The greatest movie ever!

Fantastic!

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film has been recently restored and is available through Flicker Alley on a combo DVD-bluray edition. It is a remarkable job that has been achieved. Moreover the Smilebox format used enables the viewer to have the original curved screen impression and if you have the chance as I do to view it on a home cinema system with a large screen (2.40m width as far as I'm concerned) sitting at a distance which enables you just to have the screen width in your field sight, you then get the full sensation you had in Cinerama theaters when the movie was first presented. Of course the subject and the way things are presented have aged a lot but it is also a reminder of what Paris looked like in the early 50s and being a Parisian , it brings a nostalgic reminiscence of that time when I saw Cinerama for the first time in Paris.

Despite being a gimmick documentary spread huge on the surface, CINERAMA HOLIDAY actually boasts a surprisingly high-concept storyline: an American couple and a Swiss couple switch continents and discover each other's culture through travel. In the end, the film turns slightly meta with our pair of happy vacationers meeting up in New York City - to watch the film they were just in!The picture's Cinerama process is eye-poppingly re-rendered gorgeously on Blu-Ray thanks to the loving care of Cinerama archivist David Strohmaier. The film may be a curio, but it's also a looking-glass glimpse of a time where even air travel to other countries was exotic and the providence of the lucky (or wealthy).The fun really is seeing the Swiss couple discovering America. The set- ups are all obviously faked for the three-panel camera, but there's still the charm of these two European non-actors being dropped into a tiny Las Vegas or discovering the wide countryside. The American duo's jaunt through the Swiss Alps and Paris is equally wooden, yet spirited. Its fun to see the world through both couples' eyes.

This second Cinerama feature and the highest grossing film, back in the fifties,might of excited audiences of the day,but,looking at it today the first half of this features the story is slow moving and the static shots are very noticeable;e.This was the second Cinerama feature that attempted a story with some actual dialog coming from the characters,Betty and her husband johnny as well as Beatrice and her husband Fred.The two women are still with us.Fred died of cancer in 2002 and Johnny died in a car accident,long after he and Betty divorced.There even some careful close up shots in the film.While This is Cinerama carried a quick punch and The voyage of the Christin Radish too.But ,as I said The first half is a bit slow,except the Las Vegas show number slightly picks the speed up,then goes back slow.Near the end of the first half when Betty and johnny are at Swiss restaurant and show place eating fondue and a sing number that involves yodeling happens the speed pick up again.The second half finally pick up speed.There are more exciting scenes in that.It seems the french scenes are the best.The pacing better.the children theater that has the violent puppet show of little red riding hood.The artist and models ball where ,Betty ,behind the camera felt that everybody was high on Marijuana .She stated that after her divorce,in the interview of the disk ,that she would change her self.A french public school class room in which all the students ,including the teacher speaks English,for the Cinerama camera.A tamed version of a probably risqué night club act at the lido, for the Cinerama American cameras.Back in the fifties even France was less prudish about sex than the United states and had bare breasted risqué dance shows ,or at least see through costumes,in their dance number at the Lido.The American cameras were not going to show that.The real best were the ballet sequence,of France and the American naval air plane sequence ,in which Fred was allowed to drive on of the naval planes.The first pat as I said was a bit slow but it had some things that picked it up at the moment.The toboggan sequence as well as the ski sequence ,or was the ski sequence the second half?All in all it was still a good movie.The break down reel was not perfect it barely survived the ravishes of time.I was playing the Blu-Ray disc part it was excellent in it's transfers.the movie it's elf,the way i saw it , was good as a whole ,but, it was not an excellent Cinerama feature .May be it's my mentality. 10/28/13. I checked the d.v.d version.I was looking at the Blu-Ray version first,That slow pace feeling was not in the d.v.d version.Strange!I give it one more number.It is a 10. 10/29/13

Cinerama is a format in which movies are filmed using three cameras, then displayed on a curved screen using three projectors. It does a great job of making you feel like you're in the action. Only about 10 movies were filmed in Cinerama, and very few theaters are currently equipped to show them. The only one in the U.S. at present is in Dayton, Ohio, which is where I saw Cinerama Holiday.This movie is about two couples (they were couples in real life too, and they used their real names), one from St. Louis and one from Switzerland. They each go to the other's country and travel around. That's the plot, such as it is - but seeing the sites in Cinerama is a lot of fun.There are huge musical stage productions in Paris and Las Vegas, bobsledding, a county fair, skiing, a puppet show (where you can see the audience as well as the show) and a lot of more low-key stuff. It's a lot like being taken on vacation by interesting hosts. If you get the chance to see it, do.