This is Cinerama
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''This Is Cinerama'' is a 1952 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
directed by
Mike Todd Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1909 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of ''Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Actr ...
, Michael Todd, Jr.,
Walter A. Thompson Walter A. Thompson (May 8, 1903 – December 17, 1975) was an American film editor with 69 film credits from 1930 to 1975. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for '' This Above All'' (1942) and for '' The Nun's ...
and Fred Rickey and starring
Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...
.American Film Institute
/ref> It is designed to introduce the widescreen process
Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...
, which broadens the aspect ratio so that the viewer's peripheral vision is involved. ''This Is Cinerama'' premiered on September 30, 1952, at the
Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Synopsis

The film begins in black and white and the standard Academy ratio as travel writer and newscaster
Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...
appears to discuss the evolution of film entertainment, from the earliest
cave paintings In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are mor ...
designed to suggest movement to the introduction of color and sound. At the conclusion of the 12-minute lecture, Thomas speaks the words "This is Cinerama" and the screen expands into the full Cinerama 2.65:1 aspect ratio and full color as a series of vignettes, narrated by Thomas, begins. The film includes point-of-view scenes of the Atom Smasher
roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
at
Rockaways' Playland Rockaways' Playland was an amusement park that operated from 1902 to 1987 in Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York City. Bounded by Beach 97th and Beach 98th Streets between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, Rockawa ...
, then moves on to a scene of the temple dance from the
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
opera company's production of ''
Aïda ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decembe ...
''. Also seen are views of
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...
, a performance by a church choir (in sepia-toned black and white), a performance by the
Vienna Boys' Choir The Vienna Boys' Choir (german: Wiener Sängerknaben) is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other count ...
, scenes of the canals of
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
, a military tattoo in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, a
bullfight Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...
in Spain, the "triumphal scene" from ''Aïda,'' a sound demonstration in
stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
and scenes from
Cypress Gardens Cypress Gardens was a botanical garden and theme park near Winter Haven, Florida that operated from 1936 to 2009. As of 2011, the botanical garden portion had been preserved inside the newly formed Legoland Florida. History Billed as Florida' ...
amusement park featuring an elaborate
waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...
show. The film closes with a sequence featuring soaring scenes of the natural landmarks of the
American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
, filmed from the nose of a low flying B-25, as the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...
sings "
America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two neve ...
", "
Come, Come Ye Saints "Come, Come, Ye Saints" (originally "All is Well") is one of the best-known Latter-day Saint hymns. The lyrics were written in 1846 by Mormon poet William Clayton. The hymn has been called the anthem of the nineteenth-century Mormon pioneers. ...
" and the "
Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...
. The film's producers were Lowell Thomas,
Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker and Academy Award winner, as well as a former aviator who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and Polish Air Force. In film, he is credited a ...
and Robert L. Bendick. The film was also directed by Bendick (and an uncredited
Mike Todd Jr. Michael Henry Todd Jr. (October 8, 1929 – May 5, 2002) was an American film producer. He was involved in innovations such as the movie format Smell-o-vision, and the production of a racially-integrated minstrel show for the 1964 World's Fair ...
). Cooper, who had directed the original 1933 ''
King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'', had a long history of technical innovation in cinema.


Production

Parts of the film were shot in the Kennecott open-pit mine and in
Zion National Park Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety ...
in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.


Distribution

Because the new technology required a special setup of three projectors and multiple soundtracks, the film's distribution was also revolutionary. It was shown in a single theater in most cities, with reserved seats and lengthy runs—a distribution model known as a road show. Audience members were asked to complete suggestion cards with their ideas for the next Cinerama demonstration film. In 1955, ''
Cinerama Holiday ''Cinerama Holiday'' is a 1955 film shot in Cinerama. Structured as a criss-cross travel documentary, it shows an American couple traveling in Europe and a European couple traveling in the United States. Like all of the original Cinerama produc ...
'' was released. For years the entire film could be shown only by one of the three remaining three-projector Cinerama installations capable of projecting 35 mm prints. In September 2012, in celebration of the road show's 60th anniversary, Flicker Alley released the film in its original format on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
disc. The image was adjusted with the SmileBox format, as was the Blu-ray release of '' How the West was Won'', and the disc includes an audio commentary and other special features. On October 18, 2012, the
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
cable network aired ''This Is Cinerama'' in its original aspect ratio for the first time (also in the Smilebox format). In May 2018, Flicker Alley rereleased the film on Blu-ray disc with a remastered audio and video presentation again in the original Cinerama format. However, unlike the original 2012 Blu-ray release that was sourced from a 65mm duplicate negative because of financial constraints, the 2018 Deluxe Edition was a full restoration sourced from the original camera negative.


Box office

In its opening week in New York, ''This Is Cinerama'' was shown twice per day, with an additional 5:00 p.m. showing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It saw near-capacity (1,250) attendance, grossing $35,000 from 17 performances with a top price of $2.80. The initial eight-week advance sale was increased to 16 weeks after the film proved to be popular. Early matinee attendance was impacted by the
1952 World Series The 1952 World Series featured the 3-time defending champions New York Yankees beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The Yankees won their 4th consecutive title, tying the mark they set in 1936–1939 under manager Joe McCarthy, and Ca ...
between the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
and the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
. After one year, the film had played in four cities (New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago) and had sold 2,225,000 tickets grossing $4,305,000, with $2,208,000 in New York alone. At the Warner Hollywood in Los Angeles, the film played for 115 weeks, grossing an L.A. record of $3,845,200. The film played for a record 99 weeks in Chicago. By January 1954, the film had grossed $6.5 million from seven cities in the United States and Canada. A year later, ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' noted that the film was estimated to gross $25 million and included it on its all-time chart with rentals of $12.5 million. By 1995, ''Variety'' noted that the film had grossed $41.6 million.


Awards

At the 26th Academy Awards, ''This Is Cinerama'' was nominated for the award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Although the score was credited to Louis Forbes, who conducted the music, it was composed by
Paul Sawtell Paul Sawtell (3 February 1906 – 1 August 1971) was a Polish-born film score composer in the United States. Sawtell began his career with RKO, and eventually joined Universal Pictures. Sawtell worked on many western and horror films, and also s ...
,
Roy Webb Royden Denslow Webb (October 3, 1888 – December 10, 1982) was an American film music composer. Webb has hundreds of film music credits to his name, mainly with RKO Pictures. He is best known for film noir and horror film scores, in particular f ...
and
Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...
(who composed the opening and ending sequences and those featuring Cypress Gardens and the flight across the country). In 2002, the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and inducted it into the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
for permanent preservation.


See also

*
Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...
*''
Cinerama Adventure ''Cinerama Adventure'' is a 2002 documentary about the history of the Cinerama widescreen film process. It tells the story of the widescreen process' evolution, from a primitive multi-screen pyramid process to a Vitarama format that played a big p ...
''


Notes


External links

*''This Is Cinerama'' essa

by Kyle Westphal at
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
*''This Is Cinerama'' essay by Daniel Eagan i

America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 460-462 * {{Authority control 1952 films Rockaway, Queens United States National Film Registry films Films shot in Utah 1952 documentary films American documentary films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films