New Zealand to the rescue with "Grimm" Soundtrack |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Bev Fisher, editor-in-chief, "Film Buffs News & Views" magazine Vol. 35 No 4 (4th quarter 2019). Reproduced by permission. | Date: 15.08.2021 |
 David
Strohmaier (left) receiving the sound reel from Anders Olsson in Hollywood
earlier this year.When Ian was asked to help clean out a large container of movie gear that belonged to his friend, the late Paul Evans, he didn't know that one item he salvaged would be returned back to the United States. Paul had been a Cinerama projectionist and when that system closed down, he managed to 'spirit' away a rather large collection of film and sound reels. However, as many of you will know, much of the film started to fade and some got vinegar syndrome and so over the years, Paul very reluctantly had to throw many reels of it out. However, he did keep a small quantity and this ended up in the container on his son Darren's property in north Canterbury. • Go to "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" • Go to Restoration and re-mastering “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" from 3-strip 35mm negatives After Darren had put aside the items he was going to keep, it didn't take long for our car boot to be filled with things that would otherwise be destined for the tip and among these were some boxes of Cinerama film along with one sound reel for the trailer for "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm". Although Ian knew he didn't have a use for it, he decided that it shouldn't go to the dump as just maybe someone could be interested in it. After some correspondence with film buff Brian Walters, he suggested we contact his friend Anders Olsson of Sweden, whom he thought might know someone who would have a use for it and a list of what Ian had was duly sent to him. The one that Anders was most interested in was the sound reel for the Brothers Grimm trailer. His friend David Strohmaier of Cinerama Inc was very excited when told of this find as up until then, there was no known copy of this sound reel in existence. Anders made arrangements for his friends who were living in Christchurch at the time and planning to return to Sweden, to take the precious cargo back with them. This they did, taking it as hand luggage to make sure that nothing happened to it on the way over. Anders in turn then made a visit to Los Angeles and delivered the reel in person to a very happy David. An update from David Strohmaier: We here at Cinerama Inc are on a crusade to get "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" fully digitally restored to its original road show version. This is the last of the 3-panel Cinerama movies that has not been restored as of yet. All the other films have been digitally restored and this includes: This is Cinerama, Cinerama Holiday, Seven Wonders of the World, Search for Paradise, South Seas Adventure, Windjammer, Russian Adventure, Best of Cinerama and How the West Was Won. One of the first things we wanted to tackle was to restore the Brothers Grimm announcement trailer from 3-panel picture elements. The announcement trailer was produced in full Cinerama and 7-channel sound and was used exclusively at Cinerama theatres in 1961 to make the public aware of the coming road show production. However, this 7-channel soundtrack was the only missing element that was never found in the vaults. • Go to Remastering the CINERAMA Library A major friend and supporter of all Cinerama efforts is Mr Anders Olsson. He became aware of a magnetic soundtrack that might be what we were looking for. Ander's friend, Ian Fisher, in New Zealand thought this might be what Cinerama was looking for and when Anders delivered it, lo and behold, it was in fact the missing element we needed to restore the announcement trailer. The track has now been transferred to digital files and we are about to join the picture and sound together again for the first time in 58 years. Thank you New Zealand! A footnote. In thanking David for the update, I mentioned how Ian came to be in possession of the sound reel from the late Paul Evans and he came back and said that he (David) had talked with Paul Evans in the late 1990s and Paul had sent him some of the Breakdown reels and Cinerama prologues which he used in the documentary "Cinerama Adventure" and that Paul has a thank you credit on the end of the documentary. Another case where New Zealand came to the rescue. • Go to Cinerama Adventure |
More in 70mm reading: "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" Remaster Trailers Remastering the CINERAMA Library in70mm.com's Cinerama page Restoration and re-mastering “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" from 3-strip 35mm negatives Information about the 3-strip movie "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. The legendary “lost” Cinerama Reviewed |
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