John V Watson

From Polyvision to CinemaScope John V Watson

ILLUSTRATED. This book, the first in a series about the History of Widescreen in the Cinema, describes the development of widescreen in the cinema, briefly, from the earliest days of this new and exciting innovation. It then covers the use of the panorama by D. W. Griffith in 1915, the introduction of "Magnascope" by Fox in 1926, the significant use of the three-screen technique by Able Gance in 1927, and finally the launch of several wide-film/widescreen systems by Hollywood studios in the brief period, from 1929 to 1931. A detailed Filmography is then provided by the book of the fourteen wide-film/widescreen films made by Hollywood studios in that short time frame of three years, and why this innovative move was so short-lived and consequently failed. But the wide-film/widescreen concept was not to die; as events transpired, it was merely to lay dormant for what became a time interval of just over two decades.