Cinerama's South Seas Adventure

In a new, digital reincarnation, “Cinerama transports you to lush tropic islands…adventure-splashed with a thousand excitements!”

Cinerama South Seas Adventure proved to be the 5th and last of the original, 3-panel Cinerama travelogues. Released in 1958, and 4 months after the 3-panel competitor, Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich, it is at moments similar, although overall an entirely different tale than previously seen in the format. With a partial narration by Orson Welles, the picture also, surprisingly may be the first to chronicle primitive bungee jumping.

Five separate stories are dramatized, woven out of a series of theoretical, island-hopping voyages that start en route to Hawaii, and after traversing the South Seas as far as Australia, end up flying back home from Honolulu.

In between, through both an adventurous shipboard passenger, a returning American WWII veteran, and the enthused narration, we're taken island hopping to stops in places lush, tranquil, and inviting, like Tahiti, Tonga and Fiji, then to the even more exotic, primitive Pentecost Island. Native dancing and song are celebrated alongside cultures and customs spanning thousands of years. Sailing onward to New Zealand, we're reminded it's also an island, in fact two, with an unexpected geography including volcanoes and snow-covered mountain ranges. From there we travel on to Australia, where we follow the arrival of a new European immigrant man and his young daughter, as they get accustomed to native animals like koalas and kangaroos, and then settle in for a new life in the "outback". There, they become integral in stories illustrating life in such isolated areas, including both the "School of the Air", a classroom conducted over the radio and the Flying Doctor Service, similarly radio-dispatched.

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

• Feature Length Audio Commentary - With Cinerama historian David Coles and actress Ramine Seaman.
• Renault Dauphine - An original and rare Cinerama promotional film for the car company Renault as presented in its unique, three-panel format.
• The Wake of Captain Cook - A short film by producer and director Carl Dudley, which takes you behind-the-scenes of South Seas Adventure.
• Family Interview - With Carol Dudley Katzka, daughter of the producer/director of South Seas Adventure, Carl Dudley.
• Crew Interview - Excerpts from a fascinating interview with original production staff member Saul Cooper.
• Brand New Behind-the-Scenes Slideshow
• A 28-Page Booklet - Reproduction of the original program, as seen by viewers of the film's first theatrical showing.