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The picture is loosely held together by a throughline focusing on three generations of the fictional Prescott family. A huge cast of stars includes James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark, Walter Brennan, and many more, each acting out a particular vignette of life on the wild frontier with narration by Spencer Tracy. It's not really a story so much as a visit to the Old West conducted in episodic fashion. 'How the West Was Won' has something of a travelogue sensibility to it as well. The majority of them were travelogue documentaries that showcased the natural and man-made wonders of the world with majestic aerial and point-of-view photography. Less than a dozen films were made in genuine 3-strip format.
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The process was admittedly a gimmick of sorts, designed to lure audiences back to movie theaters by giving them an experience they could never get at home on television. The debut feature 'This is Cinerama' was the highest-grossing film of 1952 despite only playing in a single theater that year. Audiences of the time found its immersive qualities simply sensational. Photographed by an enormous camera with three lenses, a Cinerama film would be displayed using three projectors onto a 146º curved screen that filled a viewer's entire field of vision.
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It is (along with 'The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm') one of only two narrative fiction films shot in the 3-strip Cinerama process intended for projection on a massive curved theatrical screen.Ĭinerama productions were not mere movies. Quite the opposite, 'How the West Was Won' was a big-budget, star-studded co-production between MGM Studios and Cinerama, Inc. Yet the movie was never designed to be viewed in a classroom setting. In many ways, it's the most expensive Social Studies film-strip ever made. The film is more of an illustrated history lesson, a sweeping overview of the title subject told in very broad strokes. 'How the West Was Won' is best approached not as you would a normal movie, in which you might expect well-drawn characters and a compelling storyline with a clearly structured beginning, middle, or end.