In ‘Scope and Color!

From the first days of cinema, the people making movies struggled to give audiences a vision of the world closer to that of the average human eye: that is, with broader peripheral range and all the colors of the rainbow. And while CinemaScope didn’t invent the “widescreen,” and various varietals of color films had been extant from the earliest days of moviemaking, the 1953 premiere of Fox’s The Robe, shot in Eastmancolor and introducing the tapestry-wide ’Scope aspect ratio to the world, created a partnership—the breadth of ’Scope, the eye-popping lusciousness of three-strip color and its progeny—that would enthrall generations of moviegoers while helping Hollywood (and other national industries) hit back against upstart television, with its boxy, bleary, blasé black-and-white images. A diverse slate of films that makes room for Spaghetti Westerns, wuxia wonders, Bollywood musicals, and 21st century favorites by Andersons P.T. and Wes, all encompassed in the broad embrace of the CinemaScope frame.