Fact Finder - Movies

Directed by David Lean, this 1957 epic was a blockbuster of the 'CinemaScope' era. To compete with the rising popularity of television, movie studios began filming in extremely wide formats. Lean used the 2.55:1 aspect ratio to capture the vast jungles of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The film’s climax involved building an actual full-scale wooden bridge and then blowing it up with a real train crossing it—one of the most expensive practical stunts of the era. It won seven Academy Awards and proved that the sheer scale of the 'big screen' experience was a unique selling point that television could not replicate. [Image comparing a standard 4:3 TV ratio to the 2.55:1 CinemaScope ratio]