In the 21st century, widescreen cinema is a given, from the televisions we have in our homes to the movies we see at the theater. It seems widescreen is everywhere we look, but it was not always this way. Televisions used to have a square aspect ratio, looking a lot like the movies of the day; this meant many people could enjoy movies at home without losing too much in the process. Add in the rise of suburbs and expendable money for more leisure activities, and you are looking at an American public that had more to do besides go to the movies.
Enter Cinerama, a new and exciting (at the time) film format unlike anything anyone had seen before. The first successful widescreen format, Cinerama was a huge success, advertised and seen as an event that required reserved seats and dressing your best. But what was Cinerama, why was it such a big deal, and what is its legacy now?
Cinerama Definition
Defining ‘Cinerama’
We will start with a definition of Cinerama. This will include a little info on the process before diving a bit deeper later in the article.
CINERAMA DEFINITION
What was Cinerama?
Cinerama was a widescreen process used from the 1950s until the 1960s for specially made venues. It utilized a three-camera setup of 35mm film; when projected, it would be shown on three screens via three cameras simultaneously, which together produced a wide frame and triptych effect onto a curved screen.
Cinerama characteristics:
- High quality imagery from three cameras.
- Extremely wide frame from three projectors.
- Imperfections in framing and shots due to an imperfect process.
Cinerama History
The History
Large format films had existed before the 1950s, but they were so few and far between that you will likely only ever hear about them in specialty books or articles covering widescreen cinema. What matters for our purposes is that widescreen cinema–the kind that ushered in the new era we have been living in for decades–started in the 1950s with Cinerama.
What was Cinerama • Cinerama cinema
Fred Waller invented Cinerama, which utilized three mounted 35mm cameras that shared the same rotating shutter. Each camera shot a portion of what would be a widescreen movie when all three images were projected in unison; the idea was that the process would capture the view of the human eye. The aspect ratio possible with this process ranged from 2.59:1 to 2.65:1. The first film to be made and released was the aptly titled This is Cinerama (1952), a demonstration of the new technology and a travelogue. It premiered on September 30, 1952 in New York City at the Broadway Theater; it was a hit, to say the least.
What was Cinerama • This is Cinerama
Most of the films made with the three-strip Cinerama setup were travelogues; these films included Cinerama Holiday and South Seas Adventure (both 1958). Only two traditional feature films were made in this setup: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won (both released in 1962).
What was Cinerama • Cinerama films
Of course, Cinerama was not without its drawbacks. One of the big ones was that the seams between the three screens were noticeable, though some improvements here and there made it less of an issue. The biggest issue with Cinerama was that its movies could only be screened in select venues. It was therefore a pricey investment that very few theaters across the world could actually present, and the three-strip process that necessitated a specialized venue and camera setup was abandoned in the early 1960s.
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Cinerama Examples
The Legacy
Soon after Cinerama’s introduction, new forms of widescreen cinema were hitting the market. The most popular of these was CinemaScope, which featured a similar aspect ratio with only one 35mm lens, camera, and projector. Best of all, CinemaScope could be installed in just about any theater across the world. Not only that, but the technology that made CinemaScope was not patented–only the name was. Therefore anyone who knew how to make specialized anamorphic lenses like those in CinemaScope could make their own and sell it as a different brand name (see TohoScope, Francoscope, and others).
What was Cinerama • CinemaScope
There was also Todd-AO, a widescreen process that utilized high quality 70mm film gauge to make high quality widescreen images. While not as widely used as CinemaScope (or VistaVision), Todd-AO not only provided top of the line images via its use of 70mm film stock, but the films themselves could be shown in any number of theaters, whether in 70mm or 35mm prints.
What was Cinerama • Todd-AO
Meanwhile, by the early 1960s, Cinerama had mostly just become a brand name. Cinerama started using the Ultra Panavison 70 process; like CinemaScope, it was anamorphic and featured a similarly very wide aspect ratio (2.76:1), but instead of 35mm film, it used 65mm (presented later on 70mm) film. Ben-Hur (1959) is inarguably the most famous movie to be shot and presented in Ultra Panavison 70, though it was not presented in Cinerama.
What was Cinerama • Ben-Hur
The actual first Cinerama branded Ultra Panavision 70 film presented in Cinerama 70mm was It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), which premiered at the still standing Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles.
What was Cinerama • Cinerama movies
There was also Super Panavison 70, which also utilized 70mm film, but was not anamorphic and did not yield as wide of a ratio. Similar to Todd-AO, Super Panavision 70 was presented in an aspect ratio of 2.20:1, nowadays the standard ratio for standard 70mm films, like Christoper Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023). Famous films shot entirely in Super Panavison 70 include West Side Story (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
What was Cinerama • Cinerama camera
In the years that followed, Cinerama became a part of history, as these two previously mentioned processes weren’t even owned by Cinerama. Anamorphic widescreen, along with large format 65mm/70mm film, is still around via different companies, brand names, and technology (IMAX being the most famous/popular). And while a small few of Cinerama theaters still exist (less than five worldwide), Cinerama’s biggest legacy was motivating everyone else to make widescreen the new standard in cinema.
Up Next
What is CinemaScope?
Now that you know a thing or two about Cinerama, look at our article covering its main successor, CinemaScope. We define the process, talk about its history, the films that have used it, and its lasting legacy on the cinematic landscape.
Up Next: What is CinemaScope →
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