I first saw Cinerama features on a boat trip to Europe in 1964. They were HOW THE WEST WAS WON, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, and my personal favorite THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (I later saw KRAKATOA: EAST OF JAVA in a theater). It was a German liner that showed the 3 Cinerama features alternated with 3 German Edgar Wallace features (along with “grown up” movies I wasn’t supposed to see) over the course of the 6 day journey. These were probably the commercial releases as opposed to the actual 3 screen versions but they were the biggest movies I had ever seen and the traveling camera shots (the train in WEST, the carriage in GRIMM) were overwhelming. I had heard of the travelogues like this one and THIS IS CINERAMA but I never saw them. When Flicker Alley sent me an advance copy of this to review, I was positively delighted as it brought back memories of my shipboard experiences.
Made in 1957, SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD shows us a very different world than the one we have today. A world that seemed so much larger, places that were so much farther away and oh so exotic! The opening shots of flying out of New York City down the Hudson River (in a special Pan Am 4 propeller Clipper) give you the best visual idea I have ever seen of just how big NYC is and this was over 60 years ago. But that’s only the beginning. After a brief stop in Rio, it’s over to Asia to visit Japan, Cambodia, and India with an extended sequence involving a runaway train in Darjeeling (to show off the Cinerama camerawork). Then to Africa to see Watusi warriors in the then Belgian Congo and then a sequence in Saudi Arabia with pipelines in the desert which is more than interesting in retrospect considering the situation in the Middle East today. The film ends in Rome with a tour of the Vatican and a special blessing from then Pope Pius XII who is now a controversial figure because of the Holocaust.
As with all Cinerama productions, the cinematography is breathtaking. The restoration in the Smilebox technology captures the curved look of the original presentation though even the biggest flatscreen TV won’t do it justice but remember, size isn’t everything. Just to be able to see the world as it once was and to hear producer-narrator Lowell Thomas’ commentary, which varies from informative to colonial to downright sexist on occasion, is a historical record in itself and tells us a lot about where we were in 1957 and how the World and our attitudes have changed. The price tag will appear steep to some and compared to your average DVD/Blu Ray, it is, but when you consider that you get a Blu/Ray, 2 DVDs (one of bonus features), a reproduction of the original booklet (although the print is very small and requires magnification) then the price isn’t so bad after all. An absolute must for anyone interested in cinema technique and/or world history.
The Capsule Critic 