Attention Seattle film buffs: Do not miss this opportunity to see Cinerama films at the Seattle Cinerama this week. This is Cinerama and How the West Was Won are both excellent entertainment, and a rare treat considering they can only be seen properly in a real Cinerama theater: three projectors on an extra large, curved screen with 7-channel directional (surround) sound. Single projector 65mm films on the large screen (2001: A Space Odyssey, and, sure why not, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) are also worth a trip. Seattle Cinerama is one of only a handful of theaters in the world to have a working three-projector set-up. The few three-strip Cinerama movies in existence are not the best movies in the world, but it's amazing to see such a large picture and such great sound with actors, settings and styles from the 1950's. I gushed about it the first time I saw it.

Here's a fresh link to the rec.arts.movies.tech FAQ, which includes a section on Cinerama with a complete list of films.

Cinerama at the Widescreen Museum, including a still from HTWWW demostrating the three-strip image.

Cinerama Adventure, a feature length documentary on the widescreen format (though, alas, in a regular aspect ratio :), was screened last Thursday. Their ugly but informative website has more history and images.

Another history of the Cinerama format.

This history of CinemaScope discusses Cinerama's influence and importance in film history.

A lot of money and effort went into restoring the Seattle Cinerama theater for use with the three-strip films, so this isn't likely to be the last opportunity. But it's still rare, so take advantage.