NEW CINEMA PROCESS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27226, 18 December 1953, Page 16

NEW CINEMA PROCESS

FIRST SCREENING IN CHRISTCHURCH THEATRE COMPLETELY RENOVATED After four months of work, day and night, week-ends and holidays included, what is practically a new theatre has emerged in Christchurch irom one which was one of the oldest, yet a pioneer in new types of cinema entertainment.

Now the Savoy, and formerly the Liberty, the theatre will open this evening with the first Christchurch showing of Hollywood’s first Cinemascope film, “The Robe.” Cinemascope is a form of third-dimensional projection used in conjunction with a wide screen and stereophonic sound. Unlike earlier third-dimensional films, the new process does not require the use of Polaroid glasses. Any theatre can be adapted for Cinemascope showings, but the owners of the old Liberty Theatre, Amalgamated Theatres, Ltd., decided that the occasion warranted the complete renovaiton of the theatre. It was at the Liberty Theatre that Christchurch audiences first saw a fuli-length talking picture. It was “Mother Knows Best,” a self-explana-tory title, and company officials yesterday thought it was screened about 1928. Talking pictures were first screened overseas about 1926. Last year, “The Man in Dark” was shown in the Liberty. It was the first third-dimensional full-length film in Christchurch, but it had to be viewed through special glasses. Once the curtain rises, the screen dominates the theatre. It is 37 feet long—about three times the length of a normal cinema screen—and about 16 feet high. It is one of seven Cinemascope screens exported from the United States this year. Four of them came to New Zealand, one for each of the main centres. The screens were flown from the United States to London, then by way of Singapore to Sydney, in a specially-chartered plaqe. They came on to New Zealand by sea. The screen curves to a depth of nearly two feet, and is tilted at an angle of six degrees. An integral part of Cinemascope is the stereophonic sound system. It reproduces sound from four magnetic tracks of film. One of the tracks extends the range of audience participation into the auditorium, where there are 14 loudspeakers. New-type projection arc lamps have been installed to ensure that lighting problems created by the new process are overcome. There are plenty of Cinemascope productions in view, but if at any time one is not available, an ordinary film can be shown in the theatre, the outside sections of the screen being shadowed.