American Cinematographer - April 2009 - (Page 54) An Epic 20th Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive partner with The Film Foundation to digitally restore The Robe, the first CinemaScope release. by David Heuring Endeavor artin Scorsese can still vividly recall his first impression of The Robe, the 20th Century Fox production that ushered in the CinemaScope format in 1953. “I’ll never forget going to see The Robe on its initial release,” he tells AC. “I sat there, and the curtains kept opening wider and wider and wider. None of us, not me or anyone else in the audience, was prepared for the experience, and it changed the movies forever.” CinemaScope’s original aspect ratio was 2.55:1, and at the time it was introduced, audiences were accustomed to seeing images on the silver screen in 1.33:1 or 1.37:1. M Through his involvement in The Film Foundation, a non-profit that he and several other prominent filmmakers founded in 1990, Scorsese recently had an opportunity to play a role in restoring The Robe to its original splendor. When 20th Century Fox partnered with the Academy Film Archive to digitally restore the movie, The Film Foundation helped finance the project. By all accounts, the work, carried out by Lowry Digital and Audio Mechanics, was painstaking. The poor condition of the surviving elements pushed existing digital tools to their limits and, in some cases, beyond, necessitating the develop- 54 April 2009
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