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The Totalvision Company (French: La Société Totalvision) was a French corporation that specialized in the design and manufacturing of lenses, cameras, and projection systems primarily focused on anamorphic optics. It was founded in June 1954. Totalvision was created and managed by Georges Bonnerot and Elie Libman students of Professor Henri Chrétien. Circa 1956, the company experienced significant expansion to foreign markets. Totalvision cameras equipment and lenses were sold in East Germany (DDR), Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, China, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria.[1]
Totalvision was a competitor of Cinemascope in Europe, providing cheaper licensing fees to European markets while presenting cinematographers with equipment of equal or better quality. The system comprised a wide range of anamorphic lenses, from 32mm to 150mm, that created little distortion and made CinemaScope almost obsolete in Europe.[2][3][4]
France
edit- Cinematographers such as: Claude Renoir, Louis Page, Lucien Joulin, Michel Kelber and Henri Alekan used Totalvision equipment for their work. All cameras were equipped with specifically designed couplings allowing a single primary and anamorphic focusing.[1]
- Totalvision created an affordable 16mm anamorphic projection lens under the brand of Ruralscope which was marketed and sold to movie theaters in rural France.[1]
Italy
editPolish-born director of photography/cinematographer Henryk Chroscicki bought rights to manufacture Totalvison's equipment in Italy and effectively became a rental house and a distributor for Italian filmmakers. More than 200 major films, including La Dolce Vita, and 300 documentaries have been shot with Totalvision equipment under the brand name of Totalscope.[2] Based on his ownership of rights for Totalvision equipment, Henryk Chroscicki developed the anamorphic lens system Technovision which made its first appearance in 1974.
Films Made with Totalvision
edit| Name | Year | Director | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move and I'll Shoot (Italian: Come te movi, te fulmino!) | 1958 | Mario Mattoli | Italy |
| Lui, lei e il nonno | 1959 | Anton Giulio Majano | Italy |
| First Spaceship on Venus (German: Der schweigende Stern) | 1960 | Kurt Maetzig | East Germany |
| Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) | 1961 | Peter Palitzsch | East Germany |
| Die Liebe und der Co-Pilot | 1961 | Richard Groschopp | East Germany |
| A Monkey in Winter (French: Un singe en hiver) | 1962 | Henri Verneuil | France |
| Die schwarze Galeere | 1962 | Martin Hellberg | East Germany |
| The Flying Dutchman (German: Der fliegende Holländer) | 1964 | Joachim Herz | East Germany |
| Mir nach, Canaillen[5] | 1964 | Ralf Kirsten | East Germany |
| Preludio 11[6] | 1964 | Kurt Maetzig | East Germany |
| Schwarzer Samt | 1964 | Heinz Thiel | East Germany |
| Karla | 1965 | Herrmann Zschoche | East Germany |
| Hands of a Gunfighter (Italian: Ocaso de un pistolero) | 1965 | Rafael Romero Marchent | Italy |
| La longue marche[7][8] | 1966 | Alexandre Astruc | France |
| The Sons of Great Bear (German: Die Söhne der großen Bärin) | 1966 | Josef Mach | East Germany |
| Frozen Flashes (German: Die gefrorenen Blitze) | 1967 | János Veiczi | East Germany |
| Frau Venus und ihr Teufel | 1967 | Ralf Kirsten | East Germany |
| Gallery of Horror | 1967 | David L. Hewitt | USA |
| Encrucijada para una monja | 1967 | Julio Buchs | Spain |
| Mord am Montag | 1968 | Hans Kratzert | East Germany |
| Heißer Sommer | 1968 | Joachim Hasler | East Germany |
| Mit mir nicht, Madam! | 1969 | Roland Oehme | East Germany |
| Lesbo | 1969 | Edoardo Mulargia | Italy |
| Verdacht auf einen Toten | 1969 | Rainer Bär | East Germany |
| Im Himmel ist doch Jahrmarkt | 1969 | Rolf Losansky | East Germany |
| Tödlicher Irrtum | 1970 | Konrad Petzold | East Germany |
| Netzwerk | 1970 | Ralf Kirsten | East Germany |
| Tecumseh | 1972 | Hans Kratzert | East Germany |
See also
editCitations
edit- ^ a b c "Anamorphic shooting lens" (in French).
- ^ a b "INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS (Film Formats Page 3)".
- ^ Olivier Rousseau (2014). Les procédés anamorphiques français concurrents du CinemaScope (1953-1971) (in French).
- ^ Olivier Rousseau. Histoire technique des formats larges en France (1953-1969) : stratégies nationales face à l'innovation américaine du CinémaScope (in French).
- ^ "Mir nach, Canaillen (1964) Directed by Ralf Kirsten".
- ^ "Filmdatenbank: Preludio 11" (in German). 19 March 1964.
- ^ "La Longue marche". bifi.fr (in French). Cinémathèque Française. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
- ^ "La Longue Marche". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2022-08-30.