SIFF Cinema Downtown

I saw 2001 here in the 60’s. Great experience. Also Bladerunner in a Cinerama style presentation with a special lense on the projector and it looked like authentic Cinerama. That was the best experience. Years ago too.

You are not the only one who thinks so!

wouldn’t the 70mm have the superior soundtrack five across sound (+ mono surrounds), does the ‘digital’ version retain this? (I doubt it)

Paul Allen and his management team are continously making a mockery out of ArcLight/Pacific/Decurion. Seattle gets a new 70MM 2001 print while The Dome gets a 1 time only “digital” one. Shame.

The announcement does not make clear if these showings will be on the theater’s Cinerama strip screen or not. Last September, during the Seattle Cinerama’s wide screen festival, all of the films shown were on the magnificent Cinerama screen, but given that some of the films in this upcoming series are in 35mm, I am guessing that the strip screen won’t be used this time around.

According to Martin Hart’s Widescreen Museum website, only films shot in Ultra Panavision 70 were rectified for Cinerama screenings; films such as “2001” which were in Super Panavison 70 were not. So this new print should be comparable to original roadshow screenings, except that I would bet in has a digital soundtrack instead of the original magnetic tracks.

A very large, slightly curved screen is normally used at the Seattle Cinerama; the Cinerama strip screen is behind it and I have read that it takes a day or two to get the Cinerama screen ready for use. Some previous showings of “2001” at the Seattle Cinerama over the last few years have been on the regular screen.

The Cinerama will be hosting a classic science fiction film festival from April 19 through May 2, 2012. Five titles will be in 70mm, including a new print of “2001”. Details and schedule here: View link

The Cinerama site said 8k. I know their FB page said 2K and I pointed out the difference. Oh well. It doesn’t matter now. It’s a done deal. Hope it works out better for the 75th.

I dunno…they’re claiming an 8k showing on their site. Check it out.

Hats off to the Cinerama’s team! Anyone who would show the much-maligned ‘South Pacific’ in Todd-AO gets my applause (worth seeing/hearing for Alfred Newman’s music direction alone, let alone Shamroy’s psychedelic color carnival).

I saw ‘Grand Prix’ & ‘2001’ in original release here, life-changing, of course. And in revival, ‘Oklahoma’ (though I think the CinemaScope version is better in subtle ways). Presentation of pix like ‘Exorcist’, ‘Excalibur’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’ at the Cinerama always made you feel like their celluloid was twice as wide as it really was.

Hopefully, a future festival might showcase not only ‘Grand Prix’ but anything and everything in Ultra-Panavision 70, from ‘Raintree County’ to ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ (the Forum scenes outdo anything in ‘Cleopatra’ by a mile), plus ‘Mad World’, ‘Hallelujah Trail’, etc. And what about ‘El Cid’, ‘King of Kings’, ‘Exodus’, ‘Dr. Z’ & ‘Ryan’s Daughter’?

Seeing the restored 1954 ‘A Star Is Born’ here in the 80s also proved that plain old CinemaScope looks pretty dandy, too. I’d also add ‘The Egyptian’ as a reason to make a pilgrimage, as well. (For CinemaScope presentation, the mega-screen was specially masked top and bottom with matte cloth for 2.55:1 a/r; the attention to detail was impeccable.)

I’m a realist though, acquiring worthy prints of these more obscure titles might be impossible.

PS: I saw ‘Ben-Hur’ in its ‘69 re-release, which played at the Paramount across town. Supposedly, like 'Gone/Wind’, it was in 70, but having worked at the Paramount in the 70s, and having examined the projectors, they were just Simplex 35mm – I had expected Norelco/Philips 35/70 hardware, but no…

I assumed they were referring to the 8K restoration of the film, current digital projector are not able to output at 8K, the highest (at the moment) is 4K. Given that the Cinerama has installed a Christie Solaria (4K) projector this should look amazing.

wasn’t the New York City Film Festival screening of ‘Ben Hur’ a 4K DLP digital presentation? or was it 35mm – I assumed it was the former.

That’s what I said after seeing The Sound of Music: I finally got to see it on a huge curved screen, under real Todd-AO conditions.

I posted some pictures this morning. What a surprise to see original costumes from Planet of the Apes on display in the lobby.

Wow Greg – too bad that had to happen. The next time the Cinerama shows some generic 2011 release, the sound will probably be perfect. But when they show West Side Story and The Sound of Music, there are problems. What can you do?