Republic Studio's NATURAMA anamorphic movie camera lens, VERY RARE, 1-of-4 MADE!

Description: RARER than RARE Hollywood Movie-making MEMORABILIA! The "NATURAMA" widescreen lens.Only FOUR were made I believe: one in the Technicolor Museum, USA; one in private hands, possibly still in California; one in private hands, I believe still in France; AND THIS ONE up for Auction!! Made for REPUBLIC PICTURES in France, as their intended FOX CinemaScope-beater! It was initially ahead of CinemaScope, as it was ANAMORPHIC ("squeezed widescreen") ONLY, in 2.35:1 ratio, and controlled by its own follow-focus system. Behind this lens was the prime taking lens (eg 2-inch etc) and behind this the image shutter. So using the ONE anamorphic the studio could insert whatever prime lens needed. By contrast the FOX Studios' CinemaScope used up to SIX fixed lenses in the early days, depending on the camera shot, and some of these were very heavy. It was a brilliant idea. Each of four NATURAMA lens was mated to its very own MITCHELL 35mm BNC Camera, tested and set with a follow-focus system by Republic's engineers. In the NOV 1956 "American Cinematographer" magazine they praise the NATURAMA process. They note that only one camera assistant was needed to handle this system as Republic engineers developed ONE method of simultaneously controlling focus on the anamorphic and the camera lens. This is a world away from digital ARRI's today, but it was a real issue in the development of cinematography. This listing is for one of those ORIGINAL NATURAMA lenses (and lens cover cap), plus the FOLLOW FOCUS system for this lens. DATING: the first Republic picture in NATURAMA was 1956, and I estimate date of this lens is 1955. I believe that unlike initial CinemaScope and Todd-AO lenses which were only two made at first, I believe Republic acquired all four lenses at once and their engineers were busy testing each with their own specific Mitchell Camera. I believe they kept it this way, so lenses were NOT swapped with cameras. Republic Studios were located at 4024 Radford Ave, Studio City, California, and in their heyday gave us early John Wayne movies, and Westerns' heroes Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Unfortunately by the mid-fifties they were in trouble, and thought NATURAMA might help their dwindling fortunes. It never did! They put this awesome widscreen system to work, not in big "The Robe" type of movies, but into the cheapest, nastiest, z-grade movies aimed very much at Teens and Youth. Then they concentrated on TV shows by the late 1950's. From memory, I think they were nearly bankrupt and bought out by CBS. This is just from memory, haven't researched this. **** You can research NATURAMA and Republic Studios on: widescreenmuseum.com This listed lens, with focus system, is Serial No. 39, as described in the widescreenmuseum.com website. All elements are clean, no scratches, no fog, no fungus, no damage. It was a working lens for Republic so some of the black paint is scratched here and there. It has not been touched, nor altered. IT IS THE ORIGINAL, ONE-OF-FOUR, "NATURAMA" LENSES FROM "REPUBLIC PICTURES". I purchased it in DEC 2003. IT DOESN'T GET MUCH RARER THAN THIS! CinemaScope lenses, though rare, are very many, but this is ONE of FOUR! These are the details I had in 2003 of the OTHER THREE Naturama lenses: ONE was owned by a Cinematographer in France; ONE was owned by Considated Film Industries CFI in Hollywood which was bought out by Technicolor Corp; ONE was owned by a man in California and somehow the focus system was pulled apart, some tiny ball bearings and internal spacing rings were lost, plus the alignment of the anamorphic elements was messed up, and apparently this is very difficult to correct. I will include a copy of the "American Cinematographer" article, and one-page copy of four early Z-grade film releases by Republic: Hell's Crossroads, Juvenile Jungle, Young and Wild, The Wayward Girl. It's not hard to see why the once-great Republic went belly-up. They could at least have imitated Steve McQueen running out of a cinema chased by The Blob and it might have gone better for them! To pre-estimate regular postage, please visit auspost.com.au and TYPE IN weight say 4.9 KG, and dimensions say 30 x 26 x 23 cm, departing from LEUMEAH 2560 (NSW state, Australia), to your destination. It may be necessary to use a Customs Agent for overseas shipping as it probably should go customs and taxes free from Australia to a country with Trade Treaty (eg USA) but it's value will mean it's more complicated with Australian Customs paperwork to achieve this waver.

Price: 9990 AUD

Location: Bradbury, NSW

End Time: 2024-02-06T12:12:52.000Z

Shipping Cost: 81.59 AUD