4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
don't waste 20.00 on this, January 11, 2007
This review is from: CinemaScope One: STUPENDOUS IN 'SCOPE (Paperback)
Anxious to learn more about the Cinemascope process, I finally broke down and purchased this book. What a waste of money. The entire first section (most of the book) is only a bunch of reviews, and bad ones at that (ie: "Auntie Mame was a failure as a film" ...come on it's one of the best transfers to film from a Broadway show and beloved). Then the 2nd section contains reproductions of posters from films and looks like it was printed on an old mimeograph machine, awful black and white reproductions, which are hazy and worn. The information on each film doesn't even tell if the film was mono, or 4 track stereo, and there is NO history on the process anywhere in the book. I am going to sell mine immediately, even before I even read any further.
This is quite sad, since the authors had a great opportunity to tell about the process, how it came to be, what was involved in the process from a tech point of view, how it was developed, and to show some quality posters with a good printing. If I wanted bad reviews and cheezy poster reproductions, I could have had this for free on websites (websites offer better poster reproductions. What a sad loss, it could have been a great book for widescreen process film fans. I will definately not be buying the 2nd and 3rd books. Too bad Amazon doesn't allow for a zero star rating.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
CinemaScope One, September 8, 2005
This review is from: CinemaScope One: STUPENDOUS IN 'SCOPE (Paperback)
I knew I was in trouble when the very first movie I turned to (Apache Rifels) was never made in CinemaScope, or any other anamorphic process. (There were other non-Scope titles included, too.)
This is an amateurish hodge podge of "reviews" of various movies printed in large type. No rhyme nor reason. For those who are interested there are some poorly reproduced posters in back of the book. Again, a number that were never in Scope.
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0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
CinemaScope One, Stupendous in 'Scope Is Just That!, July 5, 2004
This review is from: CinemaScope One: STUPENDOUS IN 'SCOPE (Paperback)
The following 5-star review by editor, Ross Adams, is adapted from the August 2010 print issue of "Dress Circle", the Movie Enthusiasts and Collectors Magazine:
Like John Howard Reid's other books in this series ("Cinemascope Two: 20th Century Fox" and "CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge"), "CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope" is a worthy addition to your library and no doubt will become a collector's item in years to come.
As usual, JHR gives a thorough insight to almost every piece of information sought by the collector and historian. In this edition, he reviews 95 movies. He not only covers well-known and loved movies such as "Auntie Mame, "Pal Joey", "Star Wars", "23 Paces to Baker Street", "Comanche Station", "Hombre", "Manhattan", "Man of the West", "McCabe and Mrs Miller", "Pal Joey", "The Swan", "Three Faces of Eve", "23 Paces to Baker Street", "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and "Wreck of the Mary Deare", but a large number of less familiar titles.
The last 36 pages contain reproductions of lobby cards and posters. These were produced in an era when the film companies employed "real" and intelligent artists to design their publicity.
Many of the films reviewed in this book are now available to hire or buy on DVD.
John also lists Fox's first 20 CinemaScope shorts. There is also (under an amusing review of "You Lucky People") an outline of the various 'Scope processes.
Finally, it's surprising to find how many of these movies have alternative titles. This is yet another feature that makes this excellent JHR guide such a valuable edition to a film enthusiast's library.
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