| Seeing The Big Picture: 70 MM
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This series is an Egyptian
Exclusive!
70mm, like many other motion picture formats such as Cinemascope and
Cinerama in the 1950’s, was created as a way of prying folks away from those
insidious small screen "idiot boxes" (i.e., televisions) that were starting to
deplete the industry’s box office thunder. From Super Technirama 70 to Ultra
Panavision to Dimension 150 and more, the 70mm large-screen format promised – and
delivered – a Barnum-esque world of spectacular sights and 6-track sounds. If the
movies were always larger-than-life, then 70mm movies were MUCH much larger! From 1955 to
1970 – the Golden Age of 70mm Filmmaking – there were nearly 60 Hollywood
features shot in large format, with many more released in special engagements as
35mm-to-70mm blow-ups (which still offered superior sound and image quality to their 35mm
counterparts). This time around we’re pleased to offer an ultra-rare 70mm screening
of AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS (at 30 fps), SOUTH PACIFIC (beautifully
restored), Franklin Schaffner’s Oscar-winning PATTON, Douglas Trumbull’s
cerebral sci-fi epic BRAINSTORM (which was also Natalie Wood’s final film
before her tragic death) and George Miller’s MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (in a
70mm blow-up print). Please join us and take a look at the big pictures in 70mm.
Friday, May 5 – 7:30 PM
Rare Todd-AO 30 fps 70mm Print!
AROUND THE WORLD IN
EIGHTY DAYS, 1956, Warner Bros., 183 min. This is an original Todd-AO, 30
frames-per-second print; one of the only ones that survives! Very slightly faded color,
but in excellent condition otherwise, and a once in a lifetime chance to see the version
of the film that won five 1957 Academy Awards (one for Best Picture)! This version is not
available on DVD (the DVD is the 24 fps version). Director Michael Anderson adapts
Jules Verne’s world-famous classic following turn-of-the-20th Century
gentleman adventurer, Phileas Fogg (David Niven) and his manservant, Passpartout (Cantinflas)
as they circle the globe in a hot air balloon. Complete with an astounding cast (some in
blink-and-you-miss-‘em cameos) that includes Noel Coward, Charles Boyer, John
Gielgud, Shirley MacLaine, Frank Sinatra, Ronald Colman, Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich,
Robert Newton, Peter Lorre, George Raft, Gilbert Roland and more!
Saturday, May 6 – 6:00 PM
Double Feature:
Brand New Restored 70mm Print!
SOUTH PACIFIC, 1958, The Samuel
Goldwyn Company, 151 min. Dir. Joshua Logan. Come see this ultra-rare screening of
the restored 70mm musical that has it all, including one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
most popular show tunes, "Some Enchanted Evening". Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano
Brazzi are star-crossed lovers on the Solomon Islands – she’s from Little
Rock, Arkansas and he’s an expatriate Frenchman – threatened by the growing
conflict with the Japanese during WWII. Co-starring a great cast, including John Kerr,
Juanita Hall, Ray Walston and France Nuyen.
Original 70mm Roadshow Version!
SOUTH PACIFIC, 1958, The
Samuel Goldwyn Company, 171 min. (For those of you who’d like to stick
around and see what was cut out of the film before it went into general release –
Note: Print is faded) (See above description).
Sunday, May 7 – 6:30 PM
Brand New 70mm Print!
PATTON, 1970, 20th Century Fox,
169 min. Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner. "No dumb bastard ever won a war by
dying for his country," growls George C. Scott in the jawdropping opening
monologue to PATTON, a war epic that manages to capture the tragic human sacrifice, the
bullying megalomania and the patriotic glory of battle, all encapsulated in the incredibly
complex and contradictory character of General George S. Patton. Winner of seven Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay (by Francis Ford Coppola
and Edmund H. North.)
Wednesday, May 10 – 7:30 PM
Ultra-Rare 70mm Screening!
BRAINSTORM, 1983, Warner Bros., 106
min. In virtual reality mode, scientists Louise Fletcher and Christopher Walken
invent a way of recording internalized life experiences for later playback, something that
transforms the tragic complications that follow into a transcendent, life-changing
adventure for Walken and spouse, Natalie Wood (luminously beautiful in her final
film appearance). Director Douglas Trumbull (award-winning effects expert for 2001:
A SPACE ODYSSEY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, et. al.) had to wage an uphill battle
to complete the film after Wood’s untimely death, but he still manages to pull out
the stops in a series of jawdropping sequences that must be seen on the big screen to be
fully appreciated. With Cliff Robertson.
Thursday, May 11 – 7:30 PM
70mm Blow-Up Print!
MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR,
1981, Warner Bros., 94 min. Hockey-mask wearing Lord Humongous whips his
speed-freaks into a frenzy, while Road Warrior Mel Gibson tries to save the
remnants of civilization, in director George Miller’s lean, mean, thrill
machine – along with James Cameron’s ALIENS, the finest action film of the
decade. |
