't bode well for restoration in the immediate future, but then again, UCLA did nice work on the Yordan family-owned MEN IN WAR, so maybe we can remain hopeful.

 

[nara]

"The Best of Cinerama" will be showing on the Cinerama screen at the Bradford Widescreen Weekend in October.




(Weekend passes now on sale.)

 

[John Skoda]

I've never seen SONG OF NORWAY, but I'd like to a nice transfer of it. It sounds like it isn't much of a film, but it seems to me that two of the best elements of it would be the 70mm photography of the scenery and the Grieg music in booming stereo.

From what I've read, without those two things, there wouldn't be too much left to appreciate.

 

[OliverK]

I've never seen SONG OF NORWAY, but I'd like to a nice transfer of it. It sounds like it isn't much of a film, but it seems to me that two of the best elements of it would be the 70mm photography of the scenery and the Grieg music in booming stereo.

From what I've read, without those two things, there wouldn't be too much left to appreciate.

I saw it in70mm and imo even the cinematography was disappointing. Maybe the music was good for a Grieg aficionado but I wasn't impressed - probably the worst 70mm movie that I have seen. I am not saying this to disparage the movie but to put into perspective that even the sound and picture weren't that good, let alone the movie itself.

 

[Mark Pytel]

Does Mr. Strohmaier still come on here? Just wondering if we will see the last three Cinerama films released to Bluray? I loved that the last one was out at SAE as an exclusive. Perhaps that would be the way to go with the last three titles? Is there any chance that Flicker Alley might want Russian Adventure?


I truly hope that the rest sold well enough to allow these last three titles to come out and be available for purchase. Any updates on this would be great!

 

[john a hunter]

I saw it in70mm and imo even the cinematography was disappointing. Maybe the music was good for a Grieg aficionado but I wasn't impressed - probably the worst 70mm movie that I have seen. I am not saying this to disparage the movie but to put into perspective that even the sound and picture weren't that good, let alone the movie itself.

Would have to part company here with Oliver.

Saw it twice at the Casino and thought the PQ and SQ were outstanding. It really did show off their sound system which was always pretty good there.

The film as one critic said was like falling into a bowl of blancmange but with such good visuals and sound I had to have two helpings!!

 

[Brian McP]

Well done David for your work on all the Cinerama titles, I get every one and love also the extras that are on each disc (and thanks for making them region free!)


Glad to now you found the 7 channel sound mix of "The Best of Cinerama" here in Australia, don't know if it was from a private collector or possibly from our National Film and Sound Archive -- look forward to this being released as well -- again, many thanks.

 

[RolandL]

I saw it in70mm and imo even the cinematography was disappointing. Maybe the music was good for a Grieg aficionado but I wasn't impressed - probably the worst 70mm movie that I have seen. I am not saying this to disparage the movie but to put into perspective that even the sound and picture weren't that good, let alone the movie itself.

It did OK at the boxoffice - grossed twice its budget. More info can be found here.

 

[OliverK]

Would have to part company here with Oliver.

Saw it twice at the Casino and thought the PQ and SQ were outstanding. It really did show off their sound system which was always pretty good there.

The film as one critic said was like falling into a bowl of blancmange but with such good visuals and sound I had to have two helpings!!

John, maybe I saw a bad print but this was to me the least visually impressive western 65mm production that I have seen so far and I think that I have probably seen almost all of the US productions and about half a dozen western European ones.

Maybe because the picture and the movie were so bad I did not really notice the sound that much?


In any case I am happy that you liked the picture and the sound quality so you still got some enjoyment out of it!

 

[OliverK]

It did OK at the boxoffice - grossed twice its budget. More info can be found here.

Yes, box office receipts were decent and it helps that the movie did not cost very much by 70mm standards - the Fox musicals from that time cost more like 15 to 20 million dollars so Song of Norway was really cheap.


Edit: It is interesting to see that it recorded an overall loss of $1,075,000 which means that it would have had to gross almost three times its production costs to break even.

 

[Squire]

Yes, box office receipts were decent and it helps that the movie did not cost very much by 70mm standards - the Fox musicals from that time cost more like 15 to 20 million dollars so Song of Norway was really cheap.

Edit: It is interesting to see that it recorded an overall loss of $1,075,000 which means that it would have had to gross almost three times its production costs to break even.

Someone once said: "According to the studio accountants, no movie ever turns a profit!"

 

[john a hunter]

Edit: It is interesting to see that it recorded an overall loss of $1,075,000 which means that it would have had to gross almost three times its production costs to break even.

I get the impression that losses attributed to some films are for the studio or releasing company's tax purposes. A prime example would obviously be Cleopatra where Fox's general losses from the studio for several years were put against that film's actual cost for a tax advantage.

 

[john a hunter]

Someone once said: "According to the studio accountants, no movie ever turns a profit!"

Indeed.

 

[john a hunter]

Well done David for your work on all the Cinerama titles, I get every one and love also the extras that are on each disc (and thanks for making them region free!)


Glad to now you found the 7 channel sound mix of "The Best of Cinerama" here in Australia, don't know if it was from a private collector or possibly from our National Film and Sound Archive -- look forward to this being released as well -- again, many thanks.

Probably from John Mitchell who we have to thank for saving many of these titles which he originally found dumped outside the Wellington Cinerama theatre.

 

[RolandL]

Probably from John Mitchell who we have to thank for saving many of these titles which he originally found dumped outside the Wellington Cinerama theatre.

Are you sure it was the Wellington Cinerama theatre? I don't think there were any 3-panel Cinerama showings at the theatre. I thought it was a 70mm Cinerama house.

 

[OliverK]

Someone once said: "According to the studio accountants, no movie ever turns a profit!"

It is pure altruism that they even continue to produce movies for us

 

[Rob W]

It is pure altruism that they even contnue to produce movies for us

People need to better understand box office reporting. The grosses that are generally reported are ticket sales, not actual film rental paid to the studio. Roughly 40-50% of the ticket price would have remained with the theatres, with the rest going to the distributor as film rental.


Variety used to publish a chart of all-time film rental champs, but I haven't seen it now for decades.

 

[john a hunter]

Are you sure it was the Wellington Cinerama theatre? I don't think there were any 3-panel Cinerama showings at the theatre. I thought it was a 70mm Cinerama house.

I was relying on my memory and am not from the land of the long white cloud.

It may have been Auckland which in the 50's was N.Z's most important city.

In any event we all owe John a debt of thanks for passing by, what ever Cinerama theatre it was, just at the right time when they were loading up the truck to take all their prints to the dump.

 

[OliverK]

People need to better understand box office reporting. The grosses that are generally reported are ticket sales, not actual film rental paid to the studio. Roughly 40-50% of the ticket price would have remained with the theatres, with the rest going to the distributor as film rental.


Variety used to publish a chart of all-time film rental champs, but I haven't seen it now for decades.

Yes there does need to be a better understanding about this, the cinema owners have to make a living, too so they obviously have to get a very substantial share of the ticket sales.