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What is 70mm? Hoyts Regent Sydney in May 1957,
70mm film, as the name implies, is was technically in CinemaScope. This
the actual width of the film (although was not a reduction print, but was
the camera negatives were usually filmed separately, shot for shot.
65mm width) and twice the width of Around the World, which opened at
conventional 35mm film. Sound Hoyts Paris Sydney on Thursday 3
engineers then devised a system December 1957, was filmed in
whereby six channels of stereo sound Cinestage, another Todd process that
could be added by striping the prints used 35 mm film but with a lesser
with magnetic sound tracks, similar to anamorphic ‘squeeze’, which gave a
that used on the old reel-to-reel tape brighter, sharper image than
recorders. CinemaScope. The advertising for the
70mm was visually and aurally film was coy about the wide screen
superior to other wide screen processes process used and most Australian A well-remembered publicity shot: Mitzi
because it provided the largest sized audiences believed that they were Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi from South
image in the projector gate and needed seeing a production in Todd-AO. Pacific.
less magnification. This meant that the Around The World was an enormous
picture on the screen was brighter, hit, running 112 weeks, breaking all The original plans called for only two
sharper and less grainy. The six-track records.
installations. The first was Hoyts
stereophonic sound offered a superior 70mm Comes to Australia Mayfair Sydney and the second was
frequency response and less hiss.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Hoyts Esquire Melbourne. Hoyts were
In the case of standard 35mm film, Corporation purchased an interest in meticulous about standards for such
each frame of film has four perforations Todd-AO and Mike Todd departed installations, which were costly.
and travels through the projector at 24 around 1957. (Todd went on to devise Long-run roadshow engagements of
frames per second, which is 27 metres yet another 70mm process called Todd- 70mm films required 1,000 to 1,500
(90ft) per minute. 70mm film contains 70.) In co-operation with Magna seat theatres. The Mayfair met this
five perforations per frame and running Theatre Corporation, Fox produced the criterion with its capacity of 1,249. The
at the same speed of 24 frames per third 70mm feature, the Rodgers and conversion required complete closure
second, 34 metres (112.5) feet of film Hammerstein musical South Pacific. for several weeks to fit a new screen
passes through the projector per This film became the first feature and proscenium. Upgraded sound, from
minute. shown in 70mm in Australia after the four-track to six-track, required
Cinerama projection preceded Fox-controlled Hoyts Theatres Ltd. additional speakers. The projection
70mm by only a few months in decided to install 70mm equipment. room was completely refurbished.
Australia in 1958. Cinerama’s three
projectors screening 35 mm film from
three booths was a cumbersome and
very expensive system to operate.
However without the impetus from
Cinerama, it is unlikely that there would
have been a revival of wide screen
processes in the fifties. (The story of
Cinerama at Hoyts Plaza Melbourne is
told in CinemaRecord 43.)
Australia ‘Tests the Water’
The first 70mm feature film was
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma,
which opened at the New York Rivoli
in October 1955. The second feature,
Mike Todd’s Around The World in 80
Days was released the following year.
Both films utilised the initial, short-
lived 70mm standard of projecting the
image at 30 frames per second to
reduce flicker. The uptake of 70mm
installations was painfully slow and fell
below expectations. By 1957 there were
about 60 installations of 70mm
worldwide.
Both Oklahoma and Around the
World were released in Australia on
Thinking big: Three films were made by Fox in 70mm Grandeur, but Oscar Strauss had
35mm with four-track stereo sound.
nothing to do with them. The Depression doomed the venture. No theatres in
Only Oklahoma, which premiered at
Australasia were equipped for the process.
CINEMARECORD 2005 15