ARC 120(1959–1964)

ARC 120, later marketed as Wonderama, was a widescreen format projected onto a 120-degree curved screen, invented by Leon Wells and exploited by Leon Bronesky in the 1950s. It had limited use and was short-lived, despite being marketed as an affordable technology which could rival the likes of Cinemascope and Cinerama. ARC 120 prints could be converted from any type of widescreen negative and the projector required only a simple lens addition to create the wide image on screen, allowing filmmakers and cinemas flexibility when shooting and projecting. The process and the films shown in the process were given middling reviews but press from the time noted ARC 120’s potential as a projection format, especially for smaller, budget-conscious venues. It was a commercial failure and was discontinued just a few years after its invention.

Leon Weliczker Wells was a Polish engineer and inventor. He was a Holocaust survivor, escaping capture multiple times, including from internment at the Janowska camp in Poland. After the war ended, Wells studied engineering in Gliwice, Poland, and then in Berlin, before emigrating to the United States in 1949. He worked for the Courant Institute at New York University until 1953, after which he began working in the private sector on film processes such as Pola-Lite 3-D. Wells appears to have begun work on the ARC 120 process in the latter half of the 1950s. The printing and optics of ARC 120 shared striking similarities to that of Pola-Lite 3-D, suggesting he incorporated and developed much of what he had learnt from his work on Pola-Lite. His regular collaborator at this time was Leon Bronesky, an American film and theater producer. (It is unclear how Wells and Bronesky met and if any other companies were involved with the early development of ARC 120.) The first mention of the yet-to-be-named system was in February 1956, when Bronesky spoke about the upcoming process to the press. He described it as using “only one camera and one projector but two images on each film frame” (Film Daily, 1956).

Wells and Bronesky’s first patent application for the system was in July 1957, but this version of the technology was abandoned for further development. They applied again in March 1959 with a more detailed application, which was granted in January 1961. 

The marketing for ARC 120 hinged on its versatility for filmmakers and ease of installation and affordability for exhibitors. The format was versatile in that prints could be made from Technirama, Cinemascope, Vistavision or Todd AO negatives. Printing costs were noted as being “approximately the same as that of printing a standard 35mm print” (Motion Picture Exhibitor, 1962), despite the reduction and rotation of the image during printing.

Other systems like Cinerama required three separate strips of 35mm film to be projected in synchrony,  in customized theaters. In contrast, ARC 120 needed a simple lens attachment to adapt existing regular 35mm projectors and a deeply curved 120-degree screen which could be readily hung, on a temporary framework in front of any existing screen.

The simplicity of the lens and screen system supposedly meant a quick installation, with the press at the time noting: “It is claimed that the complete installation can be accomplished in less than six hours” (Box Office, 1961). 

The cost for the lens and screen was around $5,000. This was considerably cheaper than rival systems: the Cinerama set-up installed at the Warner Theatre, New York, was between $40,000 and $50,000 in 1953, for example (Motion Picture Daily, 1953).

The process apparently also boasted the ability to see an undistorted image from any seat in the house. Also, because the process was not anamorphic, it did not have any loss of definition or pincushion distortion towards the edges of the projected image. These features of the process were marketed as being perfect for smaller cinemas that didn’t have a large budget or room for multi-projector systems. Temporary, extended-run roadshow venues were also a target, as the system could be assembled quickly (in theory) and didn’t require much in the way of specialist equipment.

The first film shown in ARC 120 was the Michael Powell feature Luna de Miel (Honeymoon, 1959). British Lion, the distributor of the film in the UK, approached Bronesky with the idea of using ARC 120. Bronesky agreed, with stipulations in his contract that he would have approval over the film’s cut. Bronesky disliked several sequences and would only proceed if cuts were made, leading to delays and tension between the parties. Technical difficulties in printing also slowed progress. The film was finally shown in ARC 120 at the Palace Cinema, in the British seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, in August 1960. The film was shown for just over a month in Blackpool and was not received favorably. Michael Powell was far from impressed with Bronesky and the two quarreled over future screenings of the film in ARC 120, with Bronesky refusing to show the film in other venues without further cuts to improve reception. British Lion sided with Powell and eventually broke the contract with Bronesky, choosing to show the film in Cinemascope instead. (Powell, Michael, 1961a).

ARC 120 was next used for screenings of the French ballet anthology film Un Deux Trois Quatre (Black Tights, 1960). The film was first shown at the 1960 Venice Film Festival in a 35mm Technirama print, before being converted to ARC 120 for the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Buenos Aires, in January 1961. By this time, Bronesky had created the company Bronesky International Films to launch the process, supported by a number of investors, which included hotelier Abe Margolies and talent agent William Morris Jr. The festival was a showcase for ARC 120, with press and industry members given a behind-the-scenes look at installation. It was favorably received, with ease of installation, reasonable ticket prices, cost and image quality being the highlights noted by the press. Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that the installation was so simple that local technicians completed the set up with only an instruction booklet to guide them, however Variety stated that Wells completed the installation himself. The process was offered as a rental package with no upfront cost – the fee was instead gleaned from 10% of the ticket sales (Variety, 1961a). ARC 120 was given a special award as part of the festival for its “outstanding contribution to the film industry” (Motion Picture Exhibitor, 1962). 

Following the festival, Morris proposed a tour of the process in Chile, Peru and Brazil before heading to Hollywood. Ultimately, no tour of South America appears to have taken place, although ARC 120 demonstrations were subsequently held in the Academy Theatre and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in March 1961, although these didn’t lead to any bookings. When Un Deux Trois Quatre was shown in London in September 1961, and as a roadshow across America starting in New York in spring 1962, it was in 35mm Technirama prints.

Further ARC 120 press screenings took place around November 1961 at the Bellevue Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey. Financial backer Abe Margolies was in attendance and proposed financing a film in the process, but this never materialized.

Around late 1963, Walter Reade Jr. of Walter Reade-Sterling, Inc. purchased the rights to use the system in the company’s chain of US movie theaters. ARC 120 was rebranded as Wonderama and launched with the repackaged German travel film Mediterranean Holiday (Traumreise unter weissen Segeln, 1962), which had originally been released in Europe in 70mm. At this time, Wells, Bronesky and Morris were still involved with the process, but they needed more financial backing to generate interest. 

Four hundred investors and industry members were invited to a lavish premiere of Mediterranean Holiday in Hartford, Connecticut, in January 1964, with a dinner and introduction planned before the screening. But the preparations for the screening were disastrous – the wrong lenses were installed, and the event was postponed. It was eventually rescheduled for February and relocated to the Strand Theatre in Plainfield, New Jersey, with Reade busing in attendees from Connecticut and New York at great expense. Samuel J. Colosimo, chief engineer at Reade-Sterling, supervised the installation of equipment for the screening. But more technical problems marred the screening – the center line was visible, the two halves of the image moved around, independently of each other, dark spots appeared in corners, and the image was intermittently blurred throughout the screening. Despite all the problems the press were, perhaps, surprisingly kind in their write-up of the system, with many mentioning that it had potential. Mediterranean Holiday was shown in Wonderama at the Strand for six weeks and then at the Trent Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, during August. Both theaters were owned by Reade-Sterling. No other Wonderama screenings of the film appear to have taken place – the bulk of US bookings were in CinemaScope prints. Reade-Sterling seemed to have given up on Wonderama.

By February 1964, Leon Wells was no longer involved with Wonderama. He had attended the New Jersey premiere of Mediterranean Holiday, but he wasn’t involved during the installation. (A few years later, he would resurface with the Panacolor Pik-A-Movie format). 

In June 1962 there were reports that Wonderama was to be used one final time for the production of Felicia (1964). The film was shot in Eastman Color, wasn’t completed until 1964, and indeed it was never widely released due to financial problems – screening only in South America.