CINERAMA Blu-rays???

[Kirsty_Mc]

This is CINERAMA Blu-ray



Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich Blu-ray



How the West Was Won Blu-ray


Having just watched WB's spectacular BD set of "How the West was Won" and the very interesting (but sadly SD) extra about the Cinerama process, who would be interested to see the Cinerama movies ("This is Cinerama", "Seven wonders of the World" etc...) released some time on BD. Foir a film buff they would IMO be lovely to have in a collection.

[diamondfoxxx]

I thought the smilebox version in 'How The West Was Won' looked spectacular.
Gosh, it was beautiful.

[4K2K]

Maybe if they came with a 146 degree curved HDTV with lots of films in that format including ones made recently.

Wikipedia says originally the films were shot with 3 cameras but later replaced by 1 65mm camera and that people say that wasn't as good. For the 3 camera version wikipedia says the cameras were at angles to each other to cover the 146 degrees needed for projection, so I don't think they would look right on a flat HDTV.
).

Oh and the Blu-rays and HDTVs would also need to be compatible with 26 fps playback not just 24 fps.

Perhaps it would be cheaper/easier to make new movies in that format using digital cameras (3 digital cameras or 1 with a special lens that captures 146 degrees - or more) and curved OLED 146 degree screens for people's homes - at at least 26 fps? So I'd be interested if they were new movies and we had curved >=146 degree OLED HDTVs (and they didn't look too distorted or obviously made of 3 separate images).

[Deciazulado]

Yes the CINERAMA featurettes (26fps) and How The West Was Won and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (24fps) would benefit from watching on a BIG curved screen (that's the effect the Smiley box version is trying to emulate when watching on a much smaller screen). On a BIG curved screen you'd project the "flat" (rectangular) version and the curve of the screen on front of you would wrap around in a semi-circle, for the immersive effect where every part of the screen is about the same distance from you, so no matter where you looked, you are there.



The other Cinerama movies are really "flat" 70mm movies (or anamorphic 70mm movies) projected on the Cinerama curved screen. Although the 70mm D-150 process comes the closest.

If a new Tri-camera system would come and you wanted higher fps, instead of 26fps, 30fps already used for Todd-AO (Oklahoma!, Around The World In 80 Days), or 60fps (Showscan), could be selected and they are more compatible with HDTV.

Maybe with large CINERAMA OLED curved screens



______________ ______________

[Drewza89]

It wasn't a true Cinerama movie, but I'd love to see It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on Blu-ray loaded with extras.

[rock-ranger]

Originally Posted by Drewza89

It wasn't a true Cinerama movie, but I'd love to see It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on Blu-ray loaded with extras.

That makes two of us. I am hardly waiting for a fully restored uncut roadshow version including the police radio calls during intermission.

By the way, I did not like the smilebox version of HTWWW because the image was cropped on the sides for whatever reason. Otherwise it would be a fine alternative to the "flat" version, which I liked more...

[Sushisake]

It's A MMad Mad Mad Mad World would be fantastic to have! Ethel Merman was the funniest thing in that movie - GOD she was great!

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Kirsty_Mc

Having just watched WB's spectacular BD set of "How the West was Won" and the very interesting (but sadly SD) extra about the Cinerama process, who would be interested to see the Cinerama movies ("This is Cinerama", "Seven wonders of the World" etc...) released some time on BD. Foir a film buff they would IMO be lovely to have in a collection.

Meanwhile, in the Real World, where fanboys don't create spring with the Power of their Mind and a click of the "New Poll" button...:

A few years ago, I asked HTF's Warner chat whether we'd ever see the George Pal "Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" on a nice anamorphic cleanup--
Word was, the restoration would take a LOT of work (it's never had an anamorphic print, let alone a cleanup, and only got a letterbox print for TCM), and the issue would come down to how many sales would pay for it. Which, for the moment, we could take as a "no".

Multiply that times the number of remaining Cinerama movies (apart from 2001, 80 Days, HtWwW, and Ice Station Zebra) that HAVEN'T gotten major disk releases, and the Real World starts to look bigger and more oppressive all the time.
Next time, if you want to talk about How Neato a Movie Was, just ask. At least that's not as depressing.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Multiply that times the number of remaining Cinerama movies (apart from 2001, 80 Days, HtWwW, and Ice Station Zebra) that HAVEN'T gotten major disk releases, and the Real World starts to look bigger and more oppressive all the time.

2001 and Ice Station Zebra were Super Panavision 70, and 80 Days was Todd-AO. They may have had "Cinermama special engagements" where they were shown on Cinerama screens with prints optically altered for Cinerama use, but HtWWW and Brothers Grimm were the only narrative films ever shot in Cinerama.

[gonzo nixon]

[quote=rock-ranger;1163986]That makes two of us. I am hardly waiting for a fully restored uncut roadshow version including the police radio calls during intermission.

Most definitely. Great movie. Needs it's own poll so maybe the studio will listen.

[ambientcafe]

My mother took my brother & I to two 'Cinerama' films in the mid-sixties....'Khartoum' & 'Custer of the West'. I've recently discovered that they were actually only single-strip Panavision 70mm features projected onto the deeply-curved Cinerama screen. As impressive as these presentations were, I could only imagine how glorious the vastly superior experience of a properly projected 3-strip feature like 'How The West Was Won' would have been. Today's mildly-curved commercial and home theater screens don't even register in terms of immersiveness -- compared to the startlingly enveloping & overwhelming 'Cinerama' experience of my childhood.

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by rock-ranger

By the way, I did not like the smilebox version of HTWWW because the image was cropped on the sides for whatever reason. Otherwise it would be a fine alternative to the "flat" version, which I liked more...

The smilebox version was not cropped. It shows as much of the picture as was seen in Cinerama. The alternative wider flat version shows more picture at the sides, from the original negatives, which was never intended to be shown on the Cinerama screen.

[Deciazulado]

Why do you say that?

[Barbie-Shrimp]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

What's with the Pentagram?

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Barbie-Shrimp

What's with the Pentagram?

the pic is just showing how the light would project on the screen from each projector, nothing satanic

[Deciazulado]

But the center of the Pent.. err. I mean the Cinegram would be the optimum position for the surround visual effect

Coincidence, or ...

[alexakajeff]

this would look awesome in my collection!!!

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Why do you say that?

Please see Martin Hart's (American Widescreen Museum) comments below, copied from Home theatre Forum:


Marty's comments are reprinted below:
---------------------------------------------------

The new DVD/Blu-Ray release of "How The West Was Won" is going to
confuse the hell out of people who try to get definitive statistics on
aspect ratios and other non-essential things.

Fact: The maximum practical aspect ratio for Cinerama is 2.59:1. As
such, there is still some image area on the print that is not shown on
the screen.


Fact: The DVD and Blu-Ray discs show HTWWW with an aspect ratio of
2.89:1. There is no cropping of the top or bottom of the image beyond
what is normally cut off by the normal projector aperture dimensions.


So where did this extra image come from?


The Cinerama camera has aperture dimensions that allows the photographed
image to actually go beyond the perforations of the film negative. The
Cinerama film printers do not copy that much width to the release print.


Early in the preparation of the new video release of the film, Dave
Strohmaier recommended that WHV scan the maximum possible width from the
negatives in order to have more real estate to work with when working
with the panel joins. So all three films were scanned perf to perf.
This made no dimensional difference between the center panel and the two
side panels but it did provide previously unseen image on the extreme
edges of the Able and Charlie panels.


This was possible only because WHV scanned from the original camera
negatives. Had they scanned from an interpositive or internegative it
would not be possible to get as much width in each panel because of the
normal cropping designed into the Cinerama system.


It's that simple.


Marty

[Red Hood]

Cinerama opens the gates to hell

[Seretur]

Oh, I'd love to.

There's no way my home theater setup will ever match Cinerama, but still, Blu-ray at least gives the first decent idea of what it felt like.

And the documentaries made in the 1950's would be such amazing snapshots of a bygone era.

More, PLEASE.