This may clear some things up. In the Hi-Res gallery at the Widescreen Museum they have several frames from various three strip pictures. Go to the link below, and scroll all the way down, and you will see one such frame from "TWWOTBG." Based on the caption, it would seem that Technicolor DID make 70mm prints from the ABC seps. Unless that frame is from a 35mm scope?
I don't believe (after doing a search) that this interview has been linked to yet. Mr. Feltenstein mainly discusses HTWWW but he also adresses the Grimm film issues as well as the next Pre-Code collection:
Hmmm; I read sympathetically right up until: "... If you are a home theatre enthusiast you either have a Blu Ray machine, or you’re not a home theatre enthusiast...."
Oh dear...
"There aren’t a lot of older titles available from most of the other companies so accordingly I know several people who are buying Blu Ray players for their home theatres specifically because of How the West Was Won and the smile box..."
And there I was, right on the verge, for exactly that reason. I can be an obdurate SOB sometimes, and this is one of those times I'm afraid.
"We are planning that for 2009. We will hopefully be releasing both the original 1925 version and the 1931 “sound re-issue” which had a score with sound effects synchronized. We’ve planned something very big around that. We want to do a King Vidor set with The Crowd and The Big Parade and some of his other silents. There is a lot more silent film coming from Warner Home Video!"