Cinerama(1946–1972)
The Cinerama process initiated the widescreen cinema revolution in the 1950s, setting new standards with the size and clarity of its image, as well as its high-fidelity surround sound. However, it did not survive the advent of cheaper and less technically challenging widescreen formats.
Film Explorer
Frames from a 35mm Cinerama print of Cinerama Holiday (1955) showing the three panels – usually termed Able (A), Baker (B) and Charlie (C) – that make up the complete, extra-wide 2.59:1 Cinerama image. Note the image overlaps at the right edge of the left frame, both edges of the centre frame and the left edge of the right frame to allow blending in projection, and that each frame is six perforations tall rather than the standard four. Over time, these frames have lost their colour and have been inscribed with panel identifications in the emulsion.
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Identification
Three 35mm films shown simultaneously, each one covering one-third of the picture width.
25.02mm x 27.64mm (0.985 in x 1.088 in) for each frame.
In theatres with reduced screen height, 2.65:1 (across the three film frames allowing for image overlaps at joins).
Eastman Color, or Technicolor dye-transfer.
Prints and separate magnetic soundtrack were rubber-numbered every 20 in (50.8cm) to help maintain synchronization.
26fps, (146.25 ft (44.57m) per minute) except for the two MGM feature films which were shot at 24fps (135 ft (41.15m) per minute).
3. Each projector was fitted with spools that held up to 8,000 ft (2,438.4m) of film.
Considerable care was required in grading prints to ensure that all three panels were matched in colour and density across the screen. Additionally, during processing, all three panels of the camera negatives, dailies or theatre prints went through the same chemicals being used at the time, to keep colour as consistent as possible. It was found, too, that even the negative stock should ideally all be cut from the same roll at Eastman Kodak to ensure the closest matching! Surviving Eastman Color copies are now faded.
A Lowell Thomas and Merian C. Cooper Cinerama Presentation (This is Cinerama, 1952); Stanley Warner Cinerama Corporation (Cinerama Holiday, 1955); A Lowell Thomas Cinerama Presentation (Seven Wonders of the World, 1956); A Stanley Warner Cinerama Presentation (Search for Paradise, 1958; South Seas Adventure, 1958); Cinerama Inc. (How the West Was Won, 1962; The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 1962).
Separate 35mm full-coat magnetic 7-channel soundtrack.
Three 35mm films, each covering one-third of the picture width, were used in a custom-made tri-lens camera.
25.76mm x 28.35mm (1.014 in x 1.116 in) for each frame.
Eastman Color negative.
Standard Eastman Kodak dating and manufacturing symbols. “Color”, or “Eastman Color”, appeared on edges of Eastman Color prints.
History
“Once the war was over, it seemed like the most logical thing in the world.” Thus, Fred Waller explained his intention to develop the immersive widescreen process, as he had always sought to do. After all, thousands of servicemen who used his Flexible Gunnery Trainer had told him they would love to see films projected in a similar way in cinemas. (Waller, 1953: p. 125)
When work on the Trainer ceased in December 1945, Waller and his team turned their attention to the development of Cinerama – the name was coined by Vitarama staff member Waldo McLaury (Babish, 2004; Reeves, 1999: p. 86) – adapting and upgrading the previous processes to work using just three projectors (Vitarama had used eleven 16mm projectors; while the Gunnery Trainer used five 35mm projectors), and replacing the spherical domed screen with a deeply curved, cylindrical one, more suitable for a cinema auditorium. It was Waller’s strong conviction that peripheral vision played a crucial role in the perception of depth.
Waller enlisted the expertise of sound engineer Hazard Reeves, who had seen a Vitarama demonstration in 1940 and had offered to help, “when you get around to putting sound on your picture.” (Reeves, 1953: p.128) A pioneer of magnetic sound ̶ as well as being an astute businessman ̶ Reeves became one of the founders of the Cinerama Corporation, alongside Waller’s long-term backers Laurance Rockefeller and Time Inc., in November 1946. The Vitarama Corporation, however, continued to hold the Cinerama patents, licensing their use.
The company’s formation coincided with a relocation to a spacious former indoor tennis court in Oyster Bay, Long Island. While Waller, engineer Erik Rondum and optical specialist Richard Babish (1918–2017) worked on the camera and projection equipment, Reeves’ team began building the seven-track surround-sound system: “the first multiple [track] magnetic sound recording equipment ever devised.” (Reeves, 1953: p. 129) In the spring of 1949, with $400,000 already spent on development, they organized demonstration screenings for major figures in the film business, hoping to attract further funding. Though keen to adopt an attraction that might reverse the decline in audiences occasioned by the spread of television, studio heads were put off by Cinerama’s high capital and running costs, in combination with the difficulty of integrating it into established Hollywood practice. Worse was to come: in July 1950, Cinerama’s main financial backers lost faith and withdrew, with Time and Rockefeller selling their stake to Reeves for just $1,600. (Reeves, 1999: p. 88)
While Waller was disheartened, Reeves remained confident. The Cinerama Corporation was wound up in August, but by September had been replaced by Cinerama Incorporated, with Reeves’ Soundcraft Corporation as its principal shareholder. Reeves continued to approach producers such as Hal Wallis, who even announced a Cinerama production, but then backed out. Yet, Cinerama’s fortunes were set to change for the better, later that same year, following a stroke of good luck.
Lowell Thomas (1892–1981) was a household name in America through his regular radio broadcasts, as well as his role as the main narrator of the ubiquitous Movietone newsreels. An old acquaintance of Reeves, Thomas was recording at the Soundcraft studio one day and called to see him. Their conversation turned to Cinerama, and Thomas, sensing an opportunity, asked for a demonstration. (Reeves, 1953: p.131) The resulting visit to Oyster Bay, on November 8, 1950, by Thomas, accompanied by his agent and the theatrical producer Mike Todd (1907–58), led to the formation of Thomas-Todd Productions and a contract for the production of five films. (Waller, 1950)
Thomas, Todd and a crew left for Europe in July 1951 to shoot sequences in Italy, Spain, Austria and Scotland, returning to the US to film the famous roller-coaster footage and a fly-over of Niagara Falls. But, as it became clear that there was insufficient material for a feature-length film, and Todd was becoming a source of friction, it was decided to replace him with the seasoned Hollywood director, Merian C. Cooper (1893–1973). Thomas-Todd Productions was wound up and Cinerama Productions Corporation formed, with Thomas as Chairman. Cooper was responsible for the dynamic water-ski and “America the Beautiful” fly-over sequences, as well as the master stroke of placing the roller-coaster shot immediately after Thomas’s monochrome introductory footage.
This is Cinerama premiered at the Broadway Cinema, New York, on September 30, 1952, before moving to the Warner Cinema, in June 1953. It was an immediate sensation (Arneel, 1952) and played to capacity audiences at premium prices for the next two years, a period during which Cinerama transferred cinema development and film production to a new investor, the cinema chain Stanley Warner Theatres. (Motion Picture Herald, 1953; Exhibitor, 1953a,b; Variety, 1953) Stanley Warner’s progress proved frustratingly slow: by June 1954 there were just eleven Cinerama cinemas and one new film, Cinerama Holiday. The release of Cinerama Holiday was, however, held back until February 1955 as This is Cinerama was still attracting capacity crowds and topping the ‘highest-grossing’ charts – between its premiere in September 1952 and January 1954, it took $6.5 million from shows in just seven cinemas.
Cinerama’s grosses may have been spectacular, but its costs were constraining growth. Adapting and equipping a cinema for Cinerama cost anything from $75,000 to $140,000, and the required extra projection booths reduced seating capacity; additionally, a crew of six (plus backup) was needed for each performance. Elsewhere, the industry was gearing up to show the rival CinemaScope process that only required cinemas to change their screen and sound system and use new anamorphic lenses; no seats were sacrificed, nor extra staff needed.
In July 1954, Stanley Warner appointed an import/export firm, Robin International, to establish Cinerama venues overseas. The first, the London Casino, opened in October 1954, followed in early 1955 by two each in Japan and Italy, and one in France. As the 1950s drew to a close, there were twenty-two venues in operation and four new Cinerama films, all variants of the travelogue genre. But, there was also a rival process – Cinemiracle – to contend with. Virtually identical to Cinerama, it employed mirrors in front of the lenses that shot and projected the outer panels, enabling all three projectors to be housed in a single, central projection room. Its first and only feature, Windjammer, was released in 1958 and could be shown in both Cinemiracle and, with adjustment for its different method of blending the panel overlaps, Cinerama venues. The process was bought by Cinerama in January 1960.
Meanwhile, Reeves worked to consolidate the Cinerama companies, accomplishing this in May 1959, alongside securing a $12 million loan for expansion from the Prudential Insurance Company. The Stanley Warner interest was bought out and Cinerama Inc. became the sole company, with Reeves heading it. But not for long: he decided to sell.
Cinerama Inc. was bought in 1960, by Robin International, whose chairman Nicholas Reisini (1905–81) quickly achieved what had previously eluded the company: an agreement with a Hollywood major. MGM would produce six features to open in Cinerama cinemas before being released in 35mm venues. In his three years as head of Cinerama, Reisini also succeeded, through franchise agreements, in expanding the number of cinemas to 127 worldwide. He also realized that there were huge potential audiences living away from the major cities where Cinerama cinemas were situated, and instituted Itinerama – a true “roadshow” 40-wagon convoy that travelled Europe and the United Kingdom from 1961 until 1967, with a huge inflatable tent that housed a screen 105 ft (32m) wide and had a maximum audience capacity of 1,216. (Barnard, 2014; Usher, 2024).
MGM’s two three-panel features, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won, were both released in 1962. Unusually, How the West Was Won had its world-premiere at the London Casino on November 1 and went on to play there for a remarkable 123 consecutive weeks. But despite the popularity of How the West Was Won, operational costs still crippled Cinerama. Reisini decided to abandon three-strip Cinerama and move to MGM’s single-lens anamorphic 70mm process, Ultra Panavision for future productions.
However, there were to be no further Cinerama productions. In 1963, Pacific Theatres’ William R. Forman (1913–81) bought out Prudential’s loan and effectively took control of Cinerama Inc. From then on, the company distributed Cinerama-branded 70mm films to show on the curved screen and at other cinemas. The last three-strip screening – of How the West Was Won – was at the Rotterdam Scala Cinerama on October 25, 1972. Cinerama Inc. ceased trading in 1978 and “almost everything [was] scrapped”. (Swadkins, 1995: p. 2)
Almost – but not quite all: five cameras, two projection sets, sound equipment and some prints were carefully stored, negatives remained at the laboratories and various Cinerama employees around the world also squirreled away “mementos” of the process that had been a major part of their lives. Many dreamt of seeing three-strip again – some even built Cinerama cinemas in their home! The International Cinerama Society, formed in 1985, established a network for them.
Willem Bouwmeester (1945–2024), the engineer who serviced the IMAX at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television (now the National Science and Media Museum) in Bradford, United Kingdom, was one of those. He persuaded the museum to install Cinerama in its Pictureville Cinema. Together with John Harvey (1936–2018), he was responsible for sourcing and installing the equipment and the screen. The first public screening of Cinerama at Pictureville took place on June 16, 1993. (Swadkins, 1993; Hauerslev & Rust, 2006) Subsequently, three American cinemas – the Neon Movies, Dayton, OH, from 1996 to 2000; the Seattle Cinerama, WA, from 1999 to 2020; and the Hollywood Cinerama Dome, CA, from 2002 to 2021 – regularly screened three-panel Cinerama. At the time of writing (2025), Pictureville is the only cinema in the world currently showing the format.
Another Cinerama devotee, film editor David Strohmaier, has made invaluable contributions through recording the format’s history and restoring the films. With his colleague Randy Gitsch, he made Cinerama Adventure, a 2002 documentary tracing Cinerama’s history, via the testimony of those involved. He went on to direct a three-strip Cinerama short, In the Picture, to mark Cinerama’s 60th anniversary. His most significant achievement has been the digital restoration of a number of Cinerama and Cinemiracle titles, so that they can be seen and heard as vividly by today’s viewers as they had been by those who experienced them in Cinerama’s heyday.
Illustration from the Cinerama Holiday souvenir programme, 1955, which succinctly lays out the path from shooting the film to screening it – though missing a few important stages in between!
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Crowds outside the Warner Cinerama Cinema, Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, c. 1953. This was the third Cinerama cinema to open, on April 29, 1953.
An advertisement that appeared widely in the trade press, marking the first anniversary of This is Cinerama. It pressed home the message of Cinerama’s uniqueness (CinemaScope had just reached cinemas) and its capacity to offer an unparalleled level of audience engagement.
Exhibitor, 50: 23, October 7, 1953, p. 17.
Director John Ford (centre) setting up a shot on a location for How the West Was Won (1962). The Cinerama camera, in its blimp, is to the left, behind actress Carroll Baker.
A Cinerama advertisement from the trade press at a time when the first purpose-built Cinerama theatres began to appear. This strikingly futuristic venue, the Cinerama Dome in Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, designed by Pierre Cabrol, opened with the premiere of the first 70mm Cinerama title, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World, on November 7, 1963.
Boxoffice Barometer, 1962–1963 Edition, April 15, 1963, p. 57.
The Cinerama screen at the Pictureville Cinema, Bradford, UK.
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK.
David Strohmaier (far left) with his crew and vintage Cinerama camera in the confined space of a cable car filming a sequence for his 2012 Cinerama film In the Picture.
Courtesy David Strohmaier.
Three 35mm Cinerama prints showing panels A, B and C, overlaid to demonstrate the overlaps between panels that are blended in projection to form the full widescreen image.
Courtesy of Karl Theide.
Selected Filmography
Two couples – one American, the other Swiss – visit one another’s country, experiencing a range of sights and activities such as a Las Vegas floor show, a New Orleans “jazz funeral”, riding a San Francisco cable car, Alpine skiing, a bobsleigh run, and a trip to Paris taking in the Opera, the Louvre and High Mass at Notre Dame cathedral.
Two couples – one American, the other Swiss – visit one another’s country, experiencing a range of sights and activities such as a Las Vegas floor show, a New Orleans “jazz funeral”, riding a San Francisco cable car, Alpine skiing, a bobsleigh run, and a trip to Paris taking in the Opera, the Louvre and High Mass at Notre Dame cathedral.
A documentary about the rise of atomic power. Announced in September 1956 (Motion Picture Herald, 1956b), the production was abandoned after only two sequences were completed.
A documentary about the rise of atomic power. Announced in September 1956 (Motion Picture Herald, 1956b), the production was abandoned after only two sequences were completed.
This first Cinerama drama traces the story of four generations of a settler family from 1839 to 1889, as they make their way West, encountering the Cheyenne and outlaws, fighting in the Civil War, witness the coming of the railroads and, finally, the effort to bring the rule of law to the lawless West.
This first Cinerama drama traces the story of four generations of a settler family from 1839 to 1889, as they make their way West, encountering the Cheyenne and outlaws, fighting in the Civil War, witness the coming of the railroads and, finally, the effort to bring the rule of law to the lawless West.
Produced to mark 60 years of Cinerama, the first film shot in three-strip Cinerama for 50 years. A young couple visiting Los Angeles for the first time are shown the sights – familiar and less well-known – by two residents, culminating – where else? – in a visit to Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome Theater.
Produced to mark 60 years of Cinerama, the first film shot in three-strip Cinerama for 50 years. A young couple visiting Los Angeles for the first time are shown the sights – familiar and less well-known – by two residents, culminating – where else? – in a visit to Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome Theater.
Regarded as the most technically perfect Cinerama film, due to strict quality-control of the raw stock manufacture and every subsequent step of production, through to the release prints. (Marshall & Fling, 2003: pp 69–70). The film follows the construction of the Renault Dauphine car, with its pastel colour bodywork designed for feminine appeal, through to its appearance on a Paris street with a chic young Parisienne driver – well, it was the era of Anouk Aimée, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg and La Nouvelle Vague!
Regarded as the most technically perfect Cinerama film, due to strict quality-control of the raw stock manufacture and every subsequent step of production, through to the release prints. (Marshall & Fling, 2003: pp 69–70). The film follows the construction of the Renault Dauphine car, with its pastel colour bodywork designed for feminine appeal, through to its appearance on a Paris street with a chic young Parisienne driver – well, it was the era of Anouk Aimée, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg and La Nouvelle Vague!
Lowell Thomas and a group of US airmen head to the remote regions of Central Asia to trace the steps of Marco Polo, with scenes including: driving precipitous mountain roads, shooting the turbulent rapids of the Indus River ̶ during which a cast member drowned (Motion Picture Herald, 1956a) – tribal dancing, a polo match and the pageantry of King Mahendra of Nepal’s coronation in Katmandu.
Lowell Thomas and a group of US airmen head to the remote regions of Central Asia to trace the steps of Marco Polo, with scenes including: driving precipitous mountain roads, shooting the turbulent rapids of the Indus River ̶ during which a cast member drowned (Motion Picture Herald, 1956a) – tribal dancing, a polo match and the pageantry of King Mahendra of Nepal’s coronation in Katmandu.
A “round-the-world” quest to Brazil, Japan, Cambodia, India, Israel, East Africa, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy and the United States, in which Lowell Thomas suggests possible present-day equivalents of the ancient Greeks’ Seven Wonders.
A “round-the-world” quest to Brazil, Japan, Cambodia, India, Israel, East Africa, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy and the United States, in which Lowell Thomas suggests possible present-day equivalents of the ancient Greeks’ Seven Wonders.
Narrated by Orson Welles, the film is structured around five slight, sometimes fictional, stories shot on a Pacific Ocean schooner and in Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, showcasing the scenic beauties of each.
Narrated by Orson Welles, the film is structured around five slight, sometimes fictional, stories shot on a Pacific Ocean schooner and in Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, showcasing the scenic beauties of each.
The first Cinerama feature. Premiered at the Broadway Cinema, New York, September 30, 1952. After a history lecture by Lowell Thomas in B/W Academy format, the screen dramatically extends to full width to reveal a roller coaster ride, followed by the mix of exciting heart-in-mouth experiences, impressive vistas and exotic sights that set the approach and style for future Cinerama productions.
The first Cinerama feature. Premiered at the Broadway Cinema, New York, September 30, 1952. After a history lecture by Lowell Thomas in B/W Academy format, the screen dramatically extends to full width to reveal a roller coaster ride, followed by the mix of exciting heart-in-mouth experiences, impressive vistas and exotic sights that set the approach and style for future Cinerama productions.
A biographical feature about the German authors of folk tales, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, interspersed with dramatizations of three of their lesser-known tales, directed by George Pal of ‘Puppetoons’ fame, one of which, The Cobbler and the Elves, was shot in stop-motion animation.
A biographical feature about the German authors of folk tales, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, interspersed with dramatizations of three of their lesser-known tales, directed by George Pal of ‘Puppetoons’ fame, one of which, The Cobbler and the Elves, was shot in stop-motion animation.
Technology
Inventor Fred Waller aimed to produce sharp, detailed images on a 146 degrees wide x 55 degrees high, curved screen, up to 100 ft (30.48m) wide ̶ four times the width, and three times the height, of a standard cinema screen. To achieve the required degree of resolution for such a large screen, the Cinerama camera shot three 35mm films simultaneously, using three custom-made Kodak 27mm wide-angle lenses, each filming one third of the scene. Waller increased the height of the film gate by 50 per cent, so the camera had a six-perforation pulldown instead of the usual four. The image also extended right up to the perforations, as there was no optical soundtrack to accommodate. Overall, the area of the three film frames comprising the Cinerama image totaled four-and-a-half times that of the standard Academy frame.
The camera’s lenses were fixed, with the central lens facing forwards, and the left- and right-hand lenses turned inwards at 48 degrees, so as to record the right and left thirds of the picture, respectively. Each lens took in an angle of 50 degrees, which included a 2 degree overlap either side of the central lens – this allowed for the blending of the picture edges in projection.
The camera included features devised and patented by Waller. A rotating shutter was situated in front of the lenses at the point where their lines of sight crossed, so that all three films were exposed simultaneously at 26 fps (the two MGM features were shot and projected at 24fps). The lenses were mechanically coupled for focusing and aperture control. Each detachable film magazine incorporated its own film-feed mechanism and pull-down, which connected with the camera’s drive and shutter mechanism – once the magazine slotted onto the camera – which was battery-powered.
The first five Cinerama films made, played to the format’s strengths by concentrating on grand spectacle, to which its deep focus over a wide angle of view was well suited. But, when it came to drama, where the focus of attention continually shifts as scenes develop, Hollywood directors and cameramen, used to the flexibility of standard 35mm cameras and lenses, struggled to adapt to Cinerama’s unique technical issues. Because of the camera’s extreme wide-angle view, it made sense to play a whole scene in a single shot, rather than cutting between shots. Close-ups required careful management, as actors had to “cheat” their eye-lines so they would appear to be looking at, not past, each other on the screen. Care was also needed in designing the lighting of indoor scenes to avoid revealing any lamps in shot – and there was the perennial problem of composing shots so as to hide the panel joins as much as possible (Daniels, 1962; Bordwell, 2012; Gibbons, c. 1956).
Reeves’ surround-sound system used 35mm sprocketed magnetic film, recording onto seven tracks – five to produce a seamless wall of sound across the screen, and two for surround-sound effects. The sound film ran at the same speed as the picture – 26fps or 19.5 in (49.5cm) per second – much faster than most recording and replay devices of the time, making it possible to reproduce high-fidelity sound with a then unparalleled frequency range of 30–15,000Hz. The monaural optical sound heard in cinemas of the time usually had a maximum range of 50– 8,000 Hz. Additionally, Cinerama was the first system to use transistors (rather than vacuum tubes) in their cinema amplifiers (Marshall & Fling, 2003: pp. 62–3).
Microphone placement in both location and music recording was kept simple, as this was considered to produce the most natural sound quality. (Marshall & Fling, 2003: pp. 61– 4) An array of five microphones was placed in front of the scene, with additional microphones to the side or rear of the camera, which was enclosed within a blimp.
With its three picture sources, Cinerama complicated post-production. Following processing, the camera negative of each panel was edge-numbered to show panel identity (A, B or C) and an incremental footage count. This printed through to the rush prints and aided synchronization of the three panels in editing, and in the final negative assembly. (Anderson, 1955) Just the centre panel print was used for editing, viewed on a Moviola adapted for the six-perforation frame, and with a mono magnetic sound head. Once an editing decision was made and the film marked, it was put with the other films in the synchronizer and then all were cut at the same frame. A special edge numberer capable of accommodating 8,000-ft (2,438.4m) reels was devised for release prints to ensure any film damaged in projection could be replaced with an identical length of film, or spacer (Anderson, 1955).
Cinerama films were shot on Eastman Color negative stock. The first five titles were released as Eastman Color prints, struck from the camera negatives. Technicolor was unable to make Cinerama imbibition prints until 1962, once they had perfected an optical printer capable of making the required three-colour separation matrices in that format. This is Cinerama was then re-released in Technicolor, followed by the two MGM features (Haines, 1993; Technicolor prints from color negatives).
Most Cinerama cinemas had been adapted to show the format, although purpose-built ones began to be constructed in the 1960s. Cinerama’s three projectors ran at 26 fps, with an enlarged film gate. Each had its own projection box, level with the screen to avoid keystoning. The separate 24 fps prologue projector was often one of the projectors in the cinema’s original projection box, though it sometimes shared the central box with the centre projector. The other two projection boxes were at the rear corners of the auditorium. The projector at back left projected the right panel, and that at back right, the left panel. The projectors took 8,000-ft. reels, containing 7,500 ft (2286m) of film lasting up to 52 minutes. There was an interval in the performance. The projectors and 35mm sound reproducer were linked and driven by selsyn motors.
There was a 2-degree overlap in the pictures, at the junction between the left, centre and right panels. The projectors were fitted with a device at the sides of the film gate, known as a “gigolo”, consisting of fine metal combs that moved up and down rapidly, producing a form of vignetting, which blended the edges of the overlapping images. Nonetheless, the joins between the panels were frequently noticed by audiences. In addition, there were other factors that could produce an imperfect display – from inconsistencies in print grading, to changes in projector luminance, as arcs burnt down during the course of a performance.
The screen, unique to Cinerama, consisted of vertically arranged slats, each positioned to face the individual projector for best focus and to minimize cross-reflection. Screens varied in size and curvature, depending on the architecture of the auditorium ̶ Pictureville, Bradford, has a 55 ft x 21 ft (16.76m x 6.4m) screen with 1,350 louvres. Five loudspeakers were situated behind the screen, spaced across its width. Three others were in the auditorium to the rear and sides. There would be a sound engineer, in the auditorium, switching the two surround-sound tracks to the appropriate speakers at the right moments. Every screening was a “live” performance for the cinema crew (Hauerslev & Rust, 2006).
With the move to 70mm Cinerama exhibition in the early 1960s, screening features made using the Panavision processes, most Cinerama cinemas replaced their three-projector set-ups with a pair of 70mm projectors (facilitating changeovers, thus eliminating the need for intervals in presentations), though they retained the deeply curved screen. The first 70mm Cinerama feature shown, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), was photographed using the Ultra Panavision anamorphic process. Projecting the image from a central position onto the curved screen produced distortion at the sides of the screen, so Cinerama prints were made using an optical printer that replaced the anamorphic squeeze with a progressive horizontal compression that was greatest at the left and right edges to compensate for this. This optical rectification appears to have been gradually abandoned and was not used for films made in the non-anamorphic Super Panavision, or Super Technirama 70, processes printed for Cinerama exhibition.
Left: Front view of the Cinerama camera. Two of the three 1,000-ft (304.8m) magazines can be seen at the rear. There is a combination finder at the top, but shots were usually set up by detaching the magazines and using a direct viewer to look through each lens. A three-way clapper board was used to “mark” the shot. Right: Close-up of the Cinerama lens array showing the three 27mm lenses fixed so the two outer lenses are angled across the centre one. The rotating shutter is situated in front, at the plane where the axes of the lenses cross.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Technical specification sheet for the Cinerama camera and print formats prepared by Erik Rondum.
Cinerama Inc. Archives.
Cross-section through the Cinerama camera showing how the camera motor connects to the shutter and the film drive, integral to each magazine. A shaft (62) turns the shutter (56), in the chamber between the front plate (28) and cover (29) by means of various shafts and cogs driven by the motor (71). A driving pinion (75), also connected to the motor, transmits motion to a sprocket (103), which transports the film (98) from the magazine through the intermittent (107), to the gate (109) behind lens (36), and then back down into the magazine.
US Patent 2,835,160, filed February 1, 1953, and issued May 20, 1958 (Figure 4).
Recording an orchestral track at Cinerama’s Oyster Bay, NY, facility. Note the positioning of the five microphones in front of the orchestra, corresponding to the speaker arrangement behind Cinerama screens. The microphone on the centre boom, high above the orchestra, captured the overall, non-directional sound.
Courtesy of David Strohmaier.
The three Cinerama picture panels set up in a four-gang synchronizer on the editing bench. The fourth film, on the far left, appears to be a centre-panel editing copy, against which the others are being checked.
Courtesy of David Strohmaier.
Diagrams showing the mechanism that blended the vertical edges of each panel, to project a seamless panorama on-screen. Figure 2 shows the operating mechanism for an edge saw-tooth mask used on the two outer projectors, though at opposite sides of the gate. The film (25) is moved through the gate (30) by the usual mechanism. The shutter (26) is connected to a drive shaft (32). An eccentric cam (33) on the shaft, operates a cam follower (34) at one end of a lever (36). The lever rocks on a fulcrum (37), causing its other end, connected with a driving pin (39) on the mask (27), to move it up and down. Figure 7 shows the mechanism for the centre projector which requires masks (65) on both edges of the gate. These are endless and run continuously over the upper and lower wheels (66).
Waller, Fred & Richard C. Babish, assignors to The Vitarama Corporation. 1948. “Masking of Marginal Edges of Overlapping Images of Mosaic Pictures”. US Patent 2,544,116, filed January 8, 1948, and issued March 6, 1951.
Left: Illustration from the patent for the slatted screen, showing how each ribbon was individually set to present a right-angle to the projection beam across the whole width of the 146-degree screen. Right: A man stands behind the screen.
Waller, Fred, assignor to The Vitarama Corporation. 1947. “Screen for Picture Projections”. US Patent 2,476,521, filed September 22, 1947, and issued March 6, July 19, 1949.
References
Anderson, Charles L. (1955). “Visible Edge-Numbering as Aid to Film Editing”. American Cinematographer, 36:2 (Feb.): pp. 80–81; 100–1. https://archive.org/details/american-cinematographer-1955-02-cbz/page/n27/mode/1up
Arneel, Gene (1952). “Cinerama’s Socko Kickoff”. Variety (Oct. 8): p. 6. https://archive.org/details/variety188-1952-10/page/n132/mode/1up
Arneel, Gene (1954). “All-Time Box Office Wows”. Variety (Jan. 13): p.10. https://archive.org/details/variety193-1954-01/page/n300/mode/1up
Babish, Richard C. (2004). “How Cinerama got the Name”. www.in70mm.com (Oct. 1). https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1952_cinerama/archive/name/index.htm
Barnard, Mikael. (2014) “A History of Itinerama”. Rewind (Projected Picture Trust, UK). Republished at Media|Cinema|Projection (formally Mad Cornish Projectionist) (Mar. 3, 2017). https://www.madcornishprojectionist.co.uk/history-itinerama-mikael-barnard
Belton, John (1991). “A New Era in the Cinema”. In Belton, Widescreen Cinema. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: pp. 85–110. https://archive.org/details/widescreen-cinema-john-belton/page/85/mode/1up
Belton, John (2004). “The Curved Screen”. Film History, 16:3 (3-D Cinema): pp. 277–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815538
Bordwell, David (2012). “The Wayward Charms of Cinerama”. Posted by bordwellblog (Sep. 26). https://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/09/26/the-wayward-charms-of-cinerama/print/
Daniels, William (1962) “Cinerama Goes Dramatic”. American Cinematographer, 43:1 (Jan.): pp. 28–9, 50–54. https://archive.org/details/american-cinematographer-1962-01-cbz/page/n27/mode/1up
Erffmeyer, Thomas Edward (1985). “The History of Cinerama: A Study of Technological Innovation and Industrial Management,” Doctoral dissertation. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
Exhibitor (1953a) “Limitations Agreed Upon By SW, Cinerama”. Exhibitor, 50:15 (August 12): p. 11. https://archive.org/details/exhibitoraugoct150jaye/page/n68/mode/1up
Exhibitor (1953b) “Cinerama Enters A New Phase” Exhibitor, 50:20 (Sep. 16): pp. 6–7. https://archive.org/details/exhibitoraugoct150jaye/page/n385/mode/1up
Gibbons, Peter. (c. 1956) “Using the Cinerama Camera”. (MS transcribed, 2002, The American Widescreen Museum). https://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/cineramacamera00.htm
Haines, Richard W (1993). Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company: pp. 66–70. https://archive.org/details/technicolormovie0000hain/page/66/mode/1up
Hauerslev, Thomas and Howard Rust (2006). “Cinemeccanica going 3-strip again: Cinerama installation in Bradford, United Kingdom”. www.in70mm.com (Mar. 6). https://www.in70mm.com/news/2006/cinerama_pictureville/index.htm
Marshall, Scott & Wentworth Fling (2003). “Interview with Dr. Wentworth Fling, the Man Who Brought Cinerama out of the Laboratory”. Film History, 15:1 (Wildscreen): pp. 57–71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815523
McCullough, Russell H. (1958). Cinemiracle. Installation and Operating Procedures. Dedham, MA: National Theatres Amusement Co., Inc. www.in70mm.com (Oct. 10, 2017). https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1958_cinemiracle/operating/index.htm
Motion Picture Herald (1953). “Stanley Deal On Cinerama is Approved”. Motion Picture Herald, 192:1. (Jul. 4): p. 23. https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher192quig/page/n22/mode/1up
Motion Picture Herald (1956a) “Parker drowned on Cinerama Film Trek”. Motion Picture Herald, 204:4 (July 28): p. 24. https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher204quig/page/n189/mode/1up
Motion Picture Herald (1956b). “Cinerama Is a Big Boy Now; Report Shows $44,500,009 Gross on Fourth Birthday”. Motion Picture Herald, Vol. 204: 13 (Sep. 29): p. 26. https://archive.org/details/motionpictureher204quig/page/n673/mode/1up
Reeves, Hazard E. (1953). “Adding the Sound to Cinerama”. In New Screen Techniques, Martin Quigley, Jr. (ed.), pp. 127–31. New York: Quigley Publishing Company. https://archive.org/details/newscreentechniq00mart/page/127/mode/1up
Reeves, Hazard (1999). “This Is Cinerama”. Film History, 11:1 (Film Technology): pp. 85–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815259
Strohmaier, David (2002). Cinerama Adventure. Atlanta, GA: C. A. Productions LLC and Turner Entertainment Company.
Strohmaier, David (2014). The Digital Restoration of “Seven Wonders of the World”. Oyster Bay, NY: Cinerama, Inc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKyCkbyX9Mc
Strohmaier, David (2017). The Reconstruction of “Windjammer” from original elements. Oyster Bay, NY: Cinerama Inc. & C A Productions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_LwpI2kZFs&t=272s
Swadkins, Keith (1995). Cinerama Theatres Worldwide (18th edition). Disley, Cheshire: International Cinerama Society. https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1952_cinerama/library/society/cinerama_theatre_list_18.pdf
Swadkins, Keith (1999). “We did it! Cinerama is back”. International Cinerama Society Newsletter, 11 (July). https://in70mm.com/presents/1952_cinerama/library/society/ics_11.pdf
Thomas, Lowell (1953). “This Cinerama Show”. In New Screen Techniques, Martin Quigley, Jr. (ed.), pp. 133–40. New York: Quigley Publishing Company. https://archive.org/details/newscreentechniq00mart/page/133/mode/1up
Usher, Christopher (2024). “Mobile Cinerama Projectionist”. https://mobilecineramaprojectionist.co.uk
Variety (1953) “Cinerama Inc., Link to SW Clearer”. Variety (Sep. 23): p. 10. https://archive.org/details/variety191-1953-09/page/n217/mode/1up
Waller, Fred (1950). Diary entry, November 8. MSS. Reproduced at www.in70mm.com https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1952_cinerama/library/diary_1950/images/11_november/fred_501108.jpg
Waller, Fred (1953). “Cinerama Goes to War”. In New Screen Techniques, Martin Quigley, Jr. (ed.), pp. 118–26. New York: Quigley Publishing Company. https://archive.org/details/newscreentechniq00mart/page/118/mode/1up
Waller, Fred (1993). “The Archaeology of Cinerama”. Film History, 5:3 (Sep.): pp. 289–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815143
Patents
Waller, Fred, assignor to The Vitarama Corporation. 1953. Camera with film holders for convenient loading. US Patent 2,835,160, filed February 1, 1953 and issued May 20, 1958.
Waller, Fred and Richard C. Babish, assignors to The Vitarama Corporation. 1948. Diaphragm Control for Multilens Cameras. US Patent 2,598,731, filed October 9, 1948 and issued June 3, 1952.
Waller, Fred and Richard C. Babish, assignors to The Vitarama Corporation. 1948. Masking of Marginal Edges of Overlapping Images of Mosaic Pictures. US Patent 2,544,116 filed January 8, 1948 and issued March 6, 1951.
Waller, Fred, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Prudential Insurance Company of America. 1953. Shutter for Multi Lens Cameras. US Patent 2,966,095 filed January 7, 1953 and issued December 27, 1960.
Waller, Fred, assignor to The Vitarama Corporation. 1947. Screen for Picture Projections. US Patent 2,476,521 filed September 22, 1947 and issued March 6, July 19, 1949.
Waller, Fred and Richard C. Babish, assignors to The Vitarama Corporation. Parallax Correction for Multilens Cameras. 1948. US Patent 2,583,030 filed October 9, 1948 and issued January 22, 1952.
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Following a career as a professional photographer and film, video and multivision programme maker, Michael Harvey was, until 2013, Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum, Bradford, UK (now the National Science and Media Museum). He was responsible for managing its world-class collection of professional and amateur cinema technology, broadening it to reflect the realities of film production with the addition of artwork, photographs, posters, documentary material and discrete collections such as that of the Hammer Films special effects make-up artists.
He curated major exhibitions including Magic Behind the Screen: 100 Years of British Cinema (1996); Bond, James Bond (2002), which toured to major venues in the USA and Canada; Myths and Visions: The Art of Ray Harryhausen (2006); Live by the Lens, Die by the Lens: Film Stars and Photographers (2008); and Drawings that Move: the Art of Joanna Quinn (2009). He also initiated a long-term series of on-stage interviews with those working in the wide range of disciplines involved in film and television production, under the banner Script to Screen.
In 2012, his work on researching and realising the first colour moving images from the original footage by Edward Raymond Turner in the Museum’s collection attracted worldwide media attention.
My thanks to David Strohmaier for answering questions of detail that only someone who has been involved in using the technology and restoring vintage footage can do, and for providing several illustrations; to former colleague Toni Booth at the National Science and Media Museum for her support, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their photographs of the Cinerama camera.
Harvey, Michael (2025). “Cinerama”. In James Layton (ed.), Film Atlas. www.filmatlas.com. Brussels: International Federation of Film Archives / Rochester, NY: George Eastman Museum.
