Ultrascope
Ultrascope was a name introduced in 1955 for an anamorphic film recording process for 35 mm wide-screen films.
background
In the mid-1950s, CinemaScope was the world's most successful brand for anamorphic wide-screen films on 35mm film . In order to use CinemaScope, however, high license fees had to be paid to 20th Century Fox . The Munich-based camera manufacturer Arnold & Richter wanted to deal with this by developing their own system and commissioned the Norwegian Jan Jacobsen to do this. This was possible because the anamorphic process , unlike the CinemaScope brand name, could not be protected.
Jan Jacobsen designed a new anamorphic lens system that shared the same anamorphic factor as the CinemaScope sold by 20th Century Fox. The picture was taken compressed in a 2: 1 ratio when it was taken, so that it could then be shown in the cinema, rectified by an anamorphic lens to the full 2.35: 1 film width . The lenses were manufactured by the Ultra Society for Optics in Munich, from which the name Ultrascope was derived.
The cheaper Ultrascope was first used in Italian productions and in Brazil . It had its most successful period in some of the German film series of the 1960s. The most successful productions included the inexpensive Edgar Wallace films and the lavish Karl May films . Ultrascope was also used in some Scandinavian productions. It was only used sporadically in the USA .
Feature films in Ultrascope (selection)
- 1960: When the heather blooms
- 1961: Buy a colorful balloon
- 1962: The bat
- 1962: The bird dealer
- 1962: Freddy and the song of the South Seas
- 1962: The black-white-red four-poster bed
- 1963: The Endless Night
- 1963: Gripsholm Castle
- 1963: The Black Widow's Secret
- 1964: Our great aunts in the South Seas
- 1964: The last ride to Santa Cruz
- 1964: The golden goddess of the Rio Beni
- 1964: The great freestyle
- 1964: Maibritt, the girl from the islands
- 1964: Lana, Queen of the Amazons
- 1964: Freddy, animals, sensations
- 1965: DM killer
- 1965: The bandits from the Rio Grande
- 1965: The secret of the three junks
- 1966: Hunt for the unknown
- 1966: Three yellow cats
- 1966: In the clutches of the golden dragon
- 1967: The landlady of the Lahn
- 1969: detectives
See also
- Ultrascope films by CCC Filmkunst
- Ultrascope films from Rapid Film
- Ultrascope films the Rialto Film
- Ultrascope films from CTV 72
Web links
- Ultrascope on dvdlog.de
- Ultrascope on filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ WideScreen Format War Begins. American WideScreen Museum, accessed May 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Dream journeys on a broad film tape - Jan Jacobsen. in70mm.com, accessed May 21, 2014 .
- ^ Story of Jan Jacobsen. (No longer available online.) In70mm.com, archived from the original on October 16, 2012 ; accessed on May 21, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The Work of Jan Jacobsen. in70mm.com, accessed May 21, 2014 .
- ^ Film formats. cinematographers.nl, accessed on May 21, 2014 (English).
