Todd-AO(1952–1992)
A 65/70mm non-anamorphic widescreen process developed by American Optical Corporation, sponsored by impresario Michael Todd, and used primarily for roadshow presentations.
Film Explorer
“Rectified” 70mm frames from Oklahoma! (1955), correcting the image on the print for the distortion involved in projecting onto a curved screen. As is common with most 70mm prints of this era, which were invariably printed on Eastman Color stock, the color has severely faded to magenta. Note the six magnetic soundtracks: two on either side, outside the perforations; and one on each side, between the perforations and the picture.
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY, United States.
65mm camera negative of Todd-AO test footage of a staging of the opera Aida (c. 1953). It is likely that this was made to afford a direct comparison with This Is Cinerama (1952), which also included footage from a stage production of Aida.
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY, United States.
A frame from the 65mm camera negative of Oklahoma! (1955). The Todd-AO negative was 5mm slimmer than the 70mm print stock, as no space was required for soundtracks.
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Frames from early test footage, printed without a soundtrack on 65mm stock. Shots such as this helped address concerns that Todd-AO should be suitable for close-ups and “intimate” scenes, as well as wide vistas.
Courtesy of Jack Theakston.
Frames from a 35mm anamorphic Technicolor reduction print of Cleopatra (1963), with four-track magnetic stereo and mono optical soundtracks. This film was originally shot on 65mm negative and roadshown on 70mm prints, before its general release on 35mm.
Cinémathèque française, Paris, France.
Identification
(70mm for roadshow release; 35mm anamorphic reduction prints for general release.)
48.59mm x 21.99mm (1.913 in x 0.866 in).
Eastman Color
Obscured by magnetic soundtracks.
1
Eastman Color, printed by Deluxe or Technicolor. 35mm reduction could be dye-transfer Technicolor. Original 70mm Todd-AO prints from the 1950s to the 1970s typically suffer from color fading.
Produced in Todd-AO
6-track stereo, applied as magnetic stripes along the film’s edges.
52.63mm x 23.01mm (2.072 in x 0.906 in).
Eastman Color
Unknown
History
Along with Lowell Thomas, the showman and promoter Michael Todd was one of the principal figures involved in producing This Is Cinerama. However, in August 1952, two months before that film’s opening on Broadway, Todd withdrew from Thomas-Todd Productions, sold his stock in Cinerama, Inc. and set up on his own. Dissatisfied with the visible “jiggle” between the three panels of Cinerama, when projected, Todd aimed to develop a new widescreen process involving photography and projection, using a single strip of film. According to press reports, it was Todd’s idea to use negative stock 65mm in width, as opposed to the industry standard of 35mm, and to develop a highly reflective screen to present films made in the new process. He turned to a New England firm, the American Optical Corporation, and its head of research, Dr. Brian O’Brien, formerly of the University of Rochester, NY, to work out the practical details. Every element of the new process had to be designed and created, virtually from scratch, by American Optical, its team of around 100 engineers, and its various external contractors: film stock, cameras, lenses, projectors, screens, and sound system.
The development of Todd-AO (named after its sponsor and American Optical), and the formation of the Magna Theatre Corporation to produce and distribute films in the new system, were both announced to the press in late March 1953. So too was the involvement of the Broadway composing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, whose 1943 stage musical Oklahoma! – a hot property that had eluded the major studios for years – was later confirmed to be the first production in Todd-AO. This and other pictures in the process were initially to be exhibited in a limited number of roadshow situations, for extended runs at high prices, prior to general release in 35mm. A successful preview of test footage was held in Buffalo, NY, on June 23, 1953, for the principal participants in the venture, including Rodgers and Hammerstein, and industry demonstrations a year later met with a similarly positive response.
Even before shooting proper began on Oklahoma! in July 1954, some $2,700,000 had been invested in the development of Todd-AO. Production costs on the film itself approximated $7,000,000, more than three times initial estimates. Part of the increased cost was due to the requirement, made by the film’s financial backers, to shoot an alternative version in CinemaScope, with the standard 35mm frame rate of 24 fps, to enable general release in regular theaters following the initial roadshow engagements. This alternate version was also used for some foreign markets, notably the United Kingdom; the first overseas Todd-AO engagement was in Japan, opening in December 1956. In addition, the cost of mounting the premiere engagement of Oklahoma! at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City, which had to be overhauled for installation of the system, was reported to be nearly twice that of opening Cinerama on Broadway, amounting to some $400,000. Despite these investments and the promises of perfection made for the process, the initial Rivoli presentation was marred by “distortions, scratches, some fuzziness and unevenness in color” (Variety, 1955a, b), faults which had not been a feature of West Coast previews.
For the second Todd-AO feature, Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), produced independently by Mike Todd, and co-financed and released by United Artists following Todd’s departure from Magna and the Todd-AO Corporation, compromises were made. The film was shot simultaneously in two 65mm versions, one with the camera running at 30 fps, the other at 24 fps. The latter resulted in a 35mm print-down (a process dubbed Cinestage) also running at 24 fps, allowing exhibitors to choose the version that best suited them. Many theaters booked a Cinestage print rather than install 70mm projection, and this version was also used for all overseas bookings of the film. Publicity for the film focused on the production itself rather than either screen process. On this basis, Around the World in Eighty Days was considerably more successful than Oklahoma!, easily earning back its costs, whereas the earlier film had lost money.
Magna licensed distribution of the third Todd-AO feature, South Pacific (1958), another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, to Twentieth Century-Fox, which co-produced the picture and bought into the Todd-AO Corporation. Fox also took over the general release of Oklahoma! from RKO Radio Pictures in 1956, when RKO was undergoing financial setbacks that would eventually force it to cease the distribution of all films in 1957. South Pacific was the first Todd-AO film to be exhibited in its original 70mm format in the United Kingdom, where its premiere engagement at the Dominion, London, lasted four-and-a-half years, a long-run record that still holds. For this production, the frame rate of Todd-AO cameras was permanently reduced from 30 fps to 24 fps. With no need for an alternative version to facilitate the striking of 35mm reduction prints for general release, the process was now more flexible, economical, and compatible with other standard technologies.
As John Belton notes, six years after the process was launched, a little over 600 theaters worldwide had installed Todd-AO, forming a “supercircuit” of elite screening venues noted for the high quality of their presentation (Belton, 1992: pp. 174, 279). Despite its limited use, the process set the industry standard for wide-gauge photography and projection for decades to come. Although only eleven further features were made in Todd-AO, between 1959 and 1971 – all big-budget roadshows – its picture and sound formats were retained by most subsequent 70mm competitor processes.
Industry conditions from the early 1970s onward did not favor principal photography in 65mm, but the Todd-AO cameras were often used for filming foreground elements and background plates, to be composited in visual-effects sequences of blockbusters. In exhibition, many films were “blown up” from 35mm to 70mm for exhibition with six-track magnetic soundtracks. They included several films shot in Todd-AO 35, a standard anamorphic process introduced by the company in 1971. Otherwise, Todd-AO itself was credited on only one additional feature, the independent, experimental documentary Baraka (1992). By this point, the Todd-AO 65mm cameras had been upgraded and rebranded, first as CineSpace 70, then as ClearVision 2000, both restoring the original 30 fps frame rate. The Todd-AO Studios, located at 1021 North Seward, Los Angeles, became a premier sound mixing and music recording facility, remaining active until its closure in 2014 (the scoring stage having closed in 2007).
An American pre-release trade advertisement for Oklahoma! (1955), stressing its special roadshow status.
Wolthuis, Johan C. M. (2010). Digital & 65mm: Today’s Technology for Tomorrow’s Cinema (Arnhem, Netherlands: International 70mm Publishers).
The Rivoli Theatre, New York City, which premiered more Todd-AO features than any other Broadway showplace.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States.
Selected Filmography
The second Todd-AO feature film, featuring an all-star cast, mostly making brief “cameo” appearances (a term apparently coined by producer Michael Todd for this film).
The second Todd-AO feature film, featuring an all-star cast, mostly making brief “cameo” appearances (a term apparently coined by producer Michael Todd for this film).
To date, the final feature to be produced in Todd-AO – a non-narrative documentary directed by the cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi (1983).
To date, the final feature to be produced in Todd-AO – a non-narrative documentary directed by the cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi (1983).
The only Todd-AO film to star Elizabeth Taylor (who had been married to Mike Todd at the time of his death in a private plane crash in 1958), and the most expensive film production to date, on its release. Despite massive cost overruns, it turned a profit.
The only Todd-AO film to star Elizabeth Taylor (who had been married to Mike Todd at the time of his death in a private plane crash in 1958), and the most expensive film production to date, on its release. Despite massive cost overruns, it turned a profit.
The last feature to be filmed in Todd-AO for more than two decades, an Anglo-American co-production that was a major box-office failure. The 65mm camera negative and magnetic sound masters may be lost.
The last feature to be filmed in Todd-AO for more than two decades, an Anglo-American co-production that was a major box-office failure. The 65mm camera negative and magnetic sound masters may be lost.
A second demonstration reel, which reportedly played as a prologue to some 70mm engagements of South Pacific.
A second demonstration reel, which reportedly played as a prologue to some 70mm engagements of South Pacific.
A short demonstration film that accompanied some engagements of Oklahoma!.
A short demonstration film that accompanied some engagements of Oklahoma!.
The first feature film produced in Todd-AO (30 fps); also shot simultaneously in CinemaScope.
The first feature film produced in Todd-AO (30 fps); also shot simultaneously in CinemaScope.
The third and final Rodgers and Hammerstein property to be filmed in Todd-AO – it was the most successful Todd-AO feature as well as the highest-grossing film of the 1960s.
The third and final Rodgers and Hammerstein property to be filmed in Todd-AO – it was the most successful Todd-AO feature as well as the highest-grossing film of the 1960s.
The third Todd-AO feature, and the first to be filmed only at 24 fps. It became, for a while, the highest-grossing film released in the United Kingdom, until surpassed by The Sound of Music (1965).
The third Todd-AO feature, and the first to be filmed only at 24 fps. It became, for a while, the highest-grossing film released in the United Kingdom, until surpassed by The Sound of Music (1965).
Technology
Widescreen processes involving the use of wide-gauge film had originally been developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, before being swiftly abandoned. These early processes (such as Magnifilm, Grandeur and Realife) would probably have been the key backdrop against which the first wide-gauge format of the 1950s was developed. Indeed, the first Todd-AO cameras were constructed from converted 1930 Fearless 65mm units used for Magnifilm, which had been purchased from Thomas Color. But the exact form that Todd-AO took was more immediately dictated by the need to compete with two contemporaneous, albeit very different, widescreen technologies, Cinerama and CinemaScope. The notion of enhanced audience involvement, or “participation”, in the action onscreen was central to all three – this was also a feature of 3-D systems. But, both Cinerama and CinemaScope suffered certain limitations imposed on them by their specific technical characteristics. The lines where the three panels of the Cinerama image met were often visible, distracting from its immersive impact. The compression of a wider image onto a single 35mm strip in CinemaScope’s anamorphic system, and its projection onto a very large screen, meant that grain was increased, focus softened, and distortion introduced. By employing a single strip of wide-gauge film, Todd-AO aimed to eliminate both sets of problems.
The use of wide-angle lenses was claimed to achieve a depth effect comparable to that of Cinerama. The respective angles of coverage of the initial complement of four lenses were 37, 48, 64 and 128 degrees (the latter being the so-called “bugeye” lens, with a focal length of 12.7mm). The picture area, occupying a space on the film strip five sprockets high, rather than the four of standard 35mm, was three-and-a-half times that of CinemaScope, giving a brighter, sharper, low-grain image in projection. The resulting image, with an optimal aspect ratio of 2.21:1, was slightly narrower than those produced by both Cinerama and CinemaScope. This was not necessarily seen as a disadvantage, with some commentators noting that the “added height” was preferable, helping “to heighten the panoramic effect as well as to add stature to images seen in full figure” (Pryor, 1954).
To reduce light loss and minimize distortion, Todd-AO developed “a lenticular screen, a plastic-coated fabric with an aluminum surface embossed in a formation of lenticles, or tiny lenses, [which] prevented the screen surface from reflecting light back onto itself at the extremities” (Belton, 1990: p. 461). The Rivoli Theatre in New York City, where Oklahoma! premiered, had a 52 ft x 26 ft (15.85m x 7.92m) screen that curved to a depth of 13 ft (3.96m), necessitating an optically corrected projection print to reduce distortion. Todd-AO produced “rectified” prints for this and other theaters with a particularly steep angle of projection, though the Rivoli engagement suggested that this method was not entirely successful and production of such prints was soon discontinued.
The six-track stereophonic sound format developed for Todd-AO by Ampex and Westrex also improved on the seven-track and four-track sound systems of Cinerama and CinemaScope, respectively. Unlike Cinerama’s discrete soundtrack, which was carried on a separate strip of 35mm magnetic film, Todd-AO sound was on the same strip as the picture (though the premiere of Oklahoma! used a discrete interlocked soundtrack). The six magnetic tracks were “striped” either side of the picture area, inside and outside of the sprocket holes – positive projection prints were increased to 70mm width, from the 65mm of the camera negative, precisely to accommodate these tracks.
A further consideration in developing Todd-AO was economy: the need for a technology that was practical and affordable for both filmmakers and exhibitors. Shooting on a single strip of film eliminated many of the production problems experienced in filming for Cinerama, making both close-ups and medium shots more practicable. And, while Cinerama’s three-strip setup required three separate booths and an enlarged projection team, Todd-AO could be projected from a single booth. Moreover, the DP70 projectors developed for Todd-AO by the Philips company of the Netherlands, could also be used to project 35mm prints in a range of formats when the theater was not engaged with a 70mm presentation. Thus, although exhibitors opting for Todd-AO were still required to install new equipment, they were usually spared the major structural alterations that were necessitated by a conversion to Cinerama, and they were not then exclusively committed to presenting films in only that one format.
To reduce flicker in motion, the frame rate of Todd-AO was initially set at 30 fps, rather than the standard 24 fps of 35mm. For the second Todd-AO feature, Around the World in Eighty Days, an alternate version was shot simultaneously at 24 fps to enable the film to be printed down to 35mm for general release in regular theaters. However, from the third feature, South Pacific, onwards, the 30 fps frame rate was abandoned, to no noticeable disadvantage – this, and all subsequent films made in Todd-AO, were shot at 24 fps only. Other modifications, born of experience, allowed for the special Todd-AO screen to be adjustable from flat to curved, according to the needs of each venue. Ultimately, the modified specifications of Todd-AO became the standard by which most other processes involving the use of 65/70mm film, such as Super Panavision, were developed. In 1963, the Todd-AO Corporation acquired an interest in one such rival process, Dimension 150.
Robert Surtees, director of photography for Oklahoma! (1955), with the 65mm Fearless camera repurposed for Todd-AO, mounted with the “bugeye” wide-angle (12.7mm) lens. Although much was made of the lens in publicity, it was reportedly used for only four shots in the completed film and was rarely employed subsequently, due to its obtrusive spatial distortion.
A 70mm frame from Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), shot with the ‘bugeye’ wide-angle lens.
in70mm.com
An artist’s impression, used for publicity of Oklahoma! (1955), of the Todd-AO projection setup, emphasizing the curvature of the screen and showing the five sound speakers, which would actually have been concealed behind the screen. Subsequent Todd-AO installations employed a shallower curve, or even a flat screen, to avoid distortion, depending on the size and layout of the theater.
Bison Archives, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
References
Boxoffice (1953). “Still Another New System; Wide Screen and 65mm Film”. Boxoffice (Mar. 28): p. 9.
Belton, John (1992). Widescreen Cinema. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press.
Belton, John (1990) “Todd-AO: A History”. Journal of the SMPTE, 99:6 (June): pp. 457–65.
Gilbert, George (1957). “Exhibs’ Pros & Cons on 35m ‘World’ as Todd Stumps for ‘Print-Down’”. Variety (Aug. 28): pp. 5, 20.
Green, Abe (1953). “Schenck-Todd 3d on 65m; Big B’way Legit Tieins; Hornblow Heads Prod.”. Variety (Mar. 25): pp. 1, 20.
Pryor, Thomas M. (1954). “Hollywood Revelation”. New York Times (Jun. 27): Sec. X, p. 5.
Schoenfeld, Joe (1955). “Todd-AO: Tentative Commentary”. Variety (Apr. 27): p. 4.
Variety (1953). “‘Okla.’ Gets Going as Production Plans Are Set; Castings under Way”. Variety (July 8): pp. 5, 15.
Variety (1954). “Added $6,000,000 Bankrolling for ‘Okla’, Todd-AO”. Variety (Apr. 7): p. 5.
Variety (1955a). “Todd-AO’s Variable-Width Projector”. Variety (Jan. 19): p. 5.
Variety (1955b). “Hurricane Waters of August ‘Rained’ Todd-AO’s Rivoli Print; Woodbridge’s Technical Woes”. Variety (Oct. 19): p. 11.
Variety (1955c). “Todd-AO Kickoff Sees Engineers’ Goals Defined”. Variety (Oct. 19): p. 11.
Williams, Whitney (1954). “Todd-AO: See-the-Actors-Think”. Variety (Jun. 30): pp. 3, 16.
There is a wealth of information in the ‘Todd-AO Library’ at in70mm.com: Large Format Film History https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1955_todd_ao/index.htm
Patents
O’Brien, Brian. Wide angle picture projection optical systems and screen apparatus. US patent US2792746A, filed August 3, 1953, and issued May 21, 1957. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2792746A
O’Brien, Brian. Motion picture theatre system. US patent US346963A, filed April 6, 1953, and issued October 28, 1958. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2857805A
American Optical Corp. Improvements in or relating to wide angle optical picture projection. UK patent GB787746A, filed March 23, 1954, and issued December 18, 1957. https://patents.google.com/patent/GB787746A
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Author
Sheldon Hall is an Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, where he taught for 27 years. Graduating from the University of Warwick with a degree in Film and Literature, he became a freelance journalist and lecturer, serving as film critic for the major regional newspaper The Northern Echo from 1986 to 1997 before becoming a full-time academic. Hall has an MA and a PhD in Film Studies from the University of East Anglia. He is the author of Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It – The Making of the Epic Film (2005; 2nd edn, 2014) and Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929–1981 (2024); co-author (with Steve Neale) of Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (2010); and co-editor of Widescreen Worldwide (2010) and Film Critics and British Film Culture: New Shots in the Dark (2025). In addition, he has contributed chapters and articles on British and American film history to numerous books and journals. His research interests include Hollywood and British cinema; film criticism, textual analysis and film aesthetics; widescreen cinema; film distribution and exhibition; and films on television.
Hall, Sheldon (2025). “Todd-AO”. In James Layton (ed.), Film Atlas. www.filmatlas.com. Brussels: International Federation of Film Archives / Rochester, NY: George Eastman Museum.
