The Cinerama Adventure at New Neon Cinema Dayton Ohio

This 1996 unedited video is of The New Neon Cinema in Dayton, Ohio visited by the crew of the documentary "The Cinerama Adventure." A local television news crew was also taping a segment for that night's news about the documentary's visit. Cinerama Adventure director David Strohmaier is the tall man with the beard wearing a white sweat shirt in early shots and a gray T shirt in later shots. Projectionist John Harvey is seen rewinding one reel of his 3-screen print of Cinerama Holiday while keeping his fingers on the film to feel damage he may need to repair before the next screening. The final segment is in John Harvey's home during his interview for the documentary. His home is a virtual museum of historic movie equipment. The final shots show a mockup model of the 3-lens Cinerama camera.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Cinerama
• Adventure

[MisterScott99]

I think that was a 70mm release, technically not "flat" but certainly shown widely on flat screens as well as curved Cinerama and Dimension 150 screens. You are right that much of the 3D Cinerama effect would be lost in such a presentation.

[antoniod]

Back in 1973 they reissued "This is Cinerama"-as a FLAT film.And they advertised it as if you were going to get the full effect, and as if it were a new movie!They even persuaded the Beacon Hill Cinema in Boston to install a new 50 ft. screen-a flat one(why?)To this day I'm wondering what they were thinking.

[MisterScott99]

Thanks for the comment! Your experience re. Cinerama et al is virtually identical to mine. The film being shot at the New Neon in this youtube clip, "The Cinerama Adventure," just came out as an extra on the new "How the West Was Won" DVD (also on blu-ray).

[djs1952]

When the Neon Movies began showing Cinerama movies "This Is Cinerama" was shown on Saturday afternoons while "How The West Was Won" was shown on Sunday afternoons. Being born too late to see these in their original release it was a treat to watch the movies on that curved screen. The effect of drawing you into the movie still worked even after seeing movies in Omnimax before my Neon Movies visits. It was a dream come true to actually experience Cinerama. :)

[MisterScott99]

On the Cinerama screen! That must have been a blast.

[shwillit80]

i used to watch rocky horry there every sat night in 98