From the Author

I'm old enough to remember when CinemaScope was unveiled in Australia at Sydney's Regent cinema on 9 December 1953. The theatre was so packed with celebrities on that occasion, we critics were housed in the Dress Circle. (In those days, admission prices varied according to the particular section of the theatre in which you wanted to sit. Front stalls, downstairs and mighty close to the screen, were the cheapest; followed by stalls. Upstairs, the Lounge, or first section of the Dress Circle, housed the most expensive seats. On this occasion, these seats were all occupied by guests of the management). To warm the audience's anticipation up to fever pitch, a Movietone Newsreel was shown on the small screen. Then the curtains opened up. They parted wider, wider, wider, drawing gasps from the audience, as "The Robe" was unveiled with a thrilling chariot sequence. "The Robe" was still running strong at the Regent, when the second CinemaScope movie, "How To Marry a Millionaire" opened across the road at the Plaza on 21 January 1954. That movie ran a colossal 12 weeks at that 1,500 seat cinema, four sessions a day, until it gave way on 15 April 1954 to "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef". In the meantime, "King of the Khyber Rifles" replaced "The Robe" at the Regent on 8 April 1954. These are just some of the nostalgic facts gathered together in this superb book, which provides exhaustive details and reviews of 140 of the 20th Century-Fox studio's wide-screen features. I consult this book myself all the time! And of course, now that just about all these Fox movies are being re-issued on DVD, the book has become more indispensable than ever!