Harrison's Reports (1954)

3ntar«d as s«oond-cUise matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1878, Harrison’S Reports Yearly Subscription Kates; United States $15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Great Britain 17.50 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 35c a Copy 1270 SIXTH AVENUE New York 20, N. Y. Published Weekly by Harrison’s Reports, Inc., Publisher A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors P. S. HARRISON, Editor Established July 1, 1919 Its Editorial Policy; No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Circle 7-4622 A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXVI SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1954 No. 13 THE SUPERSCOPE DEMONSTRATION SuperScope, the variable anamorphic printing and pro' jection process developed by Joseph and Irving Tushinsky, was demonstrated to the trade in New York City on Monday of this week, and the consensus of opinion voiced by many of the 800 industry people present was that the process is highly impressive and definitely competitive to CinemaScope, with an added advantage of flexibility that will enable any exhibitor to show anamorphic type pictures in an aspect ratio that is best suited to his theatre. The exhibitors present were impressed, not oiJy by what they saw, but also by the announcement that the Super' Scope lenses will be available at $700 a pair, that one thousand lenses have already been manufactured, and that delivery will begin within 4? days. The sales and delivery of the lenses are being handled through National Screen Service. Joseph Tushinsky, present at a luncheon meeting held by Allied Theatres of New Jersey immediately after the demon' stration, won himself a hearty round of applause with the announcement that SuperScope will not accept for con' version to anamorphic prints any picture that is not made available with one-track sound for exhibitors who are not equipped for streophonic sound. Tushinsky explained that a producer may provide a picture with any type of sound he desires, but the SuperScope conversion process will not be licensed to that producer unless he agrees to make the picture available to the exhibitors also in one'track sound. The demonstration was witnessed also by A1 Lichtman, 20th Century'Fox’s director of distribution, and in the afternoon, after a conference between him and Spyros P. Skouras, 20th'Fox president, he issued a policy statement to the effect that his company will offer no objections to exhibitor use of a SuperScope lens to show 20th'Fox’s CinemaScope pictures. In making this statement, Lichtman observed that, in his opinion, the CinemaScope projection lens, manufactured by Bausch and Lomb, is superior to the SuperScope lens, and he indicated that the price of the CinemaScope lens will be reduced in the near future. Licht' man made it clear, however, that his company will not relax its requirements for a suitable screen and stereophonic sound equipment in connection with the exhibition of Cinema' Scope pictures. SuperScope, as it has already been reported in these columns, is a two'part system. The first part, which is concerned with production, prO' vides a method by which a motion picture shot with a normal camera and in normal photography can be converted into an anamorphic or so'called “squeeze” print in ratios ranging from 1.75 to 1 to over 3 to 1. The second part, which is concerned with exhibition, provides a variable anamorphic projection lens that fits onto any projection machine. With this lens, the exhibitor, by a simple twist of a dial, can project an anamorphic picture in whatever ratio is compatible with the print being used. At the demonstration, scenes were shown from Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” MGM's “Knights of the Round Table,” and several unreleased RKO pictures that had been photO' graphed in conventional form. In the showing of “Fantasia,” a normal print was enu ployed, and the SuperScope lens expanded the picture to a ratio of about 3 to 1. The picture was clear and bright and the effect achieved was spectacular and magnificent. The spreading of a normal print in this fashion results in the images becoming distorted. A perfect circle, for example, becomes elliptical, and a normal size character becomes shorter and squatter, but all this makes little difference in a cartoon since the characters, as originally drawn, are distorted anyway. Joseph Tushinsky, who handled the demonstration, made it clear that normal prints of live' action pictures could not be used in the same manner bc' cause the living characters would look ludicrously short and fat. With “Knights of the Round Table,” Tushinsky, using different anamorphic prints, proved the flexibility of the SuperScope lens by showing clips of the picture in the standard CinemaScope ratio of 2.55 to 1; 2 to 1; 1.75 to 1; and the conventional 1.33 to 1. As the aspect ratios were switched down to conventional size, however, a portion of the picture was lost on each side. For instance, in a particu' lar scene shown in an aspect ratio of 2.55 to 1, about ten characters are seen, but the same scene in an aspect ratio of 1.33 to 1 shows only about five characters. Mr. Tush' insky explained that in reducing the ratio of a picture shot with an anamorphic lens, the loss of some picture on each side cannot be avoided. In other words, the reduction of a CinemaScope picture to a lower ratio in effect reduced the scope. In showing scenes from the different RKO pictures, in' eluding “Susan Slept Here,” “The Big Rainbow,” “Silver Lode” and “Son of Sinbad,” Tushinsky explained that the pictures were shot originally with standard cameras, and that what was shown were anamorphic prints made with the SuperScope equipment. These clips were shown in different aspect ratios ranging from 1.75 to 1 to 2 to 1, and all were highly effective. In explaining the advantages of an anamorphic print in ratios ranging from 1.75 to 2 to 1, Tushinsky said that, unhke regular wide'sereen projection, which requires the use of special aperture plates that result in “cropping” and loss of light, the anamorphic prints are “cropped” in the laboratory, thus the picture in the print used by the exhibi' tor occupies the full frame and enables him to use a standard Academy aperture without loss of screen height or light. Mr. Tushinsky recommended that the anamorphic prints provided through his system be confined to two aspect ratios — 1.85 to 1 and 2.15 to 1. He explained that, with the variable SuperScope lens, either print could have its aspect ratio increased or decreased by about five per cent without any discernable distortion, and that the availability of either one of these “squeeze” prints would enable prac' tically every exhibitor in the country to show anamorphic films in a ratio to fit his requirements. Commenting on this recommendation, Irving Dillinger, the New Jersey Allied exhibitor leader, voiced his approval of the idea but expressed fear that the use of two such prints might further aggravate the already serious print situation. In the opinion of this paper, Mr. Dollinger has raised a very important question and it certainly should be given close study lest the exhibitors find themselves faced with more problems than they already face with regard to the print shortage. To be considered also is the possi' (Continued on bac}{ page)