Warner has announced a deluxe DVD of HOW THE WEST WAS WON, to be released in August I think. Reportedly, modern technology will remove those annoying seam lines between the three panels. Blu-Ray is also promising a new curved look which will reportedly replicate the curved Cinerama screen experience.

I attended a revival screening of the film (presented in the three panel Cinerama format) at the Cinerama Theater in Seattle a couple of years ago. It was thrilling to see it again in the proper format, as I had seen the film there during its 1962 first run engagement. However, I was disappointed that the seam lines were still present, because I had hoped that modern technology could improve the presentation. I am very glad to hear that the issue is being addressed on DVD.

The audience was reverential during the showing of the film. However, I couldn't help laughing at a point during the opening narration performed by Spencer Tracy. Describing the intrepid fur trapper Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), Tracy intoned (and I'm quoting from memory) "Men like Linus Rawlings...who roamed the wilderness in search of beaver!". No one else laughed, so I guess I was properly chastized. However, most of the audience snickered at the end, when an image of a congested Los Angeles freeway was described as "progress."

Glad to hear this. I've tried to watch WEST on TCM and have always given up after a reel or so because I find the seam lines so distracting. I can't imagine what it would be like to sit through the pan & scan version!

I remember watching the film on a couple of occasions in p & s, and the effect was very odd. As the image skated across the screen horizontally, those vertical seam lines would, of course, remain rigidly in place like a pair of hazy pillars, accentuating the sense of an image that had been fragmented and subjected to an unnatural optical treatment.

I can attest to the effectiveness of the Smilebox process, having seen it in action on a large screen during a showing of the outstanding documentary CINERAMA ADVENTURE, which is apparently going to be included as one of the extras on the HTWWW set.

I've read comments from someone who saw the new Blu-Ray disc projected on a big screen at Warner confirming that the panel matching is incredible and the join lines are almost invisible.