This is Cinerama [Blu-ray]

After such a long wait - CINERAMA Comes To Home Video
My first introduction to Cinerama was in NYC in 1955, I was 11 years old. A family trip to the Big Apple. Sitting in the 3rd row from the screen, surrounded by wine colored curtains, waiting for the show to start. I noticed 3 projection booths on the orchestra floor. Not knowing what Cinerama was, I thought it might be a new type of three dimension process. The lights went down, a b&w mono sound prologue starts. After about 10 minutes into the prologue, I started to get bored. Nothing different about this movie. Then the narrator said "Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy your Cinerama Holiday". The horizontal masking started to rise, the wine colored curtains started to open wider and kept going and going. We were flying through the sky, surrounded in picture and sound. WOW, WE DON'T HAVE THIS BACK HOME"
Since that Saturday night at the Stanley Warner Times Square theater, I have been a big time fan of Cinerama. Making sure I saw everything and any thing that was released in Cinerama...

A long time coming!
The BluRay release of "This Is Cinerama" is presented in the amazing SmileBox format, just like "How The West Was Won." The legions of Cinerama fans have been waiting for this release for what seems like a lifetime, so I rejoice that that time is near. When I was in high school, I had the privilege of working in a Cinerama theatre in Wichita, Kansas and I remember all of these wonderful films. The Cinerama process wasn't perfect visually, since one could see the lines where the three pictures joined on that huge curved screen, but once you became involved in what was going on, the lines seemed to disappear. And what spectacular sound! A full seven channels of directional stereophonic sound, coming at you from every direction and being reproduced on a separate audio magnetic playback machine. This was indeed thrilling cinema and was many years ahead of it time both artistically and technically.
There is a You-Tube preview of this release which was put together by David...

It's been a long time in coming!
I was one of the last projectionest to run this monster called Cinerama. It was a thrill. Of course this also shows my age. You will not be disappointed by this film and the vast places that this film will take you on your two hour travel log. The smile box format will give you the impression of what a curved screen feels like. If you would like to see a preview of the film go to You Tube - This is Cinerama. Enjoy

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