CINEMASCOPE FILMS

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

CINEMASCOPE FILMS

DEMONSTRATION IN CHRISTCHURCH

Cinemascope is claimed by its pioneers to be the film industry’s answer to its latest and sternest challenge: television. When the Hollywood juggernaut, which in the past had met its competitors with moving films, sound, and Technicolor, tried threedimensional entertainment to maintain its grip, people flocked to have balls thrown in their faces and to be taken for a ride on a roller coaster. Cinemascope followed. Cinemascope was demonstrated for the first time in Christchurch yesterday in the Savov Theatre to an invited audience. Colourful Coronation scenes, panoramic views of American mountains and lakes, glimpses of New York with tugs tooting their way across the screen, a thundering symphony orchestra, and excerpts from “The Robe” and other Cinemascope films, were included in an hour-long programme.. The medium is now widely considered in America to be the most practical device used.by the industry to make films “real?’ A highlycorrected cylindical lens views a wide field and compresses it on a standard 35 mm. film. A similar lens, in projection, spreads the image on a large curved screen. The effect on the watcher varies: he is sometimes practically in the middle of a scene, surrounded by the characters. He can also travel with the camera operator on an aeroplane, skimming low. climbing and banking. At the same time, the booming sound, vast image, and the muted and baritone voices can become oppressive. In conventional films, sound comes from a single fixed position behind the screen. Sound is not naturally heard like this, because the ears tell the listener the direction from which the sound is coming. In Cinemascope, special sound tracks and speakers (three set behind the screen and one in the theatre) make the sound come from various parts of the screen, according to where it originates. The sound system was very well illustrated with music. A conductor tapped his baton. The strings on his left played the opening bars, followed on his right by the bass fiddles. The orchestra swung into a full performance, and if a member of the audience closed his eyes, he might think he was attending an actual concert.