Train & Movie Buffs, Trains in Cinerama

Here's the movie trailer.......Don

Yoiks!  I remember seeing Cinerama Holiday in the theater!

Rusty

Don:  that's wonderful!  I, too, remember seeing Cinerama when I was a kid.  The whole family drove down to Chicago (we lived in Milwaukee, 90 miles north) to see this spectacular movie in the early 1950's. 

i don't think that it lasted but a few more years before the American audiences lost interest in the travelog type of movies.

But I'd be interested in getting a copy.  Do you know who sells these reconfigured copies?  I don't have Blue Tooth, but I do have HD TV and I think that would provide a reasonable impression of the original.

Paul Fischer

Neat stuff Don!  Being abit younger I remember watching a Cinerama movie in Providence Rhode Island in the early 1970's. The theatre had the original cinerama screen, cool stuff that was way ahead of its time.

I loved the trailer. I too remember Cinerama here in Australia. One movie that stuck in my mind had a roller coaster ride in it. Great fun.

Yes, they are 

Flicker Alley

Available 11/2???  You lucky dog!! Thanks for the heads up!

Dave, you should get "South Seas Adventure" lot's of it was filmed in your home port.

AMCDave, I still have a connection or three. Don

The movie "How The West was Won" with that great musical score,was filmed in Cinerama. Check out Amazon for the Blu Ray versions Of the original Cinerama with Lowell Thomas.

I have all five releases of the three strip Cinerama films. More to come if these sell. Don

Don

Cinerama Holiday played at last years Seattle Cinerama Film Festival.  If it is on next years play list would you like a heads up?  Downtown Seattle isn't quite paradise but the mohair upholstered seats are mighty comfy. 

The one Cinerama film i remember the most(I've seen most of them in the original intended theater setting) is Grand Prix. The way that movie was filmed, and especially the 120 degree field of view made you feel like you were actually driving a Formula 1 car.

My favorite film, "2001: A Space Odyssey," is Cinerama.

I remember Windjammer and it blew me away.  I was a kid and my mom took me to see it at the West Side Theater in semi beautiful Scranton.  TCM did a documentary about the process a month or so ago.  Worth your time if you love the CINERAMA.  Their take on the making of How the West was Won is worth the price of admission.

Was going to mention '2001' too. Wasn't 'It's  A Mad Mad Mad World' one of them as well?

I loved "Windjammer" too and saw it twice in Boston as a kid.  I now have it on Blu-Ray.  It's actually not Cinerama but a competitive format called Cinemiracle.

"It's a Mad, Mad Mad, Mad World" was a Cinerama form, single-strip Ultra Panavision 70.

I saw How the West was Won in the Cinerama theater in Chattanooga, TN, many years ago with my parents.  Must have been around 1962.  I remember that my dad was hugely impressed with both the movie and the process.  And rightly so.

Some time later, my wife and I saw 2001 in the Toronto Cinerama theater.  That was in 1970 I think.  I'm glad we did, because it loses most of its visual impact on a conventional screen.

There are three theaters in the world that still can show the old three strip Cinerama system. Seattle, Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles and one in England. At one time we were lucky in San Francisco. We had two Cinerama theaters. I saw most of the films including one of the worst. "Holiday in Spain". It started life as a smellovision film and was converted to Cinerama. It did stink. I have a 70mm real of "Mad, World". Don

2001 premiered at the Uptown Theater in the Cleveland Park area of Washington, DC.  The Uptown still has its curved Cinerama screen and three projection booths.  Unfortunately they replaced their film projector with a digital one several years ago.

How The West Was Won is my all time favorite film. I think my parents took me to see Windjammer but was too young to remember much. I know I saw How the west...., The wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and It's a Mad...World. I am not into Sifi but would like to see Gravity [3D] no not for who plays in it. I have an anniversary [I think]copy of How the West.... It also gives backgound history on Cinerama.  

I have the "How the West Was Won" Blu-Ray and they did a wonderful job of restoring it.  They scanned each frame and combined all three strips into one image mostly eliminating the two vertical lines.  You can watch in both Smilebox and normal.

Got mine in the mail from Flicker Alley yesterday, the extras with the two wives were fun to watch (they still look pretty good after nearly [ahem - mumble] years,too).I'll watch South Seas tomorrow. A better restoration job than the first two (the original three strip as opposed to 65mm reduction). For those who've mentioned Mad World, Criterion is bringing out a restored edition in January. I'm waiting for TWWOTBG myself, hope they can get the print from TCM to work on. 

I saw ‘2001’ at the Uptown in 1968. My dad took us (myself and 2 siblings) to see it. I only have vague memories but remember there was quite a buzz among the adults. Of course most of us kids were just confused.

I loved the train filming of How The West Was Won. The studio paid a fortune on the digital re-due of the film. Most of the computer work was done in India. My only complaint was the blue screen shots with the Ultra Panavision rear projection. It really shows up in Bluray. Unfortunately it didn't sell all that well as a DVD so they might not spend that kind of many on another Cinerama film. Don 

Guys,

1955 was two years before I was born! Special guest star Art Buchwald is the most familiar figure. It was called Idlewild back then wasn't it (JFK now) those were the days!

So .... much has changed!

You can get everything in 3D now and surround sound. Why even going to Disneyworld doesn't seem the same anymore going to see the China exhibit. There you are surrounded 360 degrees by screens!

By the way just saw "Gravity" this past weekend! It was far out! Almost got sick with all that space junk flying at your head!

Mike Maurice

Technology always changes. Cinerama was cool. Today its Imax but its not the same experience in my opinion.