On the evening of September 30, 1952, the shape and sound of movies changed forever with the introduction of Cinerama.On the evening of September 30, 1952, the shape and sound of movies changed forever with the introduction of Cinerama.On the evening of September 30, 1952, the shape and sound of movies changed forever with the introduction of Cinerama.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Lowell Thomas
- Narrator
- (voice)
Kathy Darlyn
- Cypress Gardens Water Skiier
- (uncredited)
Toni Valk
- Cypress Gardens Water Skiier
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe rollercoaster ride on Playland's Atom Smasher was filmed several times using "short ends" and the complete circuit contains two skilfully edited takes. It was directed by Michael Todd Jr.. At the time, Todd was a 21-year-old college student on vacation from Amherst. Apart from salaries, the sequence cost $33 (rental of a station wagon and the cost of bolts to affix the cameras to the rollercoaster). Todd Jr. also directed most of the European footage.
- GoofsIn the otherwise wonderful "America the Beautiful" segment, Yosemite Falls is called Bridal Veil Falls in the narration. Also, the Sierra Nevada mountains are said to be in western California, not eastern, which is their correct location.
- Crazy creditsThere are no opening logos or credits; not even a title. There is a three-minute musical overture before the curtains open, followed by a 12-minute black-and-white prologue narrated by Lowell Thomas. Thomas says the title when he introduces the film process: "Ladies and gentlemen... this is Cinerama!". All of the credits, title included, are at the end of the film.
- Alternate versionsThe film was fully restored in 2011 by the newly re-christened Cinerama Inc. and David Strohmaier from one of the few remaining exhibition prints. The 26-frame-per-second frame rate was slowed to 24-frames-per-second, with the audio pitch-corrected to mask any distortion, resulting in a slightly longer running time. This version was released on a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack by Flicker Alley in the fall of 2012 for the 50th anniversary of the film's release. In 2015, the film was restored for a second time, this time from the original camera negative. Both versions use Strohmaier's patented 'Smilebox' process to keep the curvature of the Cinerama screen.
- ConnectionsEdited into How the West Was Won (1962)
Featured review
Historic But Not That Entertaining
This Is Cinerama (1952)
** (out of 4)
Lowell Thomas, in a standard B&W prologue, gives us a quick history lesson in regards to film before history is set yet again when the screen opens wide and we're introduced to beautiful color and Cinerama. THIS IS CINERAMA is somewhat a historic little documentary since it did pretty much introduce people to what Hollywood was going to use to try and battle television, which had been taking away their profits. There's no question that the opening sequence is quite impressive and you can just feel the historic nature of it. With that said, everything that follows is pretty bland and boring when viewed today. I'm really not sure what they could have done to show off this format as the actual movies that would come would do that themselves. This here basically features a bunch of smaller things just to show off the format. We start off with a roller coaster ride before hitting other things including a large number of people water skiing, people dancing and various other short stories. The problem I had is that none of these short stories are all that interesting and I think you could argue that none of them really do justice to Cinerama. Still, considering this format was new and just being introduced here, I guess you can't blame the film too much. Is the film worth watching? I would say yes simply for its historic side but I think most people won't be that entertained.
** (out of 4)
Lowell Thomas, in a standard B&W prologue, gives us a quick history lesson in regards to film before history is set yet again when the screen opens wide and we're introduced to beautiful color and Cinerama. THIS IS CINERAMA is somewhat a historic little documentary since it did pretty much introduce people to what Hollywood was going to use to try and battle television, which had been taking away their profits. There's no question that the opening sequence is quite impressive and you can just feel the historic nature of it. With that said, everything that follows is pretty bland and boring when viewed today. I'm really not sure what they could have done to show off this format as the actual movies that would come would do that themselves. This here basically features a bunch of smaller things just to show off the format. We start off with a roller coaster ride before hitting other things including a large number of people water skiing, people dancing and various other short stories. The problem I had is that none of these short stories are all that interesting and I think you could argue that none of them really do justice to Cinerama. Still, considering this format was new and just being introduced here, I guess you can't blame the film too much. Is the film worth watching? I would say yes simply for its historic side but I think most people won't be that entertained.
helpful•41
- Michael_Elliott
- Feb 24, 2013
- How long is This Is Cinerama?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Das ist Cinerama
- Filming locations
- Rockaway's Playland, Rockaway Beach, New York, USA(opening scene in wide screen effect)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $41,600,000
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.59 : 1
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