Hello!

Great news… here in the midst of 2019’s Blu-ray ‘Summer of Sci-Fi,’ Gary Teetzel sends along news that another must-see Sci-fi classic is on the way, albeit for 2020. That’s Arthur Christiansen up above, a real newspaperman playing a newspaperman for Val Guest. His advice from 1962 really fits the state of journalism today. The movie of course is the great The Day the Earth Caught Fire. I reviewed it a couple of years back on an English disc that’s unfortunately region-locked for Region B. Kino has announced a new 4K restoration is coming here, to Region A, for the election year. I think that’s great timing. What with all the extreme weather and climate change going on, what happens in Caught Fire no longer needs a sci-fi story with nuclear bombs. Weather calamities are now top network news every day.

Gary also directs us to a Wellesnet article that holds out hope for the eventual recovery of the lost Orson Welles cut of The Magnificent Ambersons. It’s basically just a report on search progress, but that’s a darn sight better than nothing. The optimism factor of course increased with the 2008 recovery of a mostly intact 16mm print-down of Metropolis in Argentina. ‘Fairy tales / can come true / it can happen to you…’

And for folks that can get to Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome in September and October, Dave Strohmaier has passed along this fairly exciting screening news — the Dome (the Arclight, actually) is going to be hosting some big-scale presentations. Here’s what Strohmaier says:

“This September and October Arclight Cinemas and the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood will present eight spectacular epic screenings featuring all roadshow classics of yesteryear. The entire Cinerama Dome’s 89 foot curved screen will light up once again with Grand Prix (1966), How The West Was Won (1962), Battle of the Bulge (1965), It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Two classic 1950s travelogues will also be shown, Seven Wonders of the World (1956), and Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich (1958). So relive the fabulous roadshow era complete with original overtures, intermissions and programs. Check Arclight Hollywood’s website in the coming weeks for further anouncements, under the “Arclight Presents” tab.

Sounds exciting — I’ll be eager to find out which shows are going to be in what format!

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson