The History of Immersive Sound in Cinema - Text 4
The Twentieth Century Fox four-track magnetic sound process for 35 mm CinemaScope prints quickly proved costly and complex to use for everyday exhibition. And yet it was the only immersive sound process designed for large-scale use. It must be pointed out that the process offered to all the major studios consisted in using prints recorded with four magnetic tracks, which made possible three-channel stereophonic sound from the stage as well as rear sound effects. Together, all the equipment necessary was relatively costly, and many exhibitors refused to install it. Fox then quickly offered more economical solutions, such as a two-track system – one for the stage and one for the rear sounds. Small movie theatres, for their part, installed only monophonic equipment. In the end, Fox’s original solution was rarely used.
The same was not true of the 70 mm process, which was to become, with the exception of a few rare cases, the only system with which it was possible to extend the audiovisual experience by means of immersive sound until the arrival of Dolby sound in 1977 and its subsequent widespread use. In most 70 mm processes, such as Todd-AO, 65 mm was reserved for the image and 5 mm for the sound. Among the most significant 70 mm productions, we could single out films such as Michael Anderson’s Around the World in 80 Days in 1956, William Wyler’s Ben-Hur in 1959, Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus in 1960, Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s West Side Story in 1961, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 and George Cukor’s My Fair Lady in 1964, to mention only those few, each with a remarkable immersive soundtrack. We should also note the importance granted to immersive sound by MGM with the release of Ben-Hur, shot with the MGM Camera 65 system (later to become Ultra Panavision 70 and then Super Panavision 70). MGM had established a long and impressive list of specifications, such as the installation of a sufficient number of rear speakers. It also issued directives with respect to the volume level, stipulated the right to inspect the quality of the equipment, offered reinforcement for the lower frequencies, etc.
