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Topic: Magnaphonic
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Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-28-2000 05:55 PM
4-Track mag was very popular in the fifties. As a matter of fact, it was the standardized soundtrack format for CinemaScope for the first few films, none of which had optical tracks. After about the first 3500 or so installations, smaller exhibitors balked at the expense, and Fox relented, first by offering dual inventory (optical or mag) prints, then using combined mag-optic prints. (The original mag track CinemaScope prints had an AR of 2.55 to 1, by the way. The optical and mag-optical prints had reduced the AR of scope to 2.35 to 1). Most single-screen first run theatres built through the early 70's probably had 4-track mag, but by the late 60's, studios began cutting way back on the number of mag prints of any given title. By the mid 70's, mag track films probably numbered about a dozen a year, and those dozen titles would only have a small number of 4-track mag prints struck, except for rock films, such as "Tommy," which actually went quite wide in mag. After Dolby introduced it's stereo-optical process, some studios would still release dual-inventory prints with Dolby Stereo Optical and Dolby-encoded 4-Track Mag (which also proves that 4-track mag was better than stereo-optical, since the mag prints went to the better houses. The last few 4-track mag films released were in late 1983 (Scarface, Yentl, and a re-release of Fantasia) and the last mag release was in January 1984: Against All Odds (Dolby A encoded). The problem is, unless these prints were really well taken care of, the mag tracks would probably be hard to play these days. It's a pity. 4-Track mag prints played on realy well-maintained equipment could sound excellent. It should be noted that the mag tracks could cut grooves into the sound heads of older style readers, forcing a replacement of every six months or so.
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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays
Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 02-03-2000 09:24 PM
Paul:Thanks for all the good information! I did not know "Against All Odds" was the end of the line for 35 magnetic. That wasn't that long ago, I remember the movie well. I'll have to file that little ditty back in my memory. The last new mag I ever saw was "Damnation Alley".
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