Am 9. September 2008 erscheint in den USA (bzw. am 10. Oktober 2008 in Deutschland) der restaurierte Cinerama-Western “Das war der Wilde Westen / How the West was Won” [USA 1962, John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe] bei Warner Bros. als 3-DVD-Set und als 2-Disc Blu-ray Set. Während die DVD den Film im normalen Widescreen präsentiert, liegt auf der Blu-ray zusätzlich eine sogenannte SmileBox-Fassung vor, über die ich hier bereits berichtet habe. Dieses SmileBox-Format wurde für die Dokumentation “Cinerama Adventure” [USA 2002] entwickelt, um dem Zuschauer, der vor einer flachen Leinwand sitzt, ein Gefühl davon zu vermitteln, wie Cinerama auf den damaligen 146° gekrümmten Cinerama-Leinwänden ausgesehen hat. Der Regisseur der Dokumentation, Dave Strohmaier, hat sich wegen der anstehenden Veröffentlichung der Warner Blu-ray zu dem Verfahren geäußert:

HOW SMILEBOX CURVED SCREEN CAME ABOUT
By Dave Strohmaier, director of Cinerama Adventure

Cinerama was not the gimmick many people think it was, gimmick or fads don’t last 20 years and also have several titles in the number on box office category. The whole town of Hollywood helped me to make this historic documentary from major studios to the smallest of film libraries as well as several high end LA post production and effects houses. They all did this for free, imagine in Hollywood, free!

One of the results of doing this project was that the original Cinerama 3 panel process was installed in two American cities, Seattle and in Hollywood. Oh and yes when it is shown on occasion at either of these two cities. I and 3 other historian projection volunteers are in the booth running it. People often have tears in their eyes afterwards when they come to the projection booth to visit us after the show to shake our hands. I guess you could say that I and my projectionist pals have seen 3 panel and 70mm Cinerama more often and anyone other than perhaps the few remaining retired Cinerama projectionist who ran it everyday in the old days.

One of the things we wanted to do in the documentary was to show people how different/special the Cinerama experience was, as one would have to be about 45+years old to have seen it. Many young people would simply laugh at a letterboxed image of the three panels on the screen saying “what’s so special about this, where is this curve you keep talking about” and I would not blame them. So we had award winning 3D graphics experts, digital engineers, Oscar winning cinematographers, film historians you name it get involve with creating a “look” that we could use for the Cinerama shots in our 16 x 9 HD documentary. We wanted this effect/treatment to be what people saw back then, although admittedly not from the first 10 rows, as most people didn’t see it from those rows anyway, those were the 4.00+ seats. After about two months of testing, and trying several things, including projecting the original 3 panel Cinerama focus charts on the Seattle Cinerama 146 degree screen checking for horizontal and vertical distortions, we came up with the SmileBox process for the documentary. We needed to take full advantage of the standard HD 16 x 9 frame and fill it edge to edge and yet have a 146 degree effect that would approximate what people saw in Cinerama theaters. Yes it has its limitations to be sure, but within these limitations we do feel we have succeeded. Next we showed it to several film historians and to the Cinerama Corporation itself. Cinerama still exists as a relatively inactive division of Pacific Theaters here in California. When we showed the first test on the “flat” screen at Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood everyone was amazed at how effective the SmileBox process was in recreating a Cinerama like effect on a flat screen. Most of our documentary is archival footage, old newsreels, interviews etc and they are all in 4×3 inside of 16X9 so when Cinerama shots appear they are both wide and curved. We are most fortunate that every review the documentary has gotten has been a glowing one and most of them mention the effectiveness of the Smilebox process as giving “audiences the look and feel of Cinerama”. One funny incident happened at the Palm Springs film festival screening where a few women had to cover their eyes when the roller coaster scene appeared in Smilebox, they told me after the screening they were getting very dizzy. Funny, this often happens at the actual 3 panel Cinerama screenings at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

This brings me to How The West Was Won and the use of Smilebox in the September Blue Ray release that will include Cinerama Adventure. The Blue Ray package will include the letterboxed version and the Smilebox version of HTWWW and both will be fully restored and will look fantastic. I saw some scenes at Warner’s the other day both letterbox and SmileBox and it knocked my socks off. Warner’s thought it would be a good idea to have HTWWW in Smilebox as an extra version for those who want to recreate the Cinerama look on their flat screens, I feel the bigger screen the better it works. They are going the extra mile in an effort to please the film lover and hope it will.

Sure Smilebox may not be for everyone but due to the response we have gotten for Cinerama Adventure many people will enjoy it. Due to the fact that Smilebox was developed for free at a major effects house in Hollywood we are likewise making it available to Warner’s release for free. I hope this gives you a little background on how Smilebox came about and that it was painstakingly developed with lots of expert imput. I consider myself a bit of a perfectionist and believe me I have seen Cinerama from every seat in the house (front, side and back row) at all 3 existing Cinerama theaters, Seattle, Bradford Media Museum,UK, and the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and Smilebox will approximate a Cinerama effect on flat 16 x 9 screens.

Dave Strohmaier
Producer, Director, Editor, Cinerama Adventure
CINERAMA ADVENTURE ANNOUNCES CINERAMA SCREENINGS