By Bruce Campbell
Over four days the
2013 Bradford Widescreen Festival located at The Pictureville Cinema played host to a mixture of classics
in 70mm, CinemaScope and Cinerama formats. There was a
special tribute to the 60th anniversary of CinemaScope,
the famous widescreen process developed for Twentieth Century Fox back in the
1950s.
Friday
kicked off with a rare 70mm screening of The
Longest Day preceded by an
informative introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling. This was followed by the
much- loved The Great Escape presented for the first time in 4K
Digital and the picture and sound were simply stunning. Cinema Retro
contributor Dr. Sheldon Hall provided an illuminating introduction to this war
classic. Following the delegates’ reception in the Kodak Gallery, The Sound of Music was presented in 70mm. The print was
generally good although three quarters of the way through, a reel snapped
resulting in a 10 minute wait for reparations to take place. When the show
resumed, the audience cheered and applauded.
Saturday
provided a different selection of features commencing with a wonderful short
directed by Grant Wakefield in 2k called Remnants. Filmed using motion controlled
time-lapse photography, Remnants
captures on film the thousands of complex stone monuments constructed by the Neolithic peoples
of Northern Europe from 3800 to 1000 BC. Stunning 2K resolution and
extraordinary music provided by Tangerine Dream member Thorsten Quaeschning.
Dave
Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch who
do so much for the preservation and restoration of the Cinerama documentary
features updated the audience on Seven
Wonders of the World, another 3 strip Cinerama classic that required
extensive work to bring this forthcoming restoration to a new generation of
audiences. Following this came the European premiere of Cinerama Holiday shown in 2k Digital on the curved
screen. Randy Gitsch provided the introduction and background to the extensive
work needed to bring this second of the three Cinerama travelogues up to date.
A highly rewarding experience for all. (Cinerama
Holiday will be released later this year along with another Cinerama
feature South Seas Adventure on the
Flicker Alley label).
Saturday
afternoon concluded with the European premiere of David Strohmaier's In the Picture short, which was filmed in 3 panel
Cinerama for the first time in 50 years! This was followed by The Last Days of Cinerama, an affectionate look at the making of
the aforementioned feature. A 70mm print of Hello Dolly rounded off the Saturday evening, again
an excellent presentation.
Sunday
opened with the regular and popular Cineramacana a montage of shorts and news items that
included DTS demonstration reels and a 70mm reel of Tomorrow Never Dies which never saw a 70mm release in the UK. The
traditional onstage photograph followed. Sunday afternoon ran the 3 strip
feature of The Wonderful World
of The Brothers Grimm, the only known print in existence. It looked
magnificent on the Pictureville's curved
screen.
How
to Marry a Millionaire was screened on Sunday
afternoon, with a beautiful CinemaScope print that was well received by all
present. Tony Sloman provided a fascinating and amusing intro to this Fox
Classic. The day concluded with a screening of The Guns of Navarone, shown for the first time in a 4k
print. Again patrons were experiencing a much improved presentation of this war
movie classic. This was introduced by Author Brian Hannan who has just written
two books: The Making of the Guns of Navarone and
The Making of Lawrence of Arabia.
The
final day Monday showed the marathon feature Gettysburg over two parts which was introduced by
Dr. Sheldon Hall.
The
Bradford 2013 Widescreen festival will go down as one of the best ever, with
improved organisation allowing delegates longer breaks between features and
also arguably for the first time ever, ran pretty much to schedule!
Ably
organised by Bill Lawrence and Duncan McGregor patrons seemed very happy with
both the presentation and quality of the features on offer.
Congratulations
to all concerned and roll on 2014.......