Return Of The Film Corner Thread

Brad · July 11, 2019

I had forgotten that it was on Cinerama or something like that. I saw it when I lived in Barcelona and it made a big impression on me. My heroes were people like Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill. They were cool, driving those race cars. A year later, they held the Grand Prix of Barcelona, which I attended. It wasn't Formula 1 but Formula 2 but still good enough for me. I took some photos with my Brownie camera, which I will try to post later tonight.

Dave Garrett · July 12, 2019

On 7/11/2019 at 8:26 PM, medjuck said:

What was the difference between the two: Was Ultra Panavision anamorphic 65mm and Super Panavision just 65mm? BTW As you might expect when I saw it the sound was terrific. 8 track I presume but I don't really know a lot about it. As I remember it when I saw West Side Story on its first release the whistle that opened the film came from the very back of the theater. Of course, what I remember, and the facts aren't necessarily the same thing.

Just looked it up (Google is your friend): you're right Super Panavision is spherical and does not have as wide an aspect ratio. Grand Prix was Super Panavision. However according to Wikipedia the they also compensated for the curve when Superpanavison films were shown in Cinerama theaters. What do you know about the sound?

AFAIK, Super Panavision used 6-track mag sound (five channels up front and a mono surround channel). There's a summary of the format specs here:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/superpanavisionspecs.htm

in contrast with Ultra Panavision's specs:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/ultrapanavisionspecs.htm

medjuck · July 12, 2019

41 minutes ago, Dave Garrett said:

AFAIK, Super Panavision used 6-track mag sound (five channels up front and a mono surround channel). There's a summary of the format specs here:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/superpanavisionspecs.htm

in contrast with Ultra Panavision's specs:

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/ultrapanavisionspecs.htm

So they were both 6 track with 5 of the tracks up front and mono surrounds. I remember (wrongly I guess) it being more directional. I'm surprised there is no sub woofer. In the ''80s when we made 70mm prints of anamorphic 35mm films the main attraction was the subwoofer.

The three films that made the greatest impression on me in terms of sound were Grand Prix, West Side Story and The Guns of Navarone (which I believe was shot anamorphic 35mm but blown up to 70mm with 6 track sound for big cities). In each case I remember them being more directional than they probably were if they were mono surround. In the case of Grand Prix it was probably just loud in the surrounds.

Edited July 12, 2019 by medjuck

Dave Garrett · July 12, 2019

3 minutes ago, medjuck said:

So they were both 6 track with 5 of the tracks up front and mono surrounds. I remember (wrongly I guess) it being more directional. I'm surprised there is no sub woofer. In the ''80s when we made 70mm prints of anamorphic 35mm films the main attraction was the subwoofer.

Well, on a huge deep-curve screen, I can see 5 front channels giving more of an illusion of directionality than may really exist, especially in a movie like GRAND PRIX with the cars zipping back and forth within the frame.

As far as the subwoofer, 6-track mag can deliver pretty substantial low-frequency effects without one, given the right sound mix and B-chain. Around twenty years ago I saw a 70mm print of BEN-HUR with 6-track mag, and when it got to the scene with the thunderstorm and Christ on the cross, the rumble was definitely visceral and quite impressive.

Brad · July 12, 2019

This is a very odd Hungarian movie about a young woman who supposedly stumbles into a plot in 1913 to start WWI.

My son made me rent this and then he decided he changed his mind so not wanting to throw the $6 away I watched it. I never read the book or saw the 1989 version so I thought it was good and gripping in its later stages. Maybe that's more a testimonial to Stephen King than the movie.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Brad