"Cinerama Adventure"

The history of the Cinerama process gets a lively exploration in David Strohmaier's "Cinerama Adventure" (C.A. Productions, 2002). The film features clips from various productions as well as vintage footage of Lowell Thomas, Merian C. Cooper, Fred Waller, Michael Todd and others. There's rare behind the scenes production footage as well as views of many theatres. 

We also get more recent interviews with film historians, executives involved with the company, and descendants of many of the participants. Included are Rudy Behlmer, Leonard Maltin, Kevin Brownlow, A.C. Lyles, Michael Todd Jr., Greg Kimble, David Raksin, Arthur Manson, Saul Cooper and many more.

Here the film uses an L.A. Times photo to show "This is Cinerama" at the Warner, 6433 Hollywood Blvd. It opened with an invitational preview on April 29, 1953 and went on to have a 133 week run. 

 

  48th week at the Warner Hollywood in 1954. 

 

The premiere of "How The West Was Won" on February 20, 1963. It ran 93 weeks and was the last of the films in the three-strip process.

 

Another premiere view from footage included in "Cinerama Adventure."

See the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Warner Hollywood for a history of the theatre, opened in 1928.  

 

A shot from a film clip of the hoist used to deal with the big reels.  

 

Playing with a louvered Cinerama screen. 

 

A screen detail. 

 

Checking out the lenses in a booth somewhere for first film in the 70mm version of Cinerama, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." That's Stanley Kramer, the film's director, on the right. 

 

Cinerama Dome construction underway with a model of the theatre and the never-built office building/hotel in the foreground. 

 

A pan up from the previous shot revealing the construction progress. The theatre opened November 7, 1963 with "Mad World."  Visit the Cinerama Dome pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building and way too many photos.

On IMDb: "Cinerama Adventure"   

The film is on disc 3 of the various three-disc editions of "How the West Was Won" that was issued in 2008.