This Is Cinerama (1952) - Roller Coaster [HD]

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Flicker Alley and Cinerama Inc. are pleased bring audiences This Is Cinerama, now beautifully restored from the original three-panel, six-perforation camera elements. Presented in a deluxe Blu-ray edition, this is the most extensive and thorough restoration yet of the film that changed the shape and sound of the movies forever!
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° 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 Venice to Madrid, from Edinburgh Castle to the La Scala opera house in Milan, and all across America in the nose of a B-25 bomber, travel around the world with Cinerama, presented in the one-and-only Smilebox® curved screen simulation.
BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:
- Audio Commentary - With John Sittig (Cinerama Inc.), David Strohmaier (Cinerama Restorer), Randy Gitsch (Cinerama Historian), and Jim Morrison (original crew member)
- The Best in the Biz - Updated hour-long documentary about the composers of Cinerama
- Restoring This Is Cinerama - A detailed, behind-the-scenes look at the brand-new restoration
- Alternate European Opening to Act Two - A European-oriented segue into the second half of the film, featuring the panoramic view of the United States from the nose of a B-25 bomber plane
- Cinerama Everywhere - A French-produced short on the Cinerama tent shows in Europe
- Tribute to the New Neon Movies - A short film celebrating an Ohio theater where a projectionist revived Cinerama through special screenings for people from all over the country
- Radio Interview with Cinerama Creator, Fred Waller - Recorded on the eve of opening night; accompanied by a slideshow of selected Cinerama images
- This Is Cinerama Trailer - An updated recreation of the original theatrical trailer, edited with newly-restored clips
- Cinerama Returns to the Cinerama Dome (2002 Announcement Trailer) - Promotional short for the 50th anniversary of Cinerama and its return to the fabled Cinerama Dome in Hollywood
- “Breakdown Reel” - Footage originally projected interstitially during the interruptions of any Cinerama performance
- TV Spots - Original television ads for This Is Cinerama and Seven Wonders of the World

[@dianalee3059]

I remember seeing this as a kid when it first came out and it was all the rage. It’s 2023 now and this still looks amazing even on my phone!

[@mrob1969]

Ridiculously ahead of its time.

[@The_old_grey_wolf]

I haven't read all the comments. But what I've noticed is everybody is talking about the picture. This is actually one of the first surround sound films. It was seven tracks. Five front with center, center left and left. center right and right and two sides surrounds left side and right side.😮 I am just not quite old enough to have experienced it in the theater. But it must have been great in those days. I imagine people were amazed at having sound all around them instead of just coming from the screen up front. Hope that added a little history for anybody that didn't know.

[@markschildberg1667]

The initial audiences for This Is Cinerama couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. During the roller coaster scene, people screamed, covered their eyes, plugged their ears. At intermission, they ran to a nearby drugstore for Dramamine. They got sucked into an example of virtual reality and truly thought they were riding that roller coaster.

[@michaelkaplan22b]

Yes, the surround sound added to the experience. I saw the original in NYC and the revival at the New Neon in Dayton, Ohio, where they rebuilt the theater to accommodate the curved screen, the surround speakers and the three projection booths. Also got to see the revival of How the West Was Won at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, another great experience.

[@asd36f]

Cinerama was the first of several new cinematic techniques introduced when the movie industry was facing increasing competition from the new phenomena of television. Movie audiences dropped as more and more people began owning TVs. Studios wanted to convince the public that the movie theatre experience was still something unique that they couldn’t get anywhere else, but the studios also needed something different, even spectacular, to entice audiences back.

[@anwardi]

I think you talking about the movie Roller Coaster. I think this is the promo clip to introduce Cinerama to the public not a clip from that movie which starred George Segal in 1977 and had Sensurround. This clip was if I am not mistaken screened in 1952.

[@billfisher9238]

Thomas' declaration "this is Cinerama" still gives me goosebumps.

[@eegg6954]

This is Rockaway Playland's Atom Smasher coaster which was built in 1938 to replace an older, larger coaster that was demolished to build a highway across the beachfront. The Atom Smasher was designed by Vernon Keenan, designer of Coney Island's famed Cyclone several miles to the west. It was built by by National Amusements Corp. Alas, the Atom Smasher was demolished in 1985 after the NYC diversified the community and a high school girl was shot by savages seeking to rob her of $11 in the park.

[@bruceg9892]

I was seven when I first saw this. I was mesmerised by the whole event, and I still remember the feelings of hearing "this is cinerama".

[@rogerruthven2195]

I recently saw this film in cinerama at the Bradford film museum using three projectors .. it was amazing !!

[@Cybjon]

There used to be what was known as "Cinema USA" in Blackpool. It was a dome that played a verity of formats; bits of films shot in large formats and 3D, etc. Originally on the pier, then moved to The Pleasure Beach, I think, when they put up that insanely huge Ferris wheel. We went there a couple of times when I was a very little kid. I remember you had to stand up because they didn't have seats and whilst this was playing I fell flat on my ass because I got so dizzy.

[@aztro4010]

And at that moment after he said "This is Cinerama!", Cinema changed forever.

[@markschildberg1667]

The scene that changed the movies forever.

[@michaelbruns449]

A cinematic revolution still alive today.

[@Mrleejunman]

I remember at an amusement park in the 1980s a big dome shape building that played a selection of short cinema movies projected on a big half dome shaped screen , there was a roller coaster, a car chase through the streets, a plane /helicopter flight over the grand canyon all in POV where you stood to watch it and it made you lose your balance and some people fell over. I can't find anything about it anywhere. The one at Drayton Manor theme park was called "the cinedome" or "cine 2000" Anyone else remember these?

[@truefilm6991]

Yes. It was called cinema 180. It was a single strip 70mm, probably 10 perf high, projected with a fisheye lens. I loved it and went to many shows.

[@ronz101]

I was in the Cub Scouts then. Had to go all the way over to Washington DC (Warner) with the rest of the Pack to see it. Theater small and cramped, screens very tall as I remember. Yes, peripheral vision is part of the whole process.

[@kurtfassrainer4472]

This is rockaway beach playland , should know I worked there

[@vgmaster9]

Would love a modern version of this, but taller and wider. It would be a giant 16k LED screen with Dolby Vision. Each section of the screen with one camera angle would be as big as the largest IMAX screen. Would also have the DTS:X sound system with comforting reclining seats that vibrate, plus dine-in. Either 2d or 3d depending on the film.

[@Jcushing5]

LED would be still be harsh compared to projected light which gives the true cinema feel

[@kenerikson4853]

This was Rockaway Playland!

[@susansteakin4980]

Yes definitely Playland in Rockaway Bch, Queens, NY.. A great place to live

[@lotsoflove4animals]

Rockaway Beach NY Playland! We miss Playland hasn't been the same since.

[@eegg6954]

They invaded Rockaway, it became a crime-ridden hellhole and Playland had to close.

[@RobertR3750]

I've seen all of This Is Cinerama at the Cinerama Dome. It's much more impressive in person.

[@ronz101]

Absolutely!

[@HotVoodooWitch]

I remember seeing this when I was a kid. It loses something on the small screen . . .

[@kt9166]

The Blu-Ray is available everywhere. Show it on your big screen TV!

[@HotVoodooWitch]

@@kt9166 🤔 Have you ever been to a Cinerama theater?

[@Tmanaz480]

I sat in the forward section of the Seattle Cinerama, within the chord of the huge screen. The picture fills your entire field of vision. The 2.7 aspect is much wider and more naturally matches our vision than IMAX. It was, even with its flaws, absolutely spectacular.

[@HotVoodooWitch]

@@Tmanaz480 agreed. I believe we had first-row-center balcony seats, at least for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (we probably saw This Is Cinerama in the early '60s). While there's a lot I appreciate about today's technology (including--here I am!--KZbin), I always crack up when people younger than myself think the things that I enjoyed from yesteryear can be duplicated at home. I guess it goes without saying that I feel privileged to have grown up when I did.

[@philposner9616]

Rode that coaster many times. Even worked at Playland one summer making cotton candy (yuck).

[@aztro4010]

It's interesting how cameras came a long way, you'd have to use a Cinerama triple lens camera back in the day for this. Now these days you can use a GoPro or something.

[@tomruch5015]

What a gas!

[@sharonroxy8586]

It was the ATOM SMASHER AT ROCKAWAYS PLAYLAND

[@PSUK]

Right. I’m off to Bradford.

[@rexsexson5349]

First roller-coaster pov

[@TonyP_Yes-its-Me]

I'm watching this on a phone, and a few years ago, I watched a film made on a phone, but shown on a Cinerama screen. Contrast and compare.

[@JohnCine]

Cinerama a wonderful experience to the movies. In television lose the impact.

[@jaysharpESQ]

Wow this is such a pedestrian version of the cyclone!

[@eegg6954]

Not the Cyclone. This is Rockaway's Playland's Atom Smasher coaster, built in 1937 by American Amusements.

[@CoolCademMAnimates-fz1ui]

Did this have moving seats? Would have been really immersive!

[@markschildberg1667]

The seats didn't move, but you did. The way the movie worked on your peripheral vision, audiences swayed and leaned in the seats

[@chaturongarchary9773]

An amusement park in our room at last !!.....

[@Camavinga2512]

babylon

[@sharonroxy8586]

Not the cyclone or the tornado maybe the thunderbolt

[@thomaspiccirillo2238]

Nothing like the Cyclone!

[@sharonroxy8586]

What coaster is that?

[@zzscotty]

This was on Surf Avenue in Coney Island and I rode the Cyclone many times with my friends, living in south Brooklyn only a 15 minute subway ride away. I believe this was the tallest (85 ft.) and fastest (60 mph) roller coaster in existence when it was built in 1927.

[@MF-si6gn]

This was Rockaway Playland in Rockaway Beach ,Queens NY. Not Coney Island in Brooklyn.

[@cristineerickson2237]

No this is the Atom Smasher in Rockaway Beach, NYC, at Rockaway's Playland.

[@lotsoflove4animals]

No rockaway Beach queens NY Playland know this place very well since I lived blocks away as a kid went all the time you can clearly see storefront parkway and Beach 100street trust me it's Playland

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

What exactly is Cinerama?

[@markschildberg1667]

It was a widescreen motion picture filming and projection process that used 3 synced cameras to film an extremely wide (aspect ratio about 2.5:1) image that was also taller and clearer than standard 35mm film. It used 3 synced projectors to show the image on a wide, deeply curved screen, with a range of about 146 degrees, approximating the field of human vision. The 7-channel surround soundtrack was on a separate roll. The process lasted about 10 years until it was abandoned in favor of cheaper, less cumbersome, single-lens methods, such as Panavision.

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

@@markschildberg1667 Really? Is it like Cinemascope or something?

[@markschildberg1667]

@@Kevin-xv9pm Not quite. Cinerama used 3 cameras to create one very wide image. Cinemascope used one camera with a lens that squeezed the image onto standard 35mm film. The image had to be projected through a special lens to unsqueeze it.

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

@@markschildberg1667 How unique. Does Cinerama exist today?

[@Kevin-xv9pm]

@@markschildberg1667 Ah, I see.

[@rogerkreil3314]

And now we have Virtual Reality! 😀

[@jennymartinez4051]

........

[@michaelkaplan22b]

Not quite the same as having the curved screen.