Technical innovation has always been on the move in the film business. After all the art form is itself a technical marvel.
In its purest form from the mind of its creators Edison and the Lumiere Bros – it was a visual medium, a moving image in black and white. Changes going forward attempted to make it more life-like.
These early films could be colorized one tone per section (e.g. a scene tinted blue for nite), or even undergo the arduous task of frame by frame coloring. Then two-strip, and three strip Technicolor enriched the experience. Other labs added their own color processes later.
And there were the screen sizes – a one time experiment in the thirties – finally came of age in the 50s with the intro of wide screen processes VistaVision and Panavision. The advancements maxed out under Cinerama.
In film the sound barrier is the general grand division when discussing its history – before and after “talkies.” Before – dialogue was on cue cards placed between scenes; and music was provided by either a live orchestra, or more commonly the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
Early sound first came in the form of a phonograph disk that would play in sync with the film image. (Emphasis on – tried to keep in sync). The great advance came when they figured out how to record it visually, to place it on the edge of the actual film being projected. Much easier to keep in sync.
The 50s brought multi channel tracks placed on a magnetic tape section on the film being projected. And a higher fidelity (all the buzz back then). But the image on film was still the workhorse.
The 70s marked an interesting blip in the history of sound in film with the introduction of Sensurround by Universal Studios. They came up with special speakers that covered the lower (bass) register of the sound spectrum – the oscillations were so low that objects in the auditorium would vibrate.
Their first film in the process was released before Thanksgiving in 1974 – Earthquake with an all-star cast (headlined by Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner). It gave a whole new dimension to the current hot genre – the disaster film. And it did not disappoint business-wise. Universal easily made back its 7 million dollar budget.
My Dad played it first run at the GCC Renton Village Cinema 1 and 2 in Renton WA. It pulled in an audience for three solid months from the Seattle area. This is where we caught up with the film.
My father explained that some seats had to be taken out of the rows down front to make way for the special speakers in their rather large cabinets that were placed in front of the signature GCC letterbox screen.
The effect was impressive. The rumble come earthquake time was not only audible, but visceral. We could feel yourself as well as the seats shaking.
There were only a handful more films that were released using this technology:
Midway – 1976
Rollercoaster – 1977
Battlestar Galactica – 1978 (the TV series pilot which was released theatrically).
Cylon Attack – 1979 (another Battlestar Galactica offering)
Zoot Suit – 1980
Of these, I only recall seeing Midway and Rollercoaster.