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This is Cinerama (3-Strip Cinerama)

Dir. Merian C. Cooper, Michael Todd, Fred Rickey
USA, 1952, 116 mins

Cast: Documentary with Lowell Thomas with Special Guest, James Morrison

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What better film to start this year's festival of widescreen movies than the grand-daddy of them all - the landmark production which changed the shape and sound of motion pictures forever - THIS IS CINERAMA.

We are please to welcome Cinerama veteran James R. Morrison, who is coming from Colorado to introduce this presentation. Jim, a Pawling (N.Y.) neighbour and friend of the Lowell Thomas family started work at Cinerama's tennis court production facility late in 1951. He assisted John Primi, and later Bill Henry (editor), in the editing and assembly of the finished production.

Throughout the ‘30s and ‘40s, movie-going became a family habit. Box office returns reached unimaginable heights but it wasn’t to last. In the early ‘50s audiences stayed away and watched a flickering black and white image in the corner of their living rooms. Then came Cinerama with its enormous screen and 7-track surround sound which practically lifted the audience out of its seat. It changed the shape of cinema screens and box office numbers boomed. Nevertheless despite its success, within 15 years it was all over leaving only a pleasantly recalled memory. Then in 1993 this Museum opened an exact reproduction of a Cinerama theatre. Even the curtains and upholstery were the same shade of ...

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