Grauman's Chinese: VistaVision at the 2025 TCM Festival

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Two 8 perf horizontal Century VistaVision projectors were installed in the upper level of the booth at the Chinese for the April 26 TCM Film Festival screenings of the Paramount releases "We're No Angels" (July 1955) and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (May 1957). The films never had theatrical screenings in the 8 perf format. The VistaVision frame is 1.472" x 0.997" = 1.4675 sq. inches. 5 perf 70mm is 1.912" x 0.87" = 1.6634 sq. inches.

The sound was digital, run via Pro Tools tracks synched to the projectors. For "Angels" it was a digital version of the original three-channel Perspecta format, a process favored by Paramount using a mono optical track with low frequency control tones (30, 35 and 40 Hz) to direct the sound to the left, center or right stage speakers. "O.K. Corral" was mono. Ahead of each feature, run on a separate reel, was an 8 perf trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another."  

 

The logo hits the screen. Thanks to Chris Willman for the photo. It's one that appears with "How VistaVision Made an Unlikely Comeback at the TCM Film Festival...," his April 29 article for Variety.  

 

It was an installation by Boston Light and Sound, Inc. Firm founder Chapin Cutler notes that the two machines for the Chinese installation were among the six prototypes built by Century Projector Corp. Two went to the Radio City Music Hall, two went to the Warner Beverly Hills, two went to the Paramount lot. These were quick rebuilds of Century Model Cs. Sound for early engagements of "White Christmas" was a Perspecta optical track run on a separate machine. In addition to the six prototypes, about two dozen of the later version of the horizontal machines were manufactured. Boston Light and Sound found this pair in Dallas in 1984.

 

Thanks to Sean McKinnon for sharing photos of the setup being tested in the company's shop. He's the Department Manager for AV Integration & Specialty Presentations. Thomas Piccione was the engineer for the project and also was the operator for the shows at the Chinese. Before the equipment was installed Sean had noted: 

 

"We will be using 7kw xenon lamps for an image size of 55 ft wide by 30 ft tall both features are 1.85:1. The tracks are actually digital and these are newer prints struck for Blu-ray transfer in the early 2000s. So… while this is a 3 channel presentation the prints don’t actually have track on them. They are being run from a Pro Tools system via encoders on the projectors. 

 

"We will put 1/2 the feature on each reel so there will only be one changeover. This is to eliminate the risk of losing sync with the encoders that are sending pulses to generate timecode for the soundtrack. The original tracks were decoded on an original Perspecta unit at End Point Audio by Nicholas Bergh and recorded/sync’d for our playback."

 

 

In the shop: 

 

 

 

Running a faded test reel on machine #1. The lamps are Strong Ultra 80s. Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

A view to the rear of the "screening room." Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

A closer look at machine #1, taken from the previous shot. The machines are driven by toothed belts from motors on variable speed drives. The glowing boxes are internally illuminated 3-D printed control pendants that can be positioned as required. The one down near the floor has a changeover button. The one sitting up on the base is for motor control. Sean comments:

 

"Thomas Piccione, our chief engineer on the project, modified these pedestals so that incoming power would enter the pedestal via twistlock and power the motor controller and various low voltage electronics. The output from the motor controller to the motor is also quick connect via twistlock.

"Projector to projector changeover connection and control panel pendants all plug into the front of the pedestals with different connectors to avoid any mistakes and make this temporary install as much of a plug and play affair as possible."

 

 

 

These are first generation VistaVision machines, perhaps the heads that went to Radio City Music Hall. Sean notes: "They are prototype serial numbers CV-10081 and CV-10082, effectively 1 and 2." Thanks to Thomas Piccione for the shots of the nameplates. He adds: "There were only 6 of these prototypes ever made, model 'CV,' serial numbers 10081-10086, '1008' for prototype 8 perf. The production machines were model 'DD2,' and did not have the 1008 prefix on their serial numbers."

 

 

Another angle. That's the takeup side closest to us. Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

A detail of the transport system taken from the image above. Sean notes that it's a Kinoton SPT 5000 spool tower. Thomas Piccione comments: 

 

"The full print of 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' is over 22,000 feet long. The reels pictured have a capacity of 17,000 feet. It definitely wouldn't fit on one of those, and while it might physically fit on a Christie AW3 platter, you'd be at the absolute limit; and also asking it to run twice as fast as normal. Not a recipe for success."

 

 

A detail of the head, taken from the wider view. Over to the left note the shutter housing removed on machine #2.

 

 

Looking down on the head from the feed side. "V I S T A - Century - V I S I O N." Well, that's not quite authentic. Boston Light and Sound did the door -- these prototypes didn't originally have any. Photo: BL&S Inc. Sean comments about that round device on top of the shutter housing: 

"Ah… that is a custom retrofit of a Kinoton changeover from a 70mm 'e' machine. The big grey cylinder is a solenoid with a custom Century red 'manual' knob added. Since these were prototypes and used primarily for dailies work the original changeovers are long gone. We had to design and fabricate these custom, including the bracket that holds the mechanism on the inside and the cover between the rear of the projector and the lamphouse."

 

 

 

Thanks to Thomas Piccione for this great shot of machine #2. His photo appeared with "'The Brutalist' Revives Interest in VistaVision, a Format with an Aesthetic All Its Own, at TCM Festival," an April 21, 2025 Indiewire article by Bill Desowitz. Note the oil gauge for the intermittent movement mounted on the front of the head. The article notes: 

"... to pull off these special screenings, Boston Light & Sound’s Cutler needed a pair of working VistaVision projectors. Fortunately, he had them, which he found in 1984 in a boneyard in Dallas, Texas. Cutler’s hope back then was to publicly screen 'Vertigo' in VistaVision for its celebrated re-release by Universal Classics. 'They actually sent me reel one of "Vertigo," which we ran in our shop but never on a big screen... So, for me and my company, this is a bucket list event.'"

Sean comments: "With real VistaVision film running. The plate installed hasn’t been fully filed yet. We made a run of a few dozen plates for these machines at our shop in Boston." Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

Machine #1 in action again. Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

The equipment racks. Sync with the projectors is via bi-phase shaft encoders in the machines. Photo: BL&S Inc.

 

 

A closer look at rack #1. That's a spare intermittent in the coffee cup. The machines in the 50s had problems with the Century intermittents and they got replaced with Brenkerts. Sean notes:  

 

"The Brenkert intermittents have been replaced due to a lack of spares. They have modified Century A movements in them."

 

A rack #2 detail taken from the larger image. Included are a USL CM Series Monitor/Crossover, a  Dolby Digital Media Adaptor, a CP 750 processor and an Ashly mixer.

The frame on a BL&S Vista Vision test loop. In the center: "VistaVision FRAME APERTURE 1.85:1. BOSTON LIGHT & SOUND, INC." The black arrows at top and bottom show the .771" height. 

 

 

 

The test frame on the screen at the BLSI shop. 

 

 

In the booth at the Chinese: 

 

 

The machines in place in the upper level of the booth at the Chinese. But the Kinoton towers hadn't been unpacked at the time of this shot. Thanks to Sean McKinnon of Boston Light & Sound for the April 21 photo. 

 

 Looking over to machine #2 -- and the stairs down. Photo: BL&S Inc. - April 21

 

 

Machine #1 almost ready for action. Photo: BL&S Inc. - April 21

 

 

A closer look at the head, taken from the previous photo. Note the custom douser assembly. 

 

 

Getting a picture on the screen. That's Thomas Piccione, the lead engineer for Boston Light & Sound, at the machine. Photo: BL&S Inc. - April 23

 

 

A detail from the previous image. Thanks, Sean!  

 

 

 

A look to the left side of the booth after machine #1 was adjusted for proper angle. Thanks to Paul Rayton for sharing his April 23 photo. Paul has contributed to the VistaVision section on Thomas Hauerslev's site In70mm.com. See the site's article on Perspecta Stereophonic Sound.

Film going into the feed side of the head. Thanks to Leonard Maltin for sharing this photo in an April 26 Facebook post where he commented: "I have waited more than 30 years to see this with my own eyes: a picture being projected horizontally on a VistaVision projector. All hail Chapin Cutler of Boston Light and Sound and his entire team." The post was widely shared and got many comments on Facebook groups such as Cinema Tour and the private group Friends of 70mm. 

 

 

 

Thomas Piccione at machine #1. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26

 

A look across the head. This is the feed side of the machine at the bottom of the image. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26 

 

The film originally traveled upward from a feed magazine below the head. There was no soundhead on this first batch of six prototype machines. Boston Light and Sound has the original dummy heads for this pair that had sprockets and were positioned above the lower magazine to flip the film from vertical to horizontal and the unit that was mounted above the projection head to change the film back to vertical orientation before it went to the upper takeup magazine.

 

Looking down on the head. Note that it's not just a Century on its back with bigger sprockets installed. These prototypes started as Century C castings flipped horizontally and then rotated 180 degrees. They were re-engineered so that the lens assembly was remounted to be on the opposite side of the head as compared to its original position. Similar work was done on the shutter assembly for it to end up toward the lamp in the head's new orientation. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26

 

A closer look at the film gate and intermittent sprocket. That's the 32 tooth feed sprocket at the bottom of the image, takeup sprocket at the top.  Photo: Bill Counter - April 26 

A look to the right side of the booth with Thomas Larsen, the head operator at the Chinese, at the center. Sean McKinnon, project manager for Boston Light & Sound, is on the right. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26

 

 

Machine #2, ready to be threaded for the evening's screenings. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26 

The logo on the screen at the Chinese. Thanks to Craig Barron for sharing his photo as a comment to a post on the Motion Picture Technology Facebook group. The day before the screenings Craig had done a presentation about the history of the process at the Hollywood Roosevelt with Charlotte Barker, director of film restoration at Paramount. She was at the theatre on the 26th to introduce both films and noted that Paramount has other 8 perf prints in the vaults. 

 

 

A peek in from the lobby during "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." Photo: Bill Counter - April 26

 

 

 

A "Gunfight" vista from the end of the crossaisle. Photo: Bill Counter - April 26

 

A 1954 look down on one of the prototype horizontal VistaVision projectors, perhaps one that was at the Chinese. With 8 perforations per frame, the film speed was twice normal 35mm -- 180 feet per minute. In the early runs of "White Christmas" they were playing the Perspecta optical soundtrack on separate machines. What looks like a soundhead is just a feed sprocket and several rollers. Photo: Mark Gulbrandsen collection.

In the 50s both the Warner Beverly Hills and the Hollywood Paramount got installations of the horizontal machines. See the VistaVision in Los Angeles page for information.  

Gary Meyer comments:

"Chapin Cutler of Boston Light and Sound had wanted to do this for a long time. He had all the equipment necessary, but finally gave up bringing them to Telluride, donating everything to the Eastman house in Rochester, New York. But when he and Chris Robinson convinced the powers that be at the TCM fest, he shipped it all back to Boston and spent considerable time and money restoring them to a full working system and shipped everything to Los Angeles where they have been installed at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The format is legendary among projectionists and buffs, most of whom have never actually seen a proper presentation of the VV classics. The opening logo is always breathtaking as the logo zooms to fill the screen, changing only slightly from the first time to one of the last."

 

Warner Bros. is planning to do a few VistaVision screenings of Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" but theatres and dates haven't been announced. The film was shot in VistaVision and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall. See the In70mm page about the film. 

 

Merchandising the format. Shirts were on sale during the festival at the TCM store in the lobby of the Chinese 6. Thanks to the theatre for sharing the image on the TCL Chinese Theatres Facebook page. 

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