THE CD PLAYER PLUS - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

awe at the biggest, widest-screen system
of all time, Cinerama,
Like IMAX today, Cinerama was
ultimately watered down to a shadow
of what it had been, supposedly because
moviegoers wouldn’t be able to tell
the difference, but at its peak it was
an adrenaline rush. Three cameras
arranged in a near-semicircle, captured
a huge image, which was then thrown
by three projectors onto a deeply-curved
screen that spanned an awesome 146º.
Unlike 3-D, which also flourished in the
early 50’s, Cinerama required no glasses,
only a stout heart.
Cinerama films did not translate well
to a more conventional format, such as
CinemaScope, and for that reason no
doubt, the three-camera process was
used almost entirely for travelogue
features. Only two dramatic films were
ever made in “real” Cinerama, and this
is the more famous of the two.
How the West Was Won is an epic
Western, a multi-generational tale made
by three different directors (John Ford
among them) as well as an all-star cast:
Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark,
John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Gregory
Peck, Raymond Massey (as Abe Lincoln
if you can believe it), Thelma Ritter and
so many more. Not all are well cast —
Jimmy Stewart is as wrong as he can be
as a supposedly young trapper courting
Carroll Baker, and Andy Devine’s
distinctive voice makes you jump when
you hear it, though not for the right
reason. To say that the script is historically
flawed would be too kind, because
it makes Roy Rogers films look like BBC
documentaries. It is dispiriting to think
that this ridiculous scenario actually won
an Oscar, and that the whole movie got
a Best Picture nomination.
You won’t be surprised to hear that
Native Americans are treated with the
casual racism we once took for granted.
The Cheyenne are understandably put
off that railroad crews, moving onto
their land, include buffalo hunters, but
their concerns are dismissed in the usual
Hollywood fashion: every rifle shot
means another injun bites the dust (the
Indians are badly outmatched, since even
in the second half of the 19th Indians, who were experts at falling off makes everything look convex, and the
horses without getting hurt, and thus image itself occupies only a narrow band
picked up a few dollars while participat- across an HDTV screen. The Smilebox
ing in their own dehumanization. process maps the three-image Cinerama
Once you get past that — if you picture digitally across a virtual curved
can — there’s a lot to like in the film. screen, to undo the unnatural convex
There are some poignant scenes, and
Get the complete spectacular ones version
as well. And it’s fas-
curvature and to use more of the screen
real estate. In the images above, you can
cinating to see so many of the great see both versions.
No, this free version is not
Hollywood
complete, though
stars in
you
what
could
are,
spend
for most
a couple
The Smilebox process has not been
of hours reading it. Want the
moviegoers,
full version?
unfamiliar roles.
universally praised, but I thought it
You can, of course, order the
For
print
the
version,
original
which
audience,
we have
of course,
published
added a good deal to the experience.
for a quarter of a century. You
there
can get
was
it from
Cinerama
our back
itself.
issues
I’m
page.
old Certainly the image perspective is much
But we also have a paid electronic
enough to
version,
have seen
which
several
is just
Cinerama
like this one,
better than on the conventional CD. I
except that it doesn’t have annoying
productions,
banners
including
like this
the
one,
original
and it
This
doesn’t
discovered that if one sits quite close to
have articles tailing off into faux
is Cinerama,
Latin. Getting
though
the
not
electronic
this one. I admit
version is
the
of
screen (the Blu-ray image is so sharp
course faster, and it is also cheaper.
to having
It costs
been
just
a fan.
$4.30
How
(Canadian)
much of the
anywhere
that this is actually doable), some of the
in the world. Taxes, if they are
film’s
applicable,
original
are
impact
included.
remains in the new Cinerama impact does come across. The
It’s available from MagZee.com.
re-release?
reason: the deeply curved screen was
In the conventional DVD version, intended to add realism by engaging the
not much. However the Blu-ray ver- viewer’s peripheral vision. Only if the
sion includes a disc with an alternative screen fills your field of vision can you
version, intended to give at least a hint reproduce that giddy feeling of being in
of what Cinerama was all about. The the scene.
system is called Smilebox, not to be con- The re-release of this film is recomfused
with the photo and video sharing mended if you have a Blu-ray player
Century software of the same name. The original and a large and very good HDTV. For
they are shown using spears and arrows, Cinerama screen was so wide (2.89:1) everyone else it’s pretty much a waste of
not rifles). The film did create work for and deeply curved that a “flat” depiction time.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 75
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