HISTORY OF WIDESCREEN CINEMA (COMPLETE PRE-1953 FILM LIST)
Posted: May 7, 2008 2:22 PM
dual-strip , 3-d , widescreen , letterbox , cinerama
Widescreen began with Eidoloscope, circa 1895, which featured an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
Widescreen was first widely used in the late 1920s in some shorts and newsreels, including Fox Grandeur News and Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, both released on May 26, 1929 in New York City in the Fox Grandeur process. Other films shown in widescreen were the musical Happy Days (1929) which premiered at the Roxy Theater, N.Y.C., on February 13, 1930, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell and a 13 year old Betty Grable as a chorus girl, and the western The Big Trail (1930) starring John Wayne and Tyrone Power, Sr. which premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on October 2, 1930, both of which were also made in the 70mm Fox Grandeur process. RKO released Danger Lights with Jean Arthur, Louis Wolheim, and Robert Armstrong on August 21, 1930 in a 65mm widescreen process known as NaturalVision, invented by film pioneer George K. Spoor. United Artists released The Bat Whispers directed by Roland West on November 13, 1930 in a 70mm widescreen process known as Magnifilm. Song of the Flame is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence using a process called Vitascope (a Warner Bros. wide screen process). By 1932, the Depression had forced studios to cut back on needless expense and it wasn't until 1953 that wider aspect ratios were again used in an attempt to stop the fall in attendance due, partially, to the emergence of television in the U.S.The rise in popularity of television is credited with inciting the move to the widescreen systems that flourished throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This is only partially true. In the early 1950s, studios did begin to compose their movies so that the top and bottom of the picture could be chopped off and a wider screen would show the center of the old 1.37:1 frame. The aspect ratio used by the various studios varied from about 1.5:1 up to the common 1.85:1. But the real reason for the birth of a multitude of widescreen and large format systems was the 1952 opening of a movie made in a process that had its roots in a World War II aerial gunnery trainer. This Is Cinerama (1952) shook the industry to the core. The public and reviewers loved it. Its giant screen filled with three oversized 35mm images and an incredible new sound system called Stereophonic were a marvel to behold, and the studios immediately rushed to find something that could do what Cinerama did.
(1930-1931) The first 65mm and 70mm widescreen film processes employed a number of different frame sizes and perforations per frame.
Danger Lights (1930) Natural Vision; also shot simultaneously in 35 mm
Happy Days (1930) Grandeur; also shot simultaneously in 35 mm
Song O' My Heart (1930) Grandeur; exhibited only in 35 mm
The Big Trail (1930) (DVD) Grandeur; also shot simultaneously in 35 mm
Song of the Flame (1930) Vitascope; first all color film (in Technicolor) to use widescreen.
Kismet (1930) Vitascope black and white and color
A Soldier's Plaything (1930) Vitascope; exhibited only in 35 mm
The Lash (1930) Vitascope; also shot simultaneously in 35 mm
The Bat Whispers (1930) (DVD ) Magnifilm; exhibited only in 35 mm
Billy the Kid (1930) Realife; exhibited only in 35 mm
The Great Meadow (1931) Realife; exhibited only in 35 mm
CURRENT WIDESCREEN STUDIO RELEASES ON DVD:
THE BAT WHISPERS (1930) (
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/intro.htm)
THE BIG TRAIL (1930) (
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/grandeur-sep1930.htm)
In (1953) the modern era of widescreen began with films premiering in CinemaScope and (dual-strip 3-D) .
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (DVD)
How to Marry a Millionaire (DVD)
King of the Khyber Rifles
Knights of the Round Table (DVD)
The Robe (DVD)
The Story of William Tell (Unfinished film has been lost, only short silent scenes exist)
Cease Fire! 1.85 : 1 Paravision (dual-strip 3-D)
Those Redheads from Seattle 1.66 : 1 Paravision (dual-strip 3-D)
Gun Fury 1.85 : 1 Columbia 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
The Stranger Wore a Gun 1.85 : 1 Columbia 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
Cat-Women of the Moon 1.85 : 1 Tru-Stereo (dual-strip 3-D)
The Charge At Feather River 1.66 : 1 Natural Vision (dual-strip 3-D)
Flight to Tangier 1.66 : 1 Metrovision Tri-Dee (dual-strip 3-D)
Kiss Me Kate 1.75 : 1 Dynoptic 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
Miss Sadie Thompson 1.85 : 1 Columbia 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
Money from Home 1.75 : 1 Dynoptic 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
The Nebraskan 1.85 : 1 Columbia 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
Hypnotic Hick 1.85 : 1 Lantz 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
Spooks! 1.75 : 1 Columbia 3-D (dual-strip 3-D)
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The only three-camera Cinerama productions were:
This Is Cinerama (1952) (
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/ticgallery.htm)
Cinerama Holiday (1955)
Seven Wonders of the World (1956)
Search for Paradise (1957)
South Seas Adventure (1958)
Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich (1958)
How the West Was Won (1962) (DVD)
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
Best of Cinerama (1963)
Cinerama's Russian Adventure (1966)
Cinerama Adventure (2002) (DVD) This documentary is featured on the Three-Disc Special Edition, Ultimate Collector's Edition & Blu-Ray DVDs for How the West Was Won (1962), all released in September 2008.
Non 3-Camera single lens 65mm productions that were printed to "Super-Cinerama" for projection on giant curved screens include:
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (DVD)
Circus World (1964) (DVD)
The Golden Head (1964)
Battle of the Bulge (1965) (DVD)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) (DVD)
The Hallelujah Trail (1965) (DVD)
Grand Prix (1966) (DVD)
Khartoum (1966) (DVD)
Custer of the West (1967) (DVD)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (DVD)
Ice Station Zebra (1968) (DVD)
Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) (DVD)
Song of Norway (1970) (DVD)
The Last Valley (1971) (DVD)
GREAT WIDESCREEN DATABASE WEB SITE:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/index.htm
