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Widescreen Weekend | Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter | |
| Pictures and text by: Thomas Hauerslev | ||
| For the 9th year in a row I left Denmark and flew to Bradford in England to participate in 5 exhausting days of hard-core large format movie going. It’s tough to attend the Widescreen Weekend, little sleep and a lot of beer. For a complete record of the events, please have a look at www.in70mm.com as this article is only THE HIGHLIGHTS. Originally I had planned to arrive sometime around 17:30, but due to bad train connections I had to wait more than 30 minutes for a train in Huddersfield. I wanted to to see "Apollo 13" in IMAX at 18:00, but I had to let it go, since I arrived during heavy rain at 18:10. On my way to the Midland hotel, I nearly drowned. I missed "Apollo 13" and saw "The Longest Day" in 70mm 6-track magnetic stereo on the flat screen. Due to the age of the print there were a couple of unscheduled stops during the beginning reel. Nice directional dialogue, flyovers and effects and a 15 minutes intermission. Around midnight, I went with Tony and Duncan for a curry in the nearby "Omar Khans" restaurant. I woke up 6:30 the next morning and had a quick "shit, shower and shave". Didn’t see “This is Cinerama” on the curve, but instead took the opportunity to study how Cinerama is projected for an upcoming article for Cinemeccanica. First film for me Friday afternoon was "The Lion in Winter" in 70mm which I have never seen. Bill Lawrence introduced the film by telling the rights holder turned out to be Studio Canal+, and they were delighted to have the film shown for 500 Pounds. It was a good solid performance - a bit over-theatrical perhaps. Shown in 6-track magnetic stereo on the curved screen. The print, faded and very brownish, had the overture, intermission and entr’acte intact. During the intermission words like “panel”, “70mm” and “curve” were heard among the audience. This years reception for the Widescreen Delegates at 5 pm took place in the Pictureville bar. Many complained about the long queue. People want to talk, so next year its back to the original room on the fourth floor. Hooray. Some friends and I spent time with Jack Cardiff and his wife. Jack told us stories from his life as a cinematographer, which includes classics like “The African Queen”, and “Scent of Mystery” filmed in Smell-O-Vision, which he also directed. The smells for the film didn't work at all, he recalled. They all just smelled of perfume. Jack also photographed the first Showscan film, “New Magic”. I had 3 glasses of red wine - which in the end turned out to be too much, as I fell asleep from time to time during "Lord Jim". Well, I can only say it WAS boring. New 70mm print shown in 6-track Dolby SR magnetic stereo on the curved screen. This was a smashingly good-looking new 70mm print with an intermission. Tony Sloman slept through most of it, he told me. After the film I felt fine and went out for a curry with Bill and Tony. All things said, Columbia Pictures are to be congratulated for reprinting “Lord Jim” and making the new print available for screenings. Saturday was extremely windy with gales up to 70 mph. In fact a large window blew out of an office upstairs from the Pictureville cinema foyer. Nobody was hurt. The wind was also interfering with ventilation and the projection as a xenon lamp went out for a few seconds during "Cinerama´s Russian Adventure". “Cinerama's Russian Adventure“ filmed in Sovcolor 3-strip Kinopanorama and shown in 70mm and 6-track magnetic stereo on the curved screen. The story of this screening is interesting. Mr. Ramon Lamarca, of Spanish origin and now working in London, has spent nearly a year looking for 70mm prints in Spain and South America for the Widescreen Weekend. The Argentinean film museum in Buenos Aires has a collection of films and memorabilia - and a 70mm print of “Cinerama's Russian Adventure”; however, they were unable to run it. So they offered the museum their 70mm print for 1000 pounds. Friends of the museum came to help financially to buy the print. The print turned out to be rubbish, smelled terribly of vinegar and was impossible to run. It had actually shrunk so much it could not go into the splicer. Unbelievably, another runnable 70mm print was retrieved from Germany. There were two breakdowns during the performance, but considering the age of the print, it's a miracle there weren't more. Screen talk with Jack Cardiff & Herbert Lom and moderated by Bill Lawrence. Mr. Herbert Lom reminisced about the production of "War and Peace". One particularly funny story was about Henry Fonda complaining about a script, and if the line could be changed. "It doesn't sound real" Fonda told producer DeLaurentis, who replied to him, "No Hank, it's a movie - get on with it". Sheldon Hall from the audience asked Herbert how he would rate "War and Peace", and the reply was "I don't rate it at all". Jack made the audience roar with laughter with a story about actress Anita Ekberg's bosom (40-23-38) and a blackout in a lift. Jack was to shoot some still pictures of Anita who was a very tall and world-reknown for her considerable bosom. She came to his flat for the photo session and Jack took her up in the lift. Since Jack is relatively short, and Italian lifts are very small there was just room for both in the lift. Imagine Jack staring right into Anita's bosom - and then the lights went out! He was standing there in this very confined lift literally with his face buried in Anita's bosom for 15 minutes. Ah, the perils of a working photographer! New 70mm print of “It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” was shown in 6-track DTS discrete sound with an overture, police calls during intermission and play out music on the curved screen. The 70mm print came directly from a previous engagement in Seattle, USA. Originally released November 7, 1963 at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles. Tony Sloman introduced the film and read the notes provided by John Kirk (MGM) about the new print. The projection team had tested the lens in advance only to find the resultant picture to be slightly out of focus. On top of that, the Ultra Panavision 70 image was considerably letterboxed on the Cinerama curve and a foot short on each side. In the end it was decided to run the film with out de-anamorphing the image to get the largest and sharpest picture. It was not that objectionable. From where I sat, slightly off to the left, the image looked great. The right side of the image was completely normal and then progressively more and more squeezed to the left. The new print received a substantial applause from the audience I met Herbert Lom in the hotel corridor the next morning. We said good morning and I expressed my thanks for his autograph the previous day and of course his work in cinema. It's an odd feeling to meet a celebrity face to face in the hotel foyer. He was heading for his breakfast and I for Pictureville and Cineramacana. Cineramacana is the opportunity to see some odd reels and rare short subjects. You never know what is going to turn up from the audience. Duncan and I had semi-planned the program off and on during Friday and Saturday, and now was the premiere. As usual we had too much material for the 2½-hour show without intermission. We had to be precise. It all turned out fine, only 10 minutes behind schedule and finishing 10 minutes before "Hamlet". The show includes the "Audience on Stage" picture" (Since 1998, a picture has been taken of the audience on stage in front of the huge Cinerama screen.) and the newest Widescreen Weekend Academy member inauguration. I saw “Hamlet” in 1997 and I didn't understand much of it (neither does native British I have been told) - even on a second viewing in 35mm with Danish subtitles. This time around it was pure enjoyment, it looked fantastic and the 4 hours simply rushed by. A good 70mm print shown in 6-track Dolby A magnetic stereo (Format 43 - stereo surround) on the flat screen. The image was very sharp and the film looked absolutely stunning. Alex Thomson BSC, who introduced the film, told the audience that Kenneth Branagh had seen "Lawrence of Arabia" in 70mm and felt "Hamlet" should be filmed in 65mm. It was quite difficult to finance as the budget was relatively small. However, thanks to Panavison, Technicolor and Kodak, it all came through and the film was shot in only 9 weeks and 2 days in Panavision System 65. Most of the budget went into building the large main hall seen in most of the film. After a short break, slightly behind schedule, Bill Lawrence introduced Alex Thomson on stage for a discussion about his work. Alex Thomson (Age 75) is now retired from photographing films and now edits the BSC Newsletter. He told the audience how difficult it was to shoot "Hamlet" because of all the mirrors and plenty 360 degree pans. The camera was always on the move and the movements had to be coordinated with the dialogue. Which, as we all know, there is a lot of. In Shakespeare's world something as simple as saying "Pass the salt" takes 4 pages. Much anticipated was the Sensurround performance of "Earthquake" in 70mm in 6-track magnetic stereo and Sensurround on the curved screen. Darren from York and his crew have built their own Sensurround noise generator based on a 15 second Sensurround noise sample. The 4 speaker cabinets, each contains two 18" Tannoy woofers and an amplifier. The cabinets are far smaller than the original monstrous Sensurround speakers. The York folks gave a splendid performance, wearing hard hats of course, which lived up to the best tradition of SHOWMANSHIP. Before the film they handed out "My Last Will" to the audience. Two actors, playing engineers were entertaining the audience before the show. During the film they used strobe lighting effects and pumped in smoke during “quake” scenes to add to the illusion of a real earthquake. Their efforts to make the show an event were highly praised. In fact the audience responded with a huge applause after the film. I only slept 4½ hours and was beginning to wear out. I was looking forward to seeing "55 Days at Peking" in Super Technirama 70 and 6-track magnetic stereo on the curved screen Monday morning. The print was pink (official 70mm colour) and in French only, and I feared that would discourage many away. Happily it didn't. After the film I left for the Bradford and returned to Denmark. 8 hours later I was at home reading e-mail and unpacking. Another wonderful weekend with great company and fantastic films. | Further in 70mm reading: Wide Screen Weekend home Internet link: | |
Audience Comments | ||
| Adventurous and Unusually Cerebral. Cineramacana: good fun, good value, as always. Sheldon Hall Another satisfying and mouth-watering occasion! Herbert Lom and Jack Cardiff were absolute delights. Terry Ladlow Programming is going from strength to strength. Cineramacana as always is a highlight Mark Lyndon "A" for effort in terms of presentation. 70mm short films were excellent David Olstein [Fanny´s Wedding] Very Evocative & Existential. [Russian Adventure] A lot of rubbish in it. Barrie Pick An absolutely fabulous weekend. [Hamlet] have never seen 70mm image look so good. Long Live 70mm. John Stewart Long may the Widescreen Weekend Continue Joy & John Surtees Widescreen Weekend Reception was a DISASTER. Cineramacana has lost it´s way completely Brenda & Keith Swadkins "Earthquake" was the high point, but I'm a little biased!! Darren from York | ||
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