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I happened to attend a screening at the Chineese #2 which was one of the added on theatres next door to the original Chineese, now gone.

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Mann's Chinese #1 is "now gone" ??? WTF!?

I loved the Chinese theatre. When I was a California resident, it was one of my favorite places to see a movie. I would never bash their presentations. In fact, I took a special delight in taking people there for their first time. Always a jaw-dropping experience for the uninitiate.

~Manny (just do it.)

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Re: Rattle and Hum. I too saw it in 35mm Dolby SR. I think it was at the then-new Edwards Hutton Center. This was a THX-certified auditorium. I was really amazed at how good the optical sound was. When everything is working right, SR can be very very good indeed. They had the volume cranked to concert levels, and there was no sign of audible stress on the system...

Re: THX. I've said it before, will say it again. When THX is done right and with care in a movie theater, it really does raise the bar. Sure, there are allegedly-THX-certified theaters that are crappy, but in my experience, most THX theaters make a big contribution to experiencing "film done right".

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Because a smaller screen was installed for DLP, the theatre is no longer THX certified but how is the sound today?

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The El Capitan lost THX certification because much of the barriers behind the screen were removed when the stage was restored to full usage (hangings, riggings, light beams, etc.)

As Michael Coate pointed out, my date for restoration was wrong. It was 5 years ago, not in 1999.

But the article is wrong in several areas. Sleeping Beauty was not filmed in 70 millimeter and three strip Technicolor. It did use Disney's usual 3 primary color exposure system on B&W film with horizontal Technirama cameras. The 70mm prints were of course on standard Eastman printing stock, with 35mm scope prints being IB Technicolor.

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As Michael Coate pointed out, my date for restoration was wrong. It was 5 years ago, not in 1999.

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Sorry to have been so nit-picky about dates. It's just that I find it easy to remember details like that with a film such as SLEEPING BEAUTY because when that 1997 Long Beach one-time-only screening of the new 70mm print was announced I jumped at the chance to attend. You see, I had wanted to see that film in 70mm for many years and had been disappointed on two earlier occasions: 1986 and 1988. (I was born after the original 1959 release, and was living out of the country during its 1979 re-release.) Being a Southern California resident I was disappointed to find that for the 1986 nationwide re-release the New York area was advertising a 70mm engagement but L.A. was 35mm-only. During the fall of 1988, the Cinerama Dome ran a 25th anniversary festival of several films that had played there over the years, SLEEPING BEAUTY being one of them. Due to travel and time contraints I was unable to attend every screening (doesn't that always seem to be the case?) but still somehow managed to attend a few. I passed on SLEEPING BEAUTY because I placed an emphasis on trying to see as many of the films in the fest advertised in 70mm as well as those films shown on "Spielberg Day." Anyway, I was informed after the event that the print they ran of SLEEPING BEAUTY was 70mm. Too bad they didn't advertise it as I would have made an extra effort to attend. (Their screening of BACK TO THE FUTURE from "Spielberg Day" also turned out to be 70mm despite not being noted as such in their ads and programs.) So to make a long story short, I made an extra effort to see SLEEPING BEAUTY in 1997, and was glad I did. Super sharp image...incredibly vibrant color....and since it was a brand new print it wasn't riddled with scratches and splices like too many modern-day 70mm presentations of older films.

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the article quotes a Disney rep that says this is the first time it has played at the El Capitan in 70mm. This may very well be true, but if so, then the ad for a children's matinee earlier this year stating the showing was in 70mm was wrong.

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Unless this upcoming engagement is a NEW and DIFFERENT 70mm print, then it *has* played at the El Capitan previously. It's no surprise that company reps can't get the facts straight. When they ran the film earlier in the year, they mentioned to the audience that that screening was the first time the film had been shown in a theater since 1986. Well, what about the two screenings I mentioned above??? And that's just for Los Angeles; it's bound to have been shown elsewhere on occasion.

By the way when "SLEEPING BEAUTY" was first released in 1959, ABC did something different when they presented a special television program sponsored by Disney. Selected scenes were shown on the program but instead of images panned and scanned, they were 'letterboxed' in the full 2.35.1 aspect ratio. In addition to that, the sound was simulcast on the ABC radio network. To listen to the sound in stereo, an AM radio was required by placing it about five feet to the right of the TV set. If you compared it to to today's stereo on television and radio, the sound was very primitive but it was awesome at the time when I was privileged to watch that special telecast.

-Claude

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The last time I saw "SLEEPING BEAUTY" was about 1979 when the film was released to a lot of theatres with both 35mm and 70mm prints.

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Yes, there was a major re-release that year which included plenty of 70mm prints (there were one or two other re-releases between 1959 and 1979 but I don't recall any 70mm prints being advertised during those releases). Not sure if the '79 re-release was considered a success. Nonetheless, Disney certainly tried to squeeze as much money out of the film as possible by double-billing it with THE BLACK HOLE, which played in several cities at various times throughout 1980 and 81.

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