This is Cinerama BluRay/DVD Limited Edition / Not rated but would be G by todays standards
This is the first Cinerama film released in a restored BluRay format for home viewing. While many anomalies still exist really fine work was done to bring this film to the home screen. The original 3 camera format is a problem in itself when the image is flattened out to any flat screen TV format. The original TIC was a three screen three projector film. The screen was 35 feet high and 146 feet wide. While not as high as the current popular IMAX format (typically 80 feet) Cinerama is a lot wider.
After Cinerama ran its time from ’52 to ’62 the old 3 screen process was reduced to a wide screen print and TIC was shown nationwide in 1972/73 as a rerelease. This is the print that was used to create the new BR/DVD release. Prior to this only the two dramatic films made with the 3 camera process were available for home viewing those being How the West was Won, and, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. If you have ever seen these films on DVD, VHS or TV broadcast you know all about the weird distortion due to the flattening of the three images onto your flat screen TV set.
By reprocessing TIC and doing a lot of clean up work we now have a Technicolor presentation that, while not perfect, is acceptable considering what they had to work with. It is way past time the public (that’s us) had a chance to see this film and possibly even others at home for the first time.
TIC is the first film released in the Cinerama process and premiered on 9/30/1952. Co produced by Lowell Thomas and Miriam C. Cooper they were pioneering Fred Waller’s Oscar achievement process in film projection. LT was a world traveller, writer, adventurer and broadcaster. He is seen and narrates the Cinerama features. MCC was also a pioneer having made the original King Kong movie. TIC also features a great score by composer Max Steiner (King Kong, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, etc.) but due to his contract with a major studio his name does not appear in the credits. We assume it was a cash deal.
The film opens with a segment showing the development of movies and includes the entire version of The Great Train Robbery released in 1903 which was the first actual dramatic storyline movie to appear in the USofA. It only runs about 4 minutes. All the films leading up to TIC were “small” screen presentations in monophonic sound. TIC broke ground for all the wide screen films to come including Cinemascope, Vista Vision, Panavision, Todd A-O and others.
When the curtain opens after the small screen intro there is the famous roller coaster sequence (shot by Michael Todd, JR. for a reported cost of $33) and TIC was an instant sensation. After a few short demo sequences longer segments of aerial scenery follow. Also there is a long sequence at Cypress Gardens in Florida as well as an Opera finale shot in Milan, Italy. The last 30 minutes feature an aerial trip around the scenic wonders and National Parks of the US. Considering that Jet Travel was still in the future this was the first time most people saw these wonders from the air or any way at all.
The multi track stereo also adds to the experience. In 1952 standard stereo recordings were still 3 to 4 years away from reaching the market through Long Play records.
If you are a fan of any big screen process this film is a pioneering look at what you have been looking at in films for the last 60 years. The BluRay/DVD also has a number of great bonus features. Watch them all. They range from a short on the TIC reconstruction project to the Lowell Thomas “breakdown” film that would appear whenever one of the three film strips broke during the show.
All the aerial photography including flying UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge were shot by Paul Mantz from his B-25. His aerial segments alone are more than worth the cost of the set. Paul was one of the great aviators of the 20th century. He died piloting the plane created for Jimmy Stewart film The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).
Available at www.flickeralley.com.
Rated 4.0 out of 4.0 big stars. NEWS ALERT Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be broadcasting the television world premiere of the restored version of THIS IS CINERAMA on Thursday, October 18th along with How the West was Won.