Flights Over Snowy Peaks, Landing On Carrier Mark New Cinerama

By Hal Knight
Deseret News Staff Writer
Deseret News, 24 May 1962, page B11

 
Opening with a soaring flight over the snowy peaks of the Swiss Alps and closing with a heart-stopping landing on an aircraft carrier, Cinerama has produced another its vivid looks at the world.

A premiere crowd packed the Villa Theater Wednesday night to view the opening performance of "Cinerama Holiday" - the third of the Cinerama productions to come to Salt Lake City.

The first-night event drew a large crowd in a fund-raising effort for support of the Utah Association of the United Nations.

A band from Granite High School provided lively pre-movie music and the a cappela choir from Highland High sang three numbers against a background of flags from the countries of the U.N. to open the program.

Then with a majestic sweep over the towering peaks of the Alps, the "Cinerama Holiday" was on.

The holiday is concerned with the sightseeing travels of two young couples - Fred and Beatrice Troller of Zurich, Switzerland, and John and Betty Marsh of Kansas City.

The Trollers cross the Atlantic for a look at America while Marsh couple go the other way for a look at Switzerland and Paris.

The magic of Cinerama goes along on the holiday and takes the audience on a dizzying bobsled ride with the Marshes, up a ski lift and down the slopes on skis, an exhilarating experience which nearly lifts the viewers out of his seat.

In America the Trollers visit Las Vegas, meet Indians in Arizona, see San Francisco and New Orleans (where the viewer gets set right down in the middle of a jazz combo) and take part in a New England country fair.

Although these brief scenes in Europe and America and interesting glimpses, the real impact and majesty of Cinerama shines through in the grand sweeps of scenery especially from the air.

In this fashion it closes with four sleek jets slicing through the sky over the vast stretches of the Atlantic and giving the viewers a pilot's eye-view of landing on the deck of an air-craft carrier.