Scope Gem was a marketing series title that Warner Brothers used for documentary film shorts produced in Warnercolor and the wide-screen CinemaScope format. Most of these were travelogues.

Overview

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Warner Brothers favored block-booking these one- and two-reel documentaries with their wide-screen features. The first official title of the series, Sportsman’s Holiday was released with the CinemaScope feature Battle Cry.

Carl Dudley, who contributed to several of these, also independently produced some in Vistarama (which used 16mm instead of 35mm size, perfected by cameraman Edwin Olsen) for Warner distribution just prior to the official inauguration of the Scope Gem series in 1954–1955. Many of these were processed in Warnercolor.[1][2]

Narration was handled by longtime veterans Art Gilmore and Marvin Miller, accompanied by the full orchestra scores of Howard Jackson and William Lava. Cedric Francis produced those not handled by Carl Dudley.

Although Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and especially 20th Century Fox also released many more shorts in CinemaScope between 1953 and 1964, the Warner product received some of the highest praise in the periodicals of the time. One title by André de la Varre, Time Stood Still, was nominated for an Academy Award. As BoxOffice magazine's reviewer stated on January 8, 1958, of Alpine Glory: "While the Austrian Alps have been filmed before, and well done too, this short subject in color is so beautiful and breathtaking that it can well be the best film ever to deal with the subject". Although seldom shown on TV on account of their frame format and never released on video, they were nonetheless successfully re-released to theaters through 1967, prompting a young Leonard Maltin to write in similar vocabulary in his The Great Movie Shorts (1972) "These are among the most breathtaking travelogues of all time".[3]

Unfortunately Warner sharply curtailed feature films using wide-screen formats in 1957, using Technirama for only the most expensive productions. The studio's declining interest in CinemaScope, along with the shrinking market for short films, prompted an abrupt end to the series. During this same period, the concurrently released Joe McDoakes, Robert Youngson documentaries, Looney Tune and Merrie Melodie animated cartoons were released in the more standardized ratio but were equally successful at the box office.

The top cameraman of the series, André de la Varre, left Warner to rejoin the Burton Holmes company that same year, but did supply an occasional travelogue for the studio in the 1960s under its World Wide Adventures logo.

List of titles

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Title Major credits Running time Release date Notes
Aloha Nui Carl Dudley (producer) 11 minutes September 19, 1953 “Stereophonic Special” filmed in Hawaii
Below the Rio Grande Carl Dudley (producer) 9 minutes April 1, 1954 “Stereophonic Special” filmed in Mexico
Coney Island Holiday Carl Dudley (producer); narrator: Art Gilmore 9 minutes April 1, 1954 “Stereophonic Special” filmed in New York City
Valley of the Sun Carl Dudley (producer); Richard Goldstone (director); narrator: Art Gilmore 17 minutes July 3, 1954 “Stereophonic Special” filmed in Arizona and New Mexico
Sportsman's Holiday Carl Dudley (producer); narrator: Art Gilmore 10 minutes February 2, 1955 first official “Scope Gem” shot in Flagstaff, Arizona, and race tracks at Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park Racetrack, Epsom Downs and Belmont Park
Heart of an Empire Carl Dudley (producer); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 9 minutes September 1, 1955 London
Journey to the Sea Carl Dudley (producer); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 16 minutes September 1, 1955 Rhine River in France and Europe
Ski Valley André de la Varre (director); narrator: Art Gilmore 9 minutes September 1, 1955 Sun Valley, Idaho
Springtime in Holland André de la Varre (director); story: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 9 minutes December 10, 1955 Netherlands
Hero On Horseback Carl Dudley (producer): Richard Goldstone (director); narrator: Marvin Miller 17 minutes April 7, 1956 portrait of Kemal Atatürk with modern-day Turkey footage
Time Stood Still André de la Varre (director); story: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 9 minutes April 21, 1956 Dinkelsbühl
Italian Memories André de la Varre (director); story: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 17 minutes June 9, 1956
Thunder Beach Jack Glenn (director); narrator: Joe King 9 minutes June 23, 1956 Daytona Beach Road Course
Viva! Cuba Carl Dudley (producer); narrator: Art Gilmore 9 minutes August 25, 1956 mostly Cuba
Crossroads of the World André de la Varre (director); story: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 9 minutes September 26, 1956 Singapore
East Is East André de la Varre (director); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 17 minutes September 26, 1956 Malay, Burma and Thailand
South of the Himalayas André de la Varre (director); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 18 minutes October 6, 1956 India
Magic in the Sun Carl Dudley (producer); narrator: Howard Culver 8 minutes November 6, 1956 Haiti
The Legend of El Dorado Tom McGowan (director); narrator: Marvin Miller 18 minutes December 29, 1956 Colombia
Under Carib Skies Carl Dudley (producer); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Howard Culver 9 minutes February 16, 1957 mostly Jamaica
Tales of the Black Forest André de la Varre (director); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 18 minutes June 1, 1957 Germany
The Blue Danube André de la Varre (director); script: Owen Crump; narrator: Marvin Miller 17 minutes June 1, 1957 Austria & Germany
Alpine Glory André de la Varre (director); script: Owen Crump (writer); narrator: Marvin Miller 9 minutes August 3, 1957 Austria

See also

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References

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  • Liebman, Roy Vitaphone Films – A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts 2003 McFarland & Company
  • Maltin, Leonard The Great Movie Shorts 1972 Bonanza Books
  • Motion Pictures 1950-1959 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1960 Library of Congress
  • BoxOffice back issue scans
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Notes

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  1. ^ Motion Pictures 1950-1959 Catalog of Copyright Entries Library of Congress, (p. 11) states Warnercolor process for Aloha Nui
  2. ^ BoxOffice. March 10, 1956 (Shorts Chart) & May 19, 1958 (Shorts Chart, p. 12) list titles under heading "Warnercolor Scope Gems"
  3. ^ Maltin, Leonard The Great Movie Shorts 1972 Bonanza Books, page 208