The Best of Cinerama
A selection of excerpts from the first Cinerama films.
Basil Wrangell
Ted Tetzlaff
Francis D. Lyon
Andrew Marton
Tay Garnett
Richard Goldstone
Paul Mantz
Otto Lang
Carl Dudley
Walter Thompson
Philippe De Lacy
Robert L. Bendick
Casts & Crew
Lowell Thomas
Also Directed by Basil Wrangell
Cinerama takes you on a South Seas Adventure to tropical islands set like sparkling jewels in dreamy cerulean waters. Thrill to the lure of sunbrowned, luscious maidens and a paradise of coconut palms, coral strand and blue lagoons. Enchanted South Pacific archipelagos beckon with all the beauty and color of a painter’s palette. Stepping stones in the vast expanse of far-away seas, they promise romance, adventure, excitement—an irresistible blend of fascinating people and exotic places.
This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking hands, kissing, and why ships are christened.
A comedy short staring Robert Benchley. He tries to show us how to make our own movies.
Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's armed forces and how well-equipped they were to wage war against the U.S. Using animation, the first part of this film dispels these rumors by showing that the U.S. had more raw materials and more fighting ships. The narrator also cautions moviegoers against spreading rumors (which are often initiated by enemy infiltrators to create fear and dissention) and believing everything they read in the newspapers. Just because "they say" something, that doesn't make it true.
One of two Philo Vance mystery movies released by PRC.
An FBI agent goes undercover to investigate the sabotage of American cargo ships.
Joe Doakes tries to take a day off.
Up-and-coming Hollywood actor/crooner, Vic Morton, has a secret. He starts receiving death threats in the mail and an attempt on his life is made. Soon after, two of his associates are murdered. Who is behind it all?
Joe Doakes, like most men, is unable to cope with personal emergencies or those in a position of authority (real or imagined).
A lecturer tells the audience that it is National Take Care Week. He tells the story of a man who gets stung in his garden and the problems the man has when he seeks treatment at the doctor's office.
Also Directed by Ted Tetzlaff
Treasury Department officials recruit a florist (Raft) to lead them to a wanted criminal (Macready); but once he gets too close, he finds he's the hunted.
Mountain climbers in the Swiss Alps mull over past problems while trying to conquer a perilous peak.
A movie-making publicity man screwball comedy about a movie producer who wants to create publicity for his latest project. He decides to have three men pose as spies, disrupting the opening, but things don't go quite as planned...there are actual spies also present!
A cop-turned-bail bondsman gets involved in a murder investigation.
A convicted racketeer becomes prison trustee when an inmate whom he persuaded to escape is killed.
Young David, orphaned en route to California, falls into the hands of medicine-show rascal Baltimore Dan. Years later, now a trained thief, he's adopted by eccentric 'Doc' Brown, retired miner and pharmacist. Doc and David become fast friends in their scenic outdoor rambles. But when they discover a hidden treasure, the idyllic interlude gives way to more troubles and a strange coincidence.
An American gunslinger kills a Mexican man in California immediately after the Mexican-American war. The killer is arrested and put on trial for murder with the Hispanic population waiting to learn of American justice.
An imaginative boy who frequently makes things up witnesses a murder, but can't get his parents or the police to believe him. The only people taking him seriously are the killers - who live upstairs, know that he saw what they did, and are out to permanently silence him.
Former child star Jackie Cooper headlines this sentimental behind-the-scenes comedy drama. He plays an ex-child star who now jerks sodas for a living in Hollywood. He gets back into the movie business when he overhears a conversation between producers discussing their newest prodigy. Cooper butts in and suggests the producers remake Skippy (a real-life 1931 film that made young Cooper a star). The bigwigs like the idea and then hire Cooper to become the boy's acting coach. Once back on the backlot, Cooper finds both trouble and romance while helping the young boy adjust to life as a movie star.
Also Directed by Francis D. Lyon
Cinerama takes you on a South Seas Adventure to tropical islands set like sparkling jewels in dreamy cerulean waters. Thrill to the lure of sunbrowned, luscious maidens and a paradise of coconut palms, coral strand and blue lagoons. Enchanted South Pacific archipelagos beckon with all the beauty and color of a painter’s palette. Stepping stones in the vast expanse of far-away seas, they promise romance, adventure, excitement—an irresistible blend of fascinating people and exotic places.
Seeking a new place to call home, former Confederate soldier Ben Lassiter (Victor Mature) and his daughter meet Beth (Elaine Stewart), whose fiancé is a Union soldier. Lassiter falls for Beth, and when Indians attack, they head to a cavalry camp where Lassiter must battle the Indians as well as Beth's fiancé.
After his wife dies in childbirth, a doctor (Joel McCrea) settles down in the small Oklahoma town of Cherokee Wells to raise his newborn daughter. Unfortunately, not all the citizens there are hospitable, especially when the doctor hires a pretty Indian teenager (Gloria Talbott) as his child's nanny. Directed by Francis D. Lyon and released in 1957, this western also stars Barbara Hale, Brad Dexter, Verna Felton, Esther Dale, Douglas Dick, Michael Pate, Sheb Wooley, Ray Teal, Mimi Gibson and Anthony Caruso.
An undercover agent takes the job of sheriff in order to find the men responsible for a series of stagecoach robberies.
A futuristic underwater sea-lab is having problems with a UFO that's parked between them and a nearby deep ocean trench. As they investigate, they attract the unwanted attention of a dangerous creature who puts the scientists and crew in danger.
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
While stationed in Asia, six American G.I.'s witness the secret ritual of Lamians (worshipers of women who can change into serpents). When discovered by the cult, the High Lamian Priest vows that "the Cobra Goddess will avenge herself". Once back in the United States, a mysterious woman enters into their lives and accidents begin to happen. The shadow of a cobra is seen just before each death.
The story of the life and career of football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch (who plays himself).
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
A runaway truck containing the corpse of a slain gang leader rolls into a California nightclub owned by Johnny Cain, a hard bitten former free-lance adventurer. The gang threatens to kill Johnny, unless he solves the murder. The CIA also investigates - because it turns out that the slaying was part of a long-range Communist plan to take over the crime syndicate. Cain's search for clues leads him into a maze of beautiful girls, mysterious Oriental statues and murderous spies.
Also Directed by Andrew Marton
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"
M-G-M presents the heroic story of what happened to the MEN OF THE FIGHTING LADY
Jeff Elliot is an American GI investigating a black market gang in Munich.
Set in the coffee fields of Colombia, Green Fires stars Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly. Granger plays emerald prospector Rian X. Mitchell, who intends to explore an old deserted mine despite the protests of his partner Vic Leonard Paul Douglas and the threat of death at the hands of local bandit El Moro Murvyn Vye. Ms. Kelly costars as Catherine Knowland, whose coffee plantation lies at the foot of the mine where Mitchell labors away. Such natural disasters as rain and flood, coupled with such man-made weapons of destruction as guns and dynamite, continually thwart Mitchell's search for riches.
In this trans-species remake of Lassie, Come Home, a faithful horse undertakes a perilous journey to return to the family it loves.
Secret of Stamboul is a 1936 British thriller film, taken from the novel The Eunuch of Stamboul by Dennis Wheatley, directed by Andrew Marton and starring Valerie Hobson, James Mason and Frank Vosper. A British agent (Mason) travels to Istanbul (Stamboul) to try and thwart a revolution.
A child from the New York tenements sings on a radio quiz show and is eventually hired to a big-bucks contract, which allows her and her family to move into a posh apartment, with all the usual problems that accompany sudden wealth.
A couple of lonesome wives, Marion Carter and Diana Cheswick fall for philanderer Leonard Drummon, and arrange to get their husbands, Geoffrey Carter and Morgan Cheswick, off to Paris so they can be free for one night of fun and frolic. The husbands are all for this as they think it will cure their wives of being infatuated with this man-about-town. And they might run into some fun in Paris. Actually, the philanderer is the one who put the idea in their heads to go away so the coast will be clear for his marauding raid party, with no intentions of curing anybody of anything.
Set in the 14th century. Under their leader Timur, the Tartar hordes invade the Middle East and take over areas as widespread as Persia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Syria. A lowly woman from a harem (Lubna Aziz) rises to lead the Egyptians against the invaders.
When a native village is apparently terrorized by a Lion, the local sergeant enlists the help of a veterinarian working at a nearby animal study center. It is soon discovered that the Lion has a unique problem, it has double vision due to the fact that it is cross eyed and therefore cannot hunt. The Lion is taken back to the study center and is soon adopted by the vet's daughter. Meanwhile, a dangerous criminal is planning to capture young Gorillas and sell them on the black market...
Also Directed by Tay Garnett
While husband Tim is away during World War II, Anne Hilton copes with problems on the homefront. Taking in a lodger, Colonel Smollett, to help make ends meet and dealing with shortages and rationing are minor inconveniences compared to the love affair daughter Jane and the Colonel's grandson conduct.
John (Alan Ladd), a blacksmith and swordsmith, is tutored at Camelot. As a commoner, he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet (Patricia Medina), daughter of the Earl of Yeoniland (Harry Andrews), so he creates a secret alternate identity as the Black Knight. In this new role, he is now able to help King Arthur when Saracens and Cornish men—disguised as Vikings -- plot to take over the country.
During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way.
Johnny Casar runs away from the orphanage to start a successful career as a roller skater and after setbacks learns to curb his ruthlessness and ambition.
When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are engaged. Suddenly he's front page news, every salesman is at his doorstep, and he loses his job. A series of misadventures ensues with him alternately back on his job and fired and her ex-fiance showing up. Can an heiress be a human being, and can a reporter get a scoop?
A bump on the head sends Hank Martin, 1912 mechanic, to Arthurian Britain, 528 A.D., where he is befriended by Sir Sagramore le Desirous and gains power by judicious use of technology. He and Alisande, the King's niece, fall in love at first sight, which draws unwelcome attention from her fiancée Sir Lancelot; but worse trouble befalls when Hank meddles in the kingdom's politics.
Anita, engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo. Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a lengthy world tour. But Anita is annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, and his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. And forget her plan to retire to a farmhouse. Eventually, she has had enough and disappears.
Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!
A woman joins her fiance at a Malaysian prison camp only to discover he's become an alcoholic.
A sex worker yearns to leave the grimy underground community she was born into, and sees her way out through a sympathetic sailor.
Also Directed by Richard Goldstone
An anniversary celebration of the stars and moments that made Warner Bros. what it is today.
Cinerama takes you on a South Seas Adventure to tropical islands set like sparkling jewels in dreamy cerulean waters. Thrill to the lure of sunbrowned, luscious maidens and a paradise of coconut palms, coral strand and blue lagoons. Enchanted South Pacific archipelagos beckon with all the beauty and color of a painter’s palette. Stepping stones in the vast expanse of far-away seas, they promise romance, adventure, excitement—an irresistible blend of fascinating people and exotic places.
The true story of George Tweed, an American sailor who became the only serviceman on the island of Guam to avoid capture by the Japanese during the early years of World War II.
Also Directed by Otto Lang
Felony Squad is a half-hour television crime drama originally broadcast on the ABC network from September 12, 1966 to January 31, 1969, a span encompassing seventy-three episodes.
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.
Oscar nominated short film from 1954
Cinerama documentary
The Rough Riders is an American Western television series set in the West after the American Civil War. It aired on ABC for the 1958-1959 television season. It was produced by Ziv Television, the production company responsible for such hit shows as Bat Masterson, Tombstone Territory, Sea Hunt, and Highway Patrol.
World Of Giants is an American spy-fi television series that aired from September 5 until November 28, 1959.
Oscar nominated short film from 1954
Mackenzie's Raiders is an American Western television series starring Richard Carlson that aired thirty-nine episodes in syndication from 1958 to 1959. The series was narrated by Art Gilmore.
The first travelogue released by Twentieth Century-Fox in CinemaScope, produced and directed by Otto Lang, is a photographic record of a journey from Milan to Naples, through Florence and Rome, on a streamlined passenger train. En route, the film takes time out in the cities mentioned to take a look at the landmarks---past and present---with the climax on the edge of Vesuvius' smoldering crater.
Also Directed by Carl Dudley
Cinerama takes you on a South Seas Adventure to tropical islands set like sparkling jewels in dreamy cerulean waters. Thrill to the lure of sunbrowned, luscious maidens and a paradise of coconut palms, coral strand and blue lagoons. Enchanted South Pacific archipelagos beckon with all the beauty and color of a painter’s palette. Stepping stones in the vast expanse of far-away seas, they promise romance, adventure, excitement—an irresistible blend of fascinating people and exotic places.
1948 production for teh Seaboard Railroad company outlining their railroad activities in the 1940s and heading into the 1950s
This documentary explores the history of the railroads In America and their potential role in the post war era.
In this short film, champion fisherman Ernie St. Claire tries to catch a large salmon in Oregon's Rogue River.
Also Directed by Philippe De Lacy
Two couples, one from St. Louis and one from Switzerland each go to the other's country and travel around.