TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, during this period there appeared magnascopic projections which made it possible to widen the screen for a few spectacular sequences in films. The Magnascope was a process developed by Paramount and used for the first time in 1926 with the James Cruze film Old Ironsides. The process was simple. It consisted in widening the image during projection through the use of a lens with a short focal length. Movie theatres, however, had to be equipped with screens large enough to accommodate these enlarged images. The article found in Insert 1 describes the principal features of the Magnascope.