MovieChat Forums > The King and I (1956) Discussion > GRANDEUR 70

GRANDEUR 70

posted 18 years ago by justoldbill
1 reply | jump to latest

I just read a consumer comment on the Amazon.co.uk website noting that the new DVD of THE KING AND I is not a "roadshow" presentation in that it does not have an Overture, Intermission and Exit Music like the original DVD release, so that if you want that version, hold onto the original DVD release. Thankfully, this means that the film is now being given to us in it's original form. The original release, like the CinemaScope OKLAHOMA!, was not a "Roadshow" presentation.

The original DVD release reflects, I believe, the 1961 "Grandeur 70" re-release, even though the Fox credit reads "CinemaScope 55". "Grandeur 70" was a process decompressing the CinemaScope image onto a 70mm negative. I was never entirely happy with the "roadshow" aspect of the original DVD. The Overture, Intermission, and Exit Music are actually pieces of the film's underscoring, and not original compositions. It will be nice to have the film back to it's original format.

[–] bgoleary-1 17 years ago

Grandeur 70 was actually a format designed in 1930. The aspect ratio was supposed to be 2.13:1. However it was not used because the cameras were big and very noisy. When equipped with noise-reduction tents, they were even more unwieldy. The process was shelved.

When Fox decided to re-release "The King and I" in 1961 they decided to produce prints that optically conformed to their (then) 31 year-old Grandeur 70 specification. One advantage of using 70mm prints was that they could use the movie's original 6-channel sterophonic soundtrack rather than downmix it to the 4-channel format used by CinemaScope. 6-channel sound had become the de facto standard for 70mm by the end of the 1950's. (The original CinemaScope 55 spec included a 55mm print with a 6-channel soundtrack, but Fox never used that part of the spec.) Also, no new projection lenses would be required since theatres with 70mm projection equipment already had the required projection lenses.

The disadvantage was that the images would have to be cropped on the left and right sides to reduce the aspect ratio from its uncompressed 2.55:1 to 2.13:1.

Even with the cropping, there was a significant optical reduction of the image on the negative required to produce the non-anamorphic 70mm prints (38% of both height and cropped width), but it was less severe than the 50% reduction in both height and width required to produce the original 35mm anamorphic CinemaScope prints.

Note: Even if Fox had produced the originally planned 55mm prints for their CinemaScope 55 movies, optical reduction would have been required in the print-making process to make room for the soundtrack because the image on the negative used the full available width of the film.

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