Post by RD in KennesawPost by Martin HartMGM's initial release of "Quo Vadis" was available to theatres with or
without a built in intermission.
Marty
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What would it take for a "built in" intermission? It looks like it
would only take one more short reel, which would start with the word
"INTERMISSION", and then some music. At the end, the cue tells the
projectionist to go to the next normal reel. If the intermission reel
were left out, no one would ever know.
I just found evidence that there was originally an intermission in "Duel
In The Sun". Many years ago there was an LP release of Dimitri
Tiomkin's score for the film and track nine was entitled "Entr'Acte".
That pretty well clinches it.
It should be remembered that on many occasions in the thirties through
fifties that a studio would have a couple of special prints prepared for
premiere engagements in New York and Hollywood, and possibly another
city or two like Washington D.C. or Chicago. These prints often had
overtures and exit music that were never included on other first run
prints. Likewise intermissions were sometimes inserted in those special
prints. In the early fifties many of these special prints had 3 channel
stereo played from a 35mm magnetic film dubber.
Virtually all 3-D films from the fifties contained intermissions because
both projectors were required to show the films and the biggest reels
only held about 6,000 feet of film. This was before the days of the
dreaded platter. For many years the video release of "Dial M For
Murder" had one frame showing the word "INTERMISSION" beginning to fade
in. I've not examined the latest release to see if it's still there.
Marty
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The American WideScreen Museum
www.widescreenmuseum.com