Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
“Windjammer” screening at Cinerama Dome
posted by
JSittig1
on
August 26, 2010 at 3:45 pm
HOLLYWOOD, CA — Sunday September 5, at 11:30am, “Windjammer, The Voyage of the Christian Radich”. The film follows the adventures of Norwegian cadets on their 238 day training cruise. “Windjammer”, produced by Louis de Rochmont premiered at the Chinese Theatre and was filmed in CineMiracle, a 3 strip photographic process similar to Cinerama.
The version playing at the Dome is a high definition digital print, filling the Cinerama screen, with a RCA 7 channel soundtrack. The print used for remastering was badly faded with a Norweigan soundtrack from the Swedish Film Institute. The remastering was directed by Cinerama historian David Strohmaier and produced for Cinerama by John Sittig. Tickets are available at ArcLight.
Comments (7)
This will be labor day weekend so I won’t be able to attend. Hopefully, someone will post a detailed review of how the restoration turned out. Does digital Cinerama use 3 projectors as with film or have they converted it to one projector. Anyone have any technical info? Thanks.
Check out the following website, it has all the information about the Windjammer restoration: http://www.in70mm.com/
This showing I think will just be a single video digital projector with all three images on one digital print. The sound may sound great but from going from a 35mm CinemaScope print to make this new digital version don’t expect the big 3 projector experience of CineMircle or Cinerama. May look good when It is released on DVD later. Now let’s work on some of the other Cinerama films that still have better prints or negs to work on. Pacific Theatres can put them in SmileBox and sell them with new Blue Ray DVD’s for a new generation to enjoy. I am ready for ‘South Seas Adventure’ or ‘Seven Wonders Of The World’.
The only way a new generation can enjoy the remaining Cinerama travelogues is to see them projected onto a massive, deeply curved Cinerama screen. Anything else, Blu-ray included, is simply a waste of time.
It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see the remaining Cinerama travelogues in true three strip Cinerama. Restoration is extremely expensive (maybe impossible on some titles given the original elements!) and with only a couple if theaters in America, maybe a couple more worldwide to exhibit them the market and financial incentive is just not there. The Hollywood Dome rarely shows the two Cinerama features that have been restored. Digital restoration and DVD release a la “Windjammer” may be more practical.
Frankly I doubt there is even much of a DVD or Blu-ray market for the remaining travelogues. There apparently isn’t much of a DVD market for ANY old film nowadays. Ancient travelogues even in Smilebox Blu-ray would probably sell very few copies. “Windjammer' just might be an exception, given the adventure element and the great musical score. I’m extremely looking forward to the upcoming Blu-ray.
I don’t think Cinerama restorations in Smilebox format on DVD Blu-ray are a waste of time at all. “How the West Was Won” is absolutely stunning in that format, blowing away all previous video versions. The Cinerama sequences in the documentary “Cinerama Adventure”, also in Smilebox format on the accompanying DVD disc with “HTWWW”, also look spectacular. As good as seeing true Cinerama on a giant curved screen? Of course not! Waste of time? Not in my opinion!
I agree that the Smilebox restoration of How the West Was Won on Blu-ray looks incredible. However, I’ve shown it to a number of people who’ve never seen Cinerama and simply can’t grasp what that weird shaped image is all about. And if they haven’t actually experienced Cinerama projected onto that huge screen with its 146ยบ curvature – no amount of explaining will do the trick. And comparing it to Imax projection doesn’t work either, since most films people are viewing in Imax auditoriums these days are blowups from 35mm. Watching a current feature film presented in an Imax auditorium is not much different than being forced to sit in the front row at the local megaplex. Not something most movie goers choose to do
I feel that the Smilebox process is underutilized. There are many films aside from Cinerama films that could greatly benefit from this process. Many of the 70mm spectacles were shown on curved screens. With Blu ray’s capabilities both flat and Smilebox could be made available on such films.