“Almost like a real web site”
 

IN7OMM.COM
Search | Contact
News | e-News
Rumour Mill | Stories
Foreign Language
Auf Deutsch

WHAT'S ON IN 7OMM?

7OMM FESTIVAL
Karlsruhe | Gentofte
Krnov | Varnsdorf
Banskα Bystrica
Oslo | Bradford

TODD-AO PROCESS
Films | Premiere
People | Equipment
Library | Cinemas
Distortion Correcting
DP70 / AAII Projector
 

VISION, SCOPE & RAMA
1926 Natural Vision
1929 Grandeur
1930 Magnifilm
1930 Realife
1930 Vitascope
1952 Cinerama
1953 CinemaScope
1953 Panavison
1954 VistaVision
1955 Todd-AO
1955 Circle Vision 360
1956 CinemaScope 55
1957 Ultra Panavision 70
1958 Cinemiracle
1958 Kinopanorama
1959 Super Panavision 70
1959 Super Technirama 70
1960 Smell-O-Vision
1961 Sovscope 70
1962
Cinerama 360
1962 MCS-70
1963 70mm Blow Up
1963 Circarama
1963 Circlorama
1966 Dimension 150
1966
Stereo-70
1967 DEFA 70
1967 Pik-A-Movie
1970 IMAX / Omnimax
1974 Cinema 180
1974 SENSURROUND
1976 Dolby Stereo
1984 Showscan
1984 Swissorama
1986 iWERKS
1989 ARRI 765
1990 CDS
1994 DTS / Datasat
2001 Super Dimension 70
2018 Magellan 65

Various Large format | 70mm to 3-strip | 3-strip to 70mm | Specialty Large Format | Special Effects in 65mm | ARC-120 | Early Large Format
7OMM Premiere in Chronological Order

7OMM ON EARTH

Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | Denmark | England | France | Germany | Holland | India | Iran | Israel | Ireland | Mexico | Norway | Poland |  Russia | Spain | Sweden | Turkey | USA |

LIBRARY
7OMM Projectors
People | Eulogy
65mm/70mm Workshop
The 7OMM Newsletter
Back issue | PDF
Academy of the WSW

7OMM NEWS
• 2026 | 2025 | 2024
2023 | 2022 | 2021
2020 | 2019 | 2018
2017 | 2016 | 2015
2014 | 2013 | 2012
2011 | 2010 | 2009
2008 | 2007 | 2006
2005 | 2004 | 2003
2002 | 2001 | 2000
1999 | 1998 | 1997
1996 | 1995 | 1994
 

in70mm.com Mission:
• To record the history of the large format movies and the 70mm cinemas as remembered by the people who worked with the films. Both during making and during running the films in projection rooms and as the audience, looking at the curved screen.
in70mm.com, a unique internet based magazine, with articles about 70mm cinemas, 70mm people, 70mm films, 70mm sound, 70mm film credits, 70mm history and 70mm technology. Readers and fans of 70mm are always welcome to contribute.

Disclaimer | Updates
Support us | Staff
Testimonials
Table of Content
 

 
 
Extracts and longer parts of in70mm.com may be reprinted with the written permission from the editor.
Copyright © 1800 - 2070. All rights reserved.

Visit biografmuseet.dk about Danish cinemas

 

"Orpheus in the Underworld" In DEFA 70
Introduction at the 1999 Bradford Film Festival

This article first appeared in
..in 70mm
The 70mm Newsletter

Written by: Ingolf Vonau, Berlin, GermanyIssue 57 - June 1999
Mr. Ingolf Vonau seen here in 2001. Picture by Thomas Hauerslev

The film that you are about to see was the last 70mm production in East Germany. After 7 feature films and 2 documentaries this production line came to an end. Why did the East German film company DEFA decide to film in 70mm? The DEFA 70mm story is primarily a political one. After the building of the Berlin Wall, East German officials hoped to gain economic independence from the West, and, in the process, to surpass the West as well. This meant that the East constantly had to compare itself with the West. State and party head Walter Ulbricht challenged his country to attain "world class" quality. And world class quality in film production meant 70mm. Several people at DEFA, above all Andrew Thorndike, toyed with the idea of creating an East German 70mm film industry. Not only politics, but also a love of film-making influenced this decision. With this idea, Thorndike wanted to lure viewers away from television, and bring them back into the cinema.

Where some DEFA films only attracted audiences by giving away free tickets, Thorndike wanted the public to choose to see its own country's major film productions as they did when they flocked to see select Western films. In the 1960s, for example, "My Fair Lady" was the most popular film in both the East and the West, and set a filmic standard. To cut costs and to increase the potential audience, East German productions needed to be made in cooperation with other Eastern states. It was still uncertain whether East Germany could afford to develop 70mm films. Yet in this case Thorndike's influence with Ulbricht was decisive and overrode the critics. Thus DEFA went ahead with 70mm production, parallel to its normal film schedule. However, today there is not enough time to tell the whole story of DEFA 70mm, so let me focus on today's film. The time for a DEFA musical film in 70mm was at hand, although DEFA did have an earlier music tradition. Excited by the possibilities of the new format, director Horst Bonnet accepted the project of a musical film offered him by DEFA. As a theater director, he was a man of the stage.

Since 1961, he had directed various productions at all East Berlin music venues. His main speciality included the works of Jacques Offenbach. In Nazi Germany, Offenbach's music had been black-listed, but it experienced a Renaissance in East Germany, particularly due to the productions of director Walter Felsenstein. Bonnet assisted Felsenstein with some of these staging's. He greatly enjoyed the irony of Offenbach's works, apparent both in form and content. "Orpheus in the Underworld" took on a special meaning, as Bonnet produced it in the theater many times. In the summer of 1968, his script was ready for filming and production should have started that fall. However, next Horst Bonnet and his wife were arrested and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, for distributing political leaflets in support of Alexander Dubcek in the Prague revolt. 13 months later he was released, following international protest by artists such as Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Luigi Nono and Benjamin Britten among others. He returned to his work as a director, and DEFA called him back for the Orpheus project. Theater director Bonnet learned new aspects of film making from the set designer Alfred Hirschmeier, who helped him transform his theatrical visions into filmic solutions.
 

Further in 70mm reading:

Widescreen Weekend 1999
• Gallery: 1999
• WSW Home
• Through the Years
• The Best of WSW

• Academy of the WSW

• Creating the WSW
• Planning the WSW
• Projecting the WSW
• Home of CINERAMA
• Projecting CINERAMA


• 9. Todd-AO 70mm-Festival 2013
• Oslo 2007 70mm Festival
• Looking for DEFA 70
• DEFA 70 Films


Filming finally began at the end of 1972 and it was clear that this would be the last 70mm production by DEFA. DEFA could not and did not want to afford the enormous costs of such a production any more. In addition, Party Secretary Ulbricht was replaced by Erich Honnecker in 1973. At this time, whoever wanted to advance politically would criticise 70mm productions as a waste of resources. These same people today still believe that DEFA's 70mm experiment was one of the biggest mistakes of the East German film industry. Due to this negative opinion, 70mm prints were archived carelessly. In some cases, no 70mm prints exist, as officials believed that 35mm was more than sufficient.

The only 70 mm print of "Orpheus in the Underworld" that exists today is the one you are about to see. Unfortunately, in the first reel, the section that immediately follows the credits was so badly damaged that it had to be removed. Despite this, and in order to give you a full impression, we will show the damaged section first, but in 35mm mono sound. This is the section that begins directly after the credits. After that we will start the 70mm version, so that you can see as much as possible. You will see where the damaged section was. The director told me that he had a lot of fun making this film, I hope you have as much fun watching the film. Enjoy the show.
 
 
  
Go: back - top - back issues
Updated 28-07-24