JOHN WAYNE - CINERAMA IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

Warner Bros. plans to make home theaters look much like theaters did a half century ago with the release of the classic How the West Was Won, starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, on Blu-ray disc in August. The high-definition video will offer a "SmileBox" version -- essentially making the screen look as if it were curved like an old Cinerama screen. Only a handful of features were made in the Cinerama process, which featured a screen so large that it wrapped around the audience's field of vision, producing a 3D effect. The screen was so large that it took three projectors to fill it -- one projecting onto the left third of the screen, another the middle, and another the right. Likewise, the movies were shot with a special camera that shot the three images simultaneously. While nature documentaries and thrill-ride experiences were initially released in the Cinerama process, 1962's How the West was Won was the first feature film to be filmed and projected in the process. Warner Home Video's Blu-ray release will also include the documentary Cinerama Adventure.

30/04/2008