Big Screen Film Festival

The Cinerama will host a Big Screen 70mm Film Festival showing 15 legendary films. Many of these films have a different character when shown on a truly big screen. If you or your kids have not seen Lawrence of Arabia on a huge screen as it was intended to be shown, then you haven't really seen it. Nothing else does it justice.

The 70mm prints the Cinerama will show are on loan from Hollywood studios' vaults and rarely seen by general audiences. Opening weekend will feature two of only seven movies ever produced for Cinerama’s three‐projector technology, This is Cinerama and How The West Was Won. Cinerama came to popularity in the early 1960s, shot with three 35mm motion picture cameras mounted as one unit, sharing one motor. Three separate projectors running simultaneously merged the film into one movie, shown on a giant, deeply curved screen.

Among the more kid-friendly 70mm movies they will show are:
The Sound of Music
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines
Tron
Playtime

More mature audiences will also enjoy:
Lawrence of Arabia
Cleopatra
2001: A Space Odyssey
Lord Jim
South Pacific
Baraka

I have long promised my kids that if Lawrence of Arabia ever played at the Cinerama (or some other appropriately-sized screen), that we would go and see it. Lawrence is schedule for 10/4 at 8:00, 10/7 at 8:00, and 10/15 at 4:00.

Comments

And I thought I was the movie buff. I love How the West Was Won.
ArchStanton said…
Thanks for the heads up. I love Lawrence of Arabia. My oldest is at an age where she could appreciate it.
There are some others we might see in that list, too.
Anonymous said…
Uh Oh! My husband, who likes to belt out "the Sound of Music" OFF TUNE every time we go hiking on a ridge, will have to go with a gag in place. Mind you, he is more effective than a bear bell when hiking in the N. Cascades.

** have ear plugs
Jamie said…
Charlie - thank you so much for posting this! I have made several people's day by sending them the info.
Charlie Mas said…
In case anyone is curious about the Jacques Tati film Playtime, let me recommend you see "Mr. Hulot's Holiday"

Yes, it is a French film and all of the dialog is in French, but you don't need to know a single word of French to enjoy it.

This movie is so funny you will hurt yourself.

It is available on Netflix, but only as a DVD, not streaming.
dan dempsey said…
Is Playtime going to be shown in French?
Charlie Mas said…
If it is like the other films by Jacques Tati there won't be ten words of dialog.
seattle citizen said…
"oh, you, chitty chitty bang bang, chitty chitty bang bang we love you!"

(I hope everyone has had a chance to READ CCBB, a book by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. A much better story, darker and more mysterioso...The car is way cooler in the book, too! Tho' the film IS a smorgasborg of dazzling color and syrupy song!)
Charlie Mas said…
Yes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is Truly Scrumptious.
seattle citizen said…
TRON would be a great movie to see on this screen. While somewhat dismissed at the time of its debut (1982?), it is really quite a movie, visually and thematically. (and any movie with Jeff Bridges can't be nad, right?) I haven't seen the remake.
ArchStanton said…
Personally, I wasn't a big fan of Tron back in the day and I watched this year in anticipation of Tron: Legacy. Even allowing for the dated graphics, I found it pretty thin. Still, I can imagine it being impressive at the Cinerama.
seattle citizen said…
Was derezzed once..."I got better..."!
Anyone for Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the Cinerama? If they didn't film it in 70mm, they SHOULD have!
ArchStanton said…
Lot's of detailed info (that I didn't know) on the 3-strip Cinerama process at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinerama

How the West Was Won seems like a fairly rare opportunity to see a theatrical film in true Cinerama format.

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