AgaScope(1955–1984)

Twentieth Century-Fox’s first CinemaScope release The Robe (1953) premiered in Sweden on December 18,1953, at the Rigoletto movie theatre in Stockholm, where the audience got to experience this new widescreen format for the first time. However, the first ever screening of films shot in CinemaScope, actually took place a couple of months earlier, on September 12,1953, at the same cinema in Stockholm – shown to an exclusive audience of invited representatives from industry and the press. For this special occasion, the manufacturing company AGA installed new projectors at the Rigoletto, which were equipped with anamorphic lenses and magnetic sound readers; the company also installed a stereophonic speaker system at the cinema. In the course of the private screening, short excerpts from various films were projected, to give the audience a good impression of the possibilities offered by CinemaScope. Following this successful introduction of CinemaScope to a Swedish audience, AGA was subsequently commissioned to equip the Colosseum movie theater in Oslo, Norway, where the first Norwegian CinemaScope screening took place some months later, on April 19,1954. 

The Swedish gas company Aktiebolag Gasaccumulator, later named AGA AB, was founded in 1904 to develop industrial applications using gas fuels. AGA was initially known for its light sources used in lighthouses and on railroads, as well as for household products, such as stoves. In 1919, AGA entered the field of manufacturing for the motion picture industry, launching a hand-cranked projector with a three-blade shutter, which used a gas mantle as its light source in the lamphouse. With the introduction of sound film in the late 1920s, AGA became one of the major suppliers of professional motion picture equipment in Sweden, from projectors and sound/mixing equipment, to camera and projector lenses – and, later on, was even known for the fabrication of television sets. Chief engineer, and inventor of AgaScope, Evert Aulin joined the company in 1928 and became technical manager for the development of AGA’s first sound film projector, in 1929. In 1940, he became head of AGA’s optical department. The company exported its products not only to neighboring Scandinavian countries, but also to other countries in Europe: AGA projectors were frequently to be found in cinemas in Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Portugal, among other countries. In 2000, AGA was acquired by the global multinational, Linde company. 

Due to AGA’s expertise in producing optical parts, the Rochester (New York)-based company Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., which manufactured anamorphic lenses for the CinemaScope process, signed a license agreement with AGA Sweden, establishing a new subsidiary company called AGA Bausch & Lomb. In 1953, with the installation of machinery for the grinding and polishing of cylindrical optical parts, the new manufacturing line for anamorphic lenses was ready to begin production at the AGA factory on Lidingö, an island just outside Stockholm. AGA was able to produce the same projector lenses as the ones produced in Rochester, which consisted of five lenses, divided into two groups. The smaller of these two groups was located closer to the projector and consisted of two positive cylindrical lenses; while the other group consisted of three negative cylindrical lenses, with a larger diameter. By changing the distance between these two groups, it was possible to focus the projected image for various projector throw distances in different-sized cinemas. 

With knowledge and expertise regarding anamorphic lens systems now in-house, AGA subsequently announced its own anamorphic lens system for cameras, which they named AgaScope. AGA’s new camera system was used for the first time for Staden vid vattnen / The City by the Water (1955), a short documentary produced by Svensk Filmindustri (SF), narrated by well-known actress Bibi Andersson. At that time, Evert Aulin had only manufactured one AgaScope lens, with a fixed focal length, which was also used for the shooting of Arne Sucksdorff's color classic En djungelsaga / The Flute and the Arrow, shot on location in India and released in 1957. Because the production of En djungelsaga took longer than expected – shooting began in 1954 but lasted nearly three years in total – it was Gorilla (1956), filmed between 1955–6, which became the first feature-length film shot in AgaScope to be released in Swedish cinemas. 

Between 1955 and 1965, 19 Swedish films were shot and released in AgaScope. 

AGA also promoted their new product outside of Sweden. When the Finnish production company Suomen Filmiteollisuus acquired audio recording equipment from AGA, they also agreed to sign a rental contract for AgaScope lenses. The first Finnish film shot in AgaScope was Juha / Love Along a River (1956). In the UK, production company Associated British Picture Corporation Ltd. conducted photographic tests with AgaScope lenses, but no UK production known to have actually used the system has been identified. Similarly, in Czechoslovakia, where the system was tested in 1956 for the short film Sváteční den (directed by Břetislav Pojar and Bruno Šefranka) together with other anamorphic systems of the time, such as Totalvision and DyaliScope from France. But in the end, AgaScope was not chosen for any Czech film production. In 1962, AgaScope was introduced in Hungary with more success. The first Hungarian film shot in anamorphic widescreen was Az aranyember / The Man with the Golden Touch (1962). By 1969, at least 14 films had been shot in AgaScope in Hungary. Swedish director Mats Helge Olsson, who acquired some AgaScope lenses after AGA had already discontinued distribution of AgaScope equipment, was the last to use this system – for his film, The Ninja Mission (1984).