This is Cinerama
Robert Bendick / US, 1952 / 122 min.
Swooping up and down on Coney Island’s roller coaster, flying underneath bridges and skimming over mountain tops: This Is Cinerama immerses the viewer in a ‘startling new world of entertainment’. The film ran for twelve years on end in one Cinerama theatre in New York.
Millions of American cinemagoers in the 1950s were brought to the edge of their seats watching widescreen films that immersed the viewer in an overwhelming experience of sound and vision. To lure the audience away from their TV sets at home, the film industry had banked on offering an enriched viewing experience. The new cinema experience was going to be wider, deeper, exploding with sound and vision and above all spectacle: Cinerama promised to immerse the viewer in a “startling new world of entertainment”.
seven-channel sound system
This Is Cinerama was released in 1952 and ran for more than a decade in a single Cinerama theatre in New York. The film was a showcase of new technology, featuring such amazing cinematic feats as shots from a ride on the Coney Island roller coaster or a low-flying plane. The shots of an Aquacade, a spectacular water ballet with musical accompaniment, provided another high point in the film: the seven-channel sound system guaranteed an unprecedented experience.
The film will be introduced by film archivists and Cinerama experts David Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch, who were also in charge of the restoration project.
Details
Director
Robert Bendick
Production year
1952
Country
US
Original title
This is Cinerama
Length
122 min.
Language
English
Subtitles
NONE
Format
DCP
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