The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

28 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN March-April, 1953 sound head and the slave at the projector which give the ability to add or subtract any number of frames on any of the three projectors in the event of an error or mis-threading or if for some other reason the projector should be running out of sync. The Broadway Theatre installation has a curtain made specially to fit the rounded screen, in four parts — two on each side. They fold on top of one another to save space. The portion over the centre panel is vertically operated, so that it can be pulled up to reveal the screen for ordinary 35 mm. projection. The projection booths built into the orchestra at the Broadway rest directly on the basement beams in order to obtain the greatest possible sound isolation. When Cinerama is installed in other cities, it is planned to build the booths into the lower edge of the balcony wherever possible. Thus, there would be no loss of seats. Three hundred had to be taken out of the Broadway. Plenty is wrong with Cinerama h if furs Aaron \a tlvll rPHERE are at least eight major technical flaws -* in the Cinerama process, none of which admits of ready or easy remedy, and all of which were glaringly visible even at the first commercial performance when equipment was still factory-new, and operation supervised by inventors and engineers in addition to projectionists. 1. Horizontal lines are seldom straight. (They are projected on to a curved screen, which curves them). The pretzel-like effect on railroad tracks was almost grotesque. Funny, or perhaps unfunny in so serious and earnest a project, was the unhorizontal sea-horizon in the roller coaster sequence; for while the car was rising toward the top the horizon line was a smiling mouth, corners curving up; but when the car reversed and started downward the horizon also reversed and became disconsolate, corners down. The same inevitable, unavoidable effect was also visible in other sequences, but railroad and horizon lines showed it most clearly. If Columbus had had Cinerama instead of only an egg he would have had no trouble at all proving the earth is round — one look at the horizon in the Aquacade sequence would have been proof plenty. 2. The joins between the three component panels (frames) are not always as perfect as desired; vertical junction areas often show plainly. 3. Projector jump (vertical vibration) of the three projectors is not in synchronism. For example, during the solemn singing of Abide With Me one of the massive church columns was partly in one panel and partly in the other; and these two half-columns vibrated against each other completely destroying the impressiveness of the effect, at least to one observer. 4. When one of the three projectors gets out of frame and needs to be refrained with respect to the others, illusion again is ruined. 5. The projection light on the three panels is often unmatched as to both brightness and colour tone. The lagoon of Venice seemed at times to be composed of water of three different colours. And in the Edinburgh sequence the white-faced Scotch bagpiper who marched across the screen from one panel to another instantly became sunburned! 6. Whenever horizontal lines stretch across the screen so far as to pass from one panel into another and the camera is panned, a jiggle appears at tinnarrow area of junction. This, in combination with the projector jump mentioned above, produces some really grotesque effects. Queerest was in the airplane sequence when Lowell Thomas proclaimed : " Nobody ever saw Manhattan Island like this before." He was quite right; nobody ever saw the Empire State Building doing a jig before. Later on in the same airplane sequence the Sierra Nevada mountains danced. 7. Keystone distortion in viewing : it is obvious that to a person sitting at either side of the theatre there must be keystone distortion of all objects appearing at the same side of the screen, because that side of the screen curves toward him. This was especially visible in a choral number; the chorus divides into two groups which take up their places at opposite ends of the scene. The group appearing at the far side of the screen looked normal to an observer; but the group at the near side looked thin as matchsticks. 8. The peripheral vision advantage claimed for Cinerama applies most effectively to those seated up front; and becomes progressively less toward the rear of the theatre. The Broadway Theatre, New York, in which these first commercial showings are held, is an old legitimate house essentially square in shape; in a longer and narrower auditorium only a relatively small percentage of the audience would be exposed to the full effect of Cinerama. And technically, unskilled reviewers, reporting the premiere in the New York daily press, though apparently they did not note all the mechanical flaws, did comment on some; and also noted that the presentation offered only spectacular scenes, no dramatic or emotional ones. Exhibitors trill nalvh thv vast James Jerauld, writing in " Boxoffice," said of Cinerama : " Money — lots of it — is required. A three-camera filming unit, in addition to the regular camera crew in studios, could triple print costs. This wouldn't be an insuperable objection if the public should respond. On the other hand, six projection machines in three booths, six operators on duty in places where two men in a booth are required, and the first cost of installation running up to $75,000 could fill an exhibitor with alarm. "How to focus attention on one or two or three or four actors in dramatic productions when the screen is the width of the theatre is something else that will require study. When Magnascope was introduced with " Old Ironsides " about 25 years ago, the screen was suddenly enlarged by pulling black drapes and then closed again with the same speed for the regular lenses. It may be possible to do this with Cinerama. " Most exhibitors will watch developments with open minds."