donna

I remember going to see How the West Was one on an enormous screen that bent round the corners , was this Cinerama or whatever, I cant remember.

AdrianTurner

Yes, that was Cinerama which had a large curved screen and required three projectors, which created two blurred lines on the image which many people thought a significant distraction and a drawback to the system. Others - including myself - regarded this as one of Cinerama's qualities - part of its charm - and when the system was adapted into a single-lens process, initially for It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, the system lost some of its incredible impact. It remains one of my most vivid cinema-going memories, sitting in the Casino and hearing Alfred Newman's marvellous score to HTWWW, and until last year the annual widescreen festival in Bradford effectively recreated it. You can also see the HTWWW as originally intended at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles three or four times a year. There is an excellent documentary, Cinerama Adventure, which charts the development and demise of the system and this doco is rumoured to be included on the new DVD of HTWWW due out next year.

christoph404

Indeed it was "Cinerama" Only a handful of feature films were made in this format which required three camera lenses for filming and three projectors for showing the film in three sections. The problem with the system ( apart from being expensive and cumbersome) was that you could see the vertical joins where the three separate images met so filmakers had to try and disguise them where possible with cleverly placed vertical objects like trees and the edges of buildings and so on. The three camera filming was abandoned quite quickly but "Cinerama" presentations continued with traditionaly shot films on large format negative projected onto large cinerama screens, Kubrick's "2001" was premiered as a "Cinerama Presentation" "How The West Was One" was a true Cinerama process filmed on three strips of film and George Peppard is seen to lean against quite a few trees in this film!

christoph404

Adrian, apologies for seemingly repeating your answer in my previous reply, our posts obviously overlapped, cheers,
Chris

AdrianTurner

Call me a pedant, but I call it How the West Was Won. MGM called it that as well.

Steve Crook

Wasn't it about the bringing together of all the western states under the union?

Steve

donna

apologies Adrian and you are.

Hugo

THIS IS CINERAMA in the original three strip version is shown at 1.30 pm on the first Saturday of every month at the Pictureville Cinema in the National Media Museum, Bradford .
This is the only cinema in the UK now equipped to show films in this format.

christoph404

I do know it is called "How the West Was Won", I think I just got out of bed when I wrote that post! I even spelt George Peppard incorrectly which I have now ammended but I will leave my other slip up as it is otherwise your pedantic post wouldn't make sense actually I think "How the West was One" is a pretty good title for a movie myself! And good potential for a sequel "How the West was One Two"

donna

brilliant Christoph wish Id have thought of that anwer for our Mr Pedant, hahah had to look up what it meant.

john audley

How the West Was One Indian Reservation?

'You should be kind to us normals, there are not many of us left you know'!

donna

hahah have you ever wished you d edited out your mistake.

AdrianTurner

Warner Bros has announced today that the fully restored HTWWW will be released in a 2-disc SE on 26 August this year. Among the extras is indeed the superb and exhaustive documentary Cinerama Adventure. No news yet if HTWWW is being presented flat or in Smilebox or both.