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70 mm at the Sun Theatre

By Rob (Bert) Murphy, Sun Theatre.

t was nearly six months ago when I first First off we considered running change-overs
Iheard that Quentin Tarantino's new film between two projectors, my personal
would have a 70 mm release option and that a preference for the simple selfish reason that
few exhibitors in Australia were tooling up for I'd never done it before and wanted to. Eyes
it. were rolled and the option quickly became
academic due to the lack of space in our bio.
I remember thinking, "a Tarantino film in 70...
I can't wait to see it". Then I discovered it Oh well. Next idea was a modified Eprad mutt
would not just be in 70 mm, but in Ultra coming off a single projector. After some tape
Panavision 70. I was gob smacked "This is measure acrobatics, it seemed we could fit a
going to be spectacular"! I knew the Astor (in platter instead, but only if we could retrofit it
Melbourne) would have to be one of the for 70 mm. Could we?
screens, but there was little information on the
others and everything was rumour based. But Projector type. The Sun has a long tradition
the more I heard and the more I read, the more of German Bauers, so our first thought was a
excited I became. U3. We had previously run two of these, one
on a hoist system. The other attraction here Bert holding a “special piece of glass”
I'm fairly new to the family. Having only been was that these beasts could run 7000 ft spools,
a projectionist for 11 years, and only catching both payout and take up, at leg height. But as and back yard collections, searching out
the last 6 years of 35 mm before digital, (the information dribbled through it became clear artefacts from the glory days of 70 mm
independently owned Sun being the first that the film was going to be too long for this projection. Sprockets, film gates, rollers and,
complex in Australia to go fully DCI) I'd to work. To be honest, none of us were on a very good day, a 70 mm splicer were
always had a fascination and desire to run particularly fond of the U3 and so the question among the treasures I exhumed.
70 mm. I regularly enjoyed watching it at the became, what would we all really love to play
Astor, but only ever dreamed of running it with? A Phillips DP70, of course. All the while the weeks quickly rolled by as
myself. I can't believe it took me a whole week the projector junk piled up, waiting for the all
before I thought, "why couldn't we do this at We even found a few and looked them over important news that would launch us into
the Sun?” but there was a lot of work to be done to both action or shut us down completely; the
availability and price off the Ultra Panavision
anamorphic lens. The projector was still in its
garage, we had a platter but no 70 mm running
gear. Another three weeks passed. Argghh!
Finally we couldn't wait any longer and
everyone agreed... we had to start the install
and hope that the lens and DTS reader would
fall into place.
Getting the projector into the bio was every bit
the nightmare I had been imagining it to be.
First, rolling it down the street on casters like
an armoured shopping trolley got a few
glances from passing traffic. Then into the
foyer for the next challenge. It wouldn't fit in
the lift. No problem; release the lamp house
mount from the pedestal and carry it along
behind.
Next, the laborious five person job of
ascending the cornered stairs up to the bio
landing. This employed a see-sawing motion
utilising blocks of wood and milk crates which
finally got the beast into place next to the
Christie digital, 90 minutes later. Phew!
Now where to start. This projector hasn't run
The show begins. The Vic 8 with the anamorphic lens in place in twelve years. First the cleanup and stripping
back to basics. We'd need the water cooling
I took the idea to Michael Smith, Sun owner and then the question of where could we system reinstated as we wanted to run a 4,000
and film nut/adventurer who, like me, was source parts quickly in an emergency burst the watt lamp in the Strong lamp house we already
immediately inspired; but we needed a lot bubble. It soon became clear that a had in the bio. Flushing gunk, dismantling and
more information before we could even Cinemeccanica Vic 8 would be the safest, most cleaning took about a week. Then new drive
consider this. Could we have a print even if practical choice and we had two sitting in a belts and inverter power supply for gentle
we wanted one? Where could we find a lens? retired projectionist’s garage nearby that were starts took about another week.
How would the sound be delivered? After on offer for free.
initial enquires it seemed we were eligible and Ah yes, the platter. We were exceedingly lucky
so then the avalanche of technical questions And so for me began a series of expeditions; in that some years before, when disposing of
began. rummaging through catacombs of old cinemas the Bauer U3s, someone had saved a curious

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