MovieChat Forums > Jailhouse Rock (1957) Discussion > Technical Specs are wrong

Technical Specs are wrong


Jailhouse Rock was NOT filmed in CinemaScope and was NOT filmed with Panavision lenses, although it was RELEASED under the CinemaScope name and Panavision lenses are listed in the on-screen credits.

Process: The process used was a forerunner of today's Super 35 process. It was filmed using spherical lenses at an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 In the printing process, the images were cropped to a height of 2 perforations giving them an aspect ratio of 2.36:1. The images were then stretched vertically to a height of 4 perforations, at which point they conformed to the standard CinemaScope-2 format. In other words, it was a Faux-CinemaScope movie.

Lenses: The lenses used to FILM the movie were NOT Panavision lenses. They were standard lenses from MGM's stock (most likely Bausch & Lomb). Where the Panavision lenses were used was in the vertical stretching used in the PRINTING process. The on-screen credits clearly state "Process Lenses by Panavision". If it had been filmed with Panavision lenses it would not have included the word "Process" in the credits.

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Thanx for the info. It cleared up a few questions I had. Just watching it now on pay TV and it's in 16x9. Guess it was zoomovisioned buy the distributer.

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