This Is Cinerama

On the evening of September 30, 1952, ‘This Is Cinerama’ premiered at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. Robert C. Ruark of The New York World Telegram said of the event: “I have just looked at the movies’ answer to television, whether or not the movies know it yet.” Indeed, this unique, widescreen process was launched when television was deemed a major threat to US film exhibition. Fred Waller, Cinerama’s creator, dreamed of a motion picture experience that would recreate the full range of human vision. Using three cameras and three projectors on a curved screen 146 degrees deep, Cinerama created an immersive cinematic event, wowing 20 million viewers in its original roadshow version. Now audiences can experience the forerunner to all modern widescreen formats once again, and in a brand-new, definitive restoration from the original three-panel, six-perforation camera elements.