“One Battle After Another’’ Historic VistaVision London
Screenings 2025 |
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| Written and photographed by: Mark Trompeteler FBKS, in70mm.com | Date: 07.10.2025 |
 Paul Thomas Anderson is the kind of filmmaker
that “in70mm.com” readers will surely want to celebrate. He is a director
known for a love of analogue celluloid film. Anderson is a filmmaker who
admires and exploits the techniques, beautiful aesthetics, image properties,
colours and subtle impact of analogue cinematography. He is also known for
his deep collaboration with cinematographers, his advance testing of film
stocks, and choosing the right cameras and lenses to get the look and effect
that he is trying to achieve in films. Readers will obviously remember
"The Master" (2012) shot in 65mm. with presentations using 70 mm. prints
internationally. With “One Battle After
Another” Anderson’s perfectionism in
exploring and using celluloid in a digital age has reached a new historic
milestone.• Go to VistaVision Projected as Photographed at the Odeon Leicester Square • Go to gallery 1 Historic VistaVision London Screenings 2025 • Go to gallery 2 Odeon Leicester Sq & VistaVision VistaVision Re-Awakened Collaborating again with cinematographer Michael Bauman, they have shot an entire modern feature film on 35mm VistaVision using VistaVision cameras. They previously worked together on “Licorice Pizza”. Their new collaboration is a significant milestone for enthusiasts of large format film and quite an achievement for a feature film production in this modern cost conscious age of digital production. The recent film “The Brutalist" was celebrated for its amazing visual style and cinematography, and parts of that film were shot in VistaVision, alongside a number of other analogue and digital formats. The cinematographer, Lol Crawley, won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for “The Brutalist.” Anderson’s, and the production company’s milestone is truly historic when you consider that the last feature film shot entirely in VistaVision was the Marlon Brando film “One Eyed Jacks” back in 1961. (Some web sources seem to indicate that parts of “One Battle After Another” were shot using super 35mm – a format where the camera uses the full width of the 35mm film including the part of the film normally reserved for the optical track on the side of the film.) Four 35mm. Large Format Presentations Most readers will know that VistaVision involves 35mm. film travelling horizontally through the 35mm. camera and projector. The image is captured on a piece of film bordered each side by 8 perforations. A VistaVision camera records the image on a surface area of film that is more than twice the size of a conventional vertical frame of 35mm. film bordered by four perforations on each side. Furthermore like IMAX, VistaVision doesn’t use anamorphic lenses to achieve its imaging and projection. It is often projected with an aspect ratio of 1.5:1. Modern fine grain films and increased frame size continue to make it truly a “motion picture high fidelity” format. It is a natural precursor to IMAX and in these respects related to it. The origination of this milestone in VistaVision has also facilitated the production of IMAX 70mm analogue prints for the release of the movie, alongside its much wider digital release. |
More in 70mm reading: VistaVision Projected as Photographed at the Odeon Leicester Square P T Anderson's "One Battle After Another" in VistaVision in70mm.com's page about VistaVision The Kodak View. The Fabric of Magic, Part 1 Film Projection Perfection. The Fabric of Magic, Part 2 in70mm.com News Peripheral Vision, Scopes, Dimensions and Panoramas in70mm.com's Library Presented on the big screen in 7OMM 7OMM and Cinema Across the World Now showing in 70mm in a theatre near you! 70mm Retro - Festivals and Screenings |
 Paul Rayton, in a recent “in70mm.com” article, reported on two “one off”
VistaVision recent screenings of classic VistaVision film prints at the
TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the Turner Classic Movie Festival.
Paul Thomas Anderson might be considered by some as more of an auteur or
film maker with a personal subtle style. He is not known for mass appeal box
office “block busters”. It is another remarkable achievement that Anderson
and the film’s production company have secured a season of screenings in
VistaVision using VistaVision
prints and projectors at four locations. It is
a testament to the support and determination of Warner Brothers, and other
companies involved in cinema exhibition, in achieving this feat. The
locations are The Vista
Theater in Los Angeles, the Regal Union Square 17 in
New York, the Coolidge
Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass., and the
Odeon Luxe Leicester
Square in London.The London VistaVision Presentations At the beautifully refurbished iconic Art Deco Odeon Leicester Square in London, the public screenings in VistaVison started on Friday 26th September, the first day of the UK release of the film. The film’s London première, screened in VistaVision, was on Tuesday 16th September, with a cast and crew VistaVision screening the previous day. I understand there was a preview screening on 24th September. It was with great excitement that I and my wife, Pat, attended the second public screening on the opening day. Michael Mannix the projectionist, afterwards told me, that it was the seventh run of that print through the VistaVision projector. The screenings are all in the main 800 seat screen. On opening day the Odeon was busy, particularly for the third evening screening. A member of staff told me they were expecting and hoping for a run of some three weeks of screenings in VistaVision with the most popular weekend days running three screenings per day. However like all modern cinemas, they would adapt and alter the number of VistaVision screenings according to box office demand, advance booking trends and anticipated attendances. Some evening screenings will have a short recital of music showcasing the Odeon’s classic Compton cinema organ, this short recital taking place between the advertisements and the trailers. The VistaVision prints (from FotoKem in L.A.) in all four locations feature DTS sound with the time code on the edge of the film print. It is important to note that the prints made are contact prints made from the original camera negative!! |
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 A Superlative 35mm Large Format ExperienceWell what was the experience of a lifelong film fan watching a VistaVision print “projected as photographed” on modern film stock? It was truly remarkable. The image quality was beautiful. My wife and I were sitting in the Royal Circle and during some quiet moments in the film we could very faintly hear that memorable “purring” of the mechanical projector in the distance. There was an initial shock at seeing images from such a very modern film projected in the 1.5:1 aspect ratio. At first it seemed strange seeing such an aspect ratio in such a large auditorium where much wider aspect ratios were the expected norm. At first I was concerned as to whether I could cope with watching a near 2 hour 50 minute film (no intermission) in such an old aspect ratio in such modern surroundings. Within minutes the film captured your attention and you became engrossed in it. The nature of the aspect ratio became irrelevant as the cinematography, aspect ratio and framing were all integral to the telling of the story. The images were rock steady – not a hint of unsteadiness – even in the stark high contrast main title and end titles. The images were as steadfast as from any digital projector. In the pale highlight areas of some scenes there was a very feint flicker in those parts of the image, probably wholly undetected by the majority of the very much younger audience members. The richness and depth of the photographed colours and sharp details and textures just drew me into the screen. It was such a contrast to the often more colder, over detailed clinical appearance that digital can appear to have when compared to the warmer more mellow image appearance of high quality celluloid imagery. Even at that size of screen, at our viewing distance, there was absolutely no hint of grain. Sometimes in certain lighting situations film can get create images of potentially too high contrast, and this was the case in some shots. This is where digital copes with high contrast situations much better. But that is all part of the overall celluloid experience. The whole experience for me was stunning. VistaVision projected as photographed yielded image quality of such detail, richness, luxuriousness, and depth all at once. To me the contrast between the VistaVision quality and look, compared to the look of the digital trailers and advertisements that preceded the feature film was considerable. It was really wonderful seeing 35mm celluloid looking so fantastic in this day and age. |
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 Pat Trompeteler
and Mark
TrompetelerAnother Analogue Large Format In The Modern Cinematic Toolbox The fact that filmmakers are increasingly considering utilizing celluloid film as a tool in such a digitally dominated cinema environment is so refreshing. In terms of signage, not much emphasis was being made of the fact that the film was being presented in VistaVision. All that really existed was the reference at the bottom of the digital posters around the cinema. Michael Mannix did mention that some screenings might have a short introduction alerting the significance of the projection format to the audience. To this aging film fan it seemed a little sad that possibly the considerable size audience attending the first three screenings of this opening day, may contain a significant proportion that have little or no knowledge of the significance of the particular presentation they were seeing. They were there to enjoy the film, and how it was being presented may not be of interest. To me it was without doubt the best presentation of 35mm. film that I can ever remember seeing. A Multi Faceted “Roller Coaster” of A Movie. As mentioned previously multi Oscar nominated Paul Thomas Anderson may be considered by many as more of a personal auteur style of filmmaker. He hasn’t achieved the same level of public awareness or recognition, or possibly the same amount of box office success, as other analogue large format better known filmmakers such as Quentin Tarrantino, Kenneth Branagh or Christopher Nolan. One senses that in “One Battle After Another” there may be an attempt to embrace the idea of a more wider appeal, more mainstream kind of entertainment film than he may have produced in the past. The film has shoot outs, car chases, explosions, some thrilling action set pieces, and clearly defined characters of good and evil. Part action movie, part thriller, part satire, part black comedy and part character and moral dilemma puzzle, it is an enthralling story. At times chaotic, it is potent mix of cinema where the long duration of the film seems to pass very quickly. The idea of a former criminal or terrorist having to go off grid for a long time, after committing such spectacular crimes, and then having to face the consequences and dilemmas of his actions, some sixteen years later, is not new. See “The Company You Keep”, 2012, or “Running On Empty”, 1988. Leonardo Di Caprio dominates the film and his acting is pitch perfect throughout. The Sean Penn baddie is too much of a pantomime villain for my taste, but the film does work as part black comedy and it certainly raised a fair amount of laughter from the young audience. The final climax of the film is a beautifully staged and crafted car chase over undulating asphalt long roads, which for me had resonances of “Bullitt” and “Duel.” The whole film is re-enforced by a memorable music score. |
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 Enthralling, Beautifully Crafted and The
Best Presentation“One Battle After Another” in an enthralling film beautifully crafted and has the potential to bring Anderson to the attention of a much wider public than his previous quieter more personal films. Warner Brothers have supported the director and his latest film with a huge marketing campaign. The lead up to the opening of the film has seen Leonardo Di Caprio do a massive amount of press. In today’s approach of opening a film across the globe simultaneously, so much depends on the box office takings in the opening weekend. At the time of writing, industry news of boxing office receipts coming in shows that this has been the best opening weekend box office for a Paul Thomas Anderson film by far. But the incoming box office statistics aren’t all good news. Whatever the critical and financial verdict that may come to pass as regards this film, on a personal level I will always remember one thing. That afternoon trip to the Odeon Leicester Square with my wife to see VistaVision, projected as photographed, was without doubt the best presentation of 35mm. film that I can ever remember seeing. |
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