This Is Cinerama

The rollercoaster ride on Playland's Atom Smasher was filmed several times using "short ends" and the complete circuit contains two skilfully edited takes. It was directed by Michael Todd Jr.. At the time, Todd was a 21-year-old college student on vacation from Amherst. Apart from salaries, the sequence cost $33 (rental of a station wagon and the cost of bolts to affix the cameras to the rollercoaster). Todd Jr. also directed most of the European footage.

In the otherwise wonderful "America the Beautiful" segment, Yosemite Falls is called Bridal Veil Falls in the narration. Also, the Sierra Nevada mountains are said to be in western California, not eastern, which is their correct location.

There are no opening logos or credits; not even a title. There is a three-minute musical overture before the curtains open, followed by a 12-minute black-and-white prologue narrated by Lowell Thomas. Thomas says the title when he introduces the film process: "Ladies and gentlemen... this is Cinerama!". All of the credits, title included, are at the end of the film.

The film was fully restored in 2011 by the newly re-christened Cinerama Inc. and David Strohmaier from one of the few remaining exhibition prints. The 26-frame-per-second frame rate was slowed to 24-frames-per-second, with the audio pitch-corrected to mask any distortion, resulting in a slightly longer running time. This version was released on a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack by Flicker Alley in the fall of 2012 for the 50th anniversary of the film's release. In 2015, the film was restored for a second time, this time from the original camera negative. Both versions use Strohmaier's patented 'Smilebox' process to keep the curvature of the Cinerama screen.

Edited into La conquête de l'Ouest (1962)