BILLY THE KID was shown in Realife at the Capital Theatre in New York
City in 1930 using the reduced 35mm print:
From Variety, October 22, 1930:
Metro's Realife process, showing at the Capital this week with "Billy
the Kid" (M0G) as the first subject, is actually a reduced Fox
Grandeur print. The Realife scheme is to shoot on 70mm stock, reduce
the photographic result to 35mm. (standard) and release to the theatre
with only special projection lenses necessary in the booth plus,
perhaps, more amperage in the lamp house to light the wide screen
adequately.
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From the January 1931 issue of the Journal of the SMPE:
MR. STERN: I should like to know if Billy the Kid was produced
by making a 35 mm. print from the 70 mm., or was it an optical print
from a 70 mm. negative?
MR. FEAR: It was produced by original reduction of the negative
to the positive...
MR. Ross: I wish to call attention to the fact that the frames in
Billy the Kid are about one-third smaller in height than in standard
35 mm.
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From a memo by H. KEITH WEEKS reporting on widescreen developments
dated July 18, 1930:
Metro Goldwyn Mayer are at present, by means of the above mentioned
process, not only reducing 70 mm. negative and printing it on 35 mm.
positive stock but they are also changing the proportions of the
picture from an approximate ratio of 2 1 (Grandeur size) to an
approximate ratio of 7 x 4.
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Finally, the August 1930 issue of Motion Picture Projectionist shows
35mm frames of the reduced / cropped Realife footage. Other articles
around that time indicate that the other Realife screenings in other
cities also used the 35mm reduction prints.
And as I mentioned, the older 70mm format as used for Grandeur and
Realfe photography was a special 70mm film with large perfs and and a
larger 0.234 inch pitch - a 70mm contact print from such a negative
could not be shown in a modern 70mm projector without substantial
modifications to the projector. The "restoration" by Karl Malkames in
the 1980's of THE BIG TRAIL was to 'scope 35mm and not to a 65mm or
70mm element; frames of the 'scope preservation elements of THE BIG
TRAIL and of FOX GRANDEUR NEWS appeared in an article in the April
1985 issue of the Journal of the BKSTS. The widescreen footage from
BILLY THE KID - both the 70mm negative as well as any 35mm reduction
elements - are considered lost. There are no Todd-AO style 70mm prints
of either BILLY THE KID or THE BIG TRAIL available, nor were any such
prints ever made, and rumors of their existence are not correct.
-Dan Sherlock
Thanks for the very interesting details. BILLY THE KID was advertised in NYC as being "on the giant Realife screen.You won't believe your eyes-there has been anything like it ever before-the biggest thing since the talkies" .That's what the adverts said.They also said that the critics and public were raving after the Premiere of the new process. There was a rumour (just that-a rumour) that a 70mm print existed in good condition ,possibly in Europe, in the eighties. I also understand that there is a 70mm print of BIG TRAIL in the archives somewhere but it is not available for being screened publicly.
A little known fact also is that Betty Grable appeared in the chorus of the film 'SONG O' MY HEART -another wide screen film that was only released in standard 35mm after the 65mm negative was destroyed in a fire.