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Author Topic: How the West was Won ? Steve Matz Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 672 From: Billings, Montana, USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 11-16-2015 03:10 PM                     This has probably been discussed before but didn't MGM ever make Flat Scope release prints of "How the West was Won". Every time I have seen this on TCM or even the times it was on Network TV,it's the 3 strip CINERAMA Version where you can see the 2 intersect lines/Seams from the 3 strip projection. It's kind of annoying and the Bigger/better quality your Flat Screen 1080p TV Screen is, the more obvious it is. The Color balance is off and almost looks blurry looking. Apparently there must not have been any Flat Scope Prints ever made when Ted Turner bought MGM's Film Library or we would most like have seen them. I know with today's Computer Technology they probably could eliminate this but I would have liked to have seen an Original Flat Scope print. They should of filmed it in 70mm like "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" for the Curved Cinerama Screen. I saw HTWWW back in the 60's at the Cinerama in Seattle and it was spectacular looking on a Curved Screen. Guess it was intended for a Flat Movie Screen back then ... Frame from "How the West was Won" on TCM  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2015 03:48 PM                     what do you mean by a flat scope print There were 35mm anamorphic prints made but the seam was visible in them too  |  IP: Logged Sean Weitzel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall) Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-16-2015 04:06 PM                     There are always going to be noticeable join lines in HTWWW because it was photographed on a three strip camera. Vignetting differences between the panels was always a shortcoming of the process. Over the years as the three strip negatives faded at different rates, blending of the vignetting and hiding the join lines became increasingly difficult. The restoration and subsequent Bluray done in 2008 did a surprisingly good job of hiding the join lines once and for all. Not to mention, that Bluray edition allows for viewing of a letterbox non-keystone corrected version of the movie (that most of us are familiar with when shown on television) as well as a "smilebox" version which curves the top and bottom of the image to correct the linearity that occurs naturally when projected onto a deeply curved screen.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-16-2015 04:11 PM                     > didn't MGM ever make Flat Scope release prints of "How the West was Won". They did strike regular anamorphic 35mm prints, but they were print downs from the 3 separate Cinerama panels combined in the lab. They also looked terrible because the picture flattening created not only a join line, but skewed the 2 side panels, which was not fixed until the most recent Blu-Ray release. I got to see HTWWW projected in Cinerama during it's revival in Dayton Ohio back in the late 1990's. Projected, they did an amazingly good job in composing the picture to hide the join lines. Most of them were lined up with trees, fence posts, etc. so as to minimize there visibility, and on the deeply curved screen, there was no skewing of the side panels. HTWWW was, I believe, the last Cinerama film shot with the 3 panel camera. When they shot the raft going down the rapids sequence, they did not want to risk the very heavy and expensive camera, so the shot that sequence in regular 70mm and split it up in the lab. While the lesser quality is noticeable, they felt is was good enough and so much cheaper that the few following Cinerama releases were all shot in standard 70mm.  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 11-16-2015 05:08 PM                     I did see the original 3-strip version during its first run at the Uptown in Washington, DC. The shots were composed for the deeply curved screen so when the anamorphic version was released some of them looked rather strange. This was especially noticeable when two people were speaking to each other from the right and left panels. They seemed to be staring off into space instead of looking at each other. BTW, in Cinerama each booth had a power lift to raise the feed reel up to the upper magazine. I knew the guys who worked that job when I was a member of the IA. The restoration done in smilebox gives a reasonably accurate representation of how the original looked and the join lines have been virtually eliminated. I do remember that in the original some of the color balance was off so there was a noticeable shift between the center and side panels. However, the original presentation was so well done that it is something I still remember after all these years.  |  IP: Logged Steve Matz Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 672 From: Billings, Montana, USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 11-16-2015 06:23 PM                     This is a pretty good Scene that hides the lines/seams,but I'm guessing by the angle of that Lamphead; is where the seam was  |  IP: Logged Sean Weitzel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall) Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-18-2015 12:51 PM                     That's correct. The join lines in that scene are the lamp post and the tree. I saw this projected in three strip at the Arclight dome in Hollywood after it was retrofitted in 2002 for three strip projection. You also notice that the actors on the far left and right do seem to be staring off into space. If the image was projected on a deep curve, the distortion actually corrects the sight lines. You can see the same corrective effect if you watch the "smilebox" version on the Bluray.  |  IP: Logged

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