Lawrence Of Arabia - 70mm

THE big film of the week, in every way, is Lawrence Of Arabia at City Screen, York, on Sunday afternoon. The 2pm screening marks the arrival of 70mm cinema at the Coney Street filmhouse, one of only a handful of British venues with the capability to show the film industry's premier format.

Such is its expense that 70mm is rarely used or seen today, but its visual impact is spectacular, thanks to the size of the film stock with each frame two-and-a-half times the size of a normal 35mm film.

Better resolution and definition leads to brighter, sharper, more colourful images on screen: ideal for a film on the epic scale of David Lean's Oscar-winning Lawrence Of Arabia, filmed in 1962 in Super Panavision.

Lean's expansive account of the Arab revolt in the latter stages of the First World War and the duplicity of the Imperial powers introduced a bright new Irish star, Peter O'Toole, in the role of the still mysterious and controversial TE Lawrence, a character of half-hidden complexities and flaws.

So much for the film, now back to the delight of City Screen head projectionist Darren Briggs at concluding a search for a 70mm projector that began in January. "Being a fan of 70mm and large-screen formats for many years, I wanted to upgrade Screen 1 to 70mm as soon as I was given the chance," he says. "After a conversation with City Screen co-director and fellow 70mm fan Tony Jones, he gave me the go-ahead."

City Screen, York, plans to run a 70mm screening every four to six weeks, usually on Sunday afternoons but possibly late-night at weekends too for student fans of Eighties action movies such as Die Hard. Definitely coming next are Spartacus on November 3 then, provisionally, My Fair Lady on December 8.

Kenneth Branagh's four-hour version of Hamlet from 1990 and Ron Fricke's monumental Baraka - the last film to be made in 70mm in 1992 - will be on Darren's shopping list for future presentation. So too will the likes of the first 70mm movie, Oklahoma, from 1955; the 70mm re-release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey; Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Camelot, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and maybe a double bill of Alien and Aliens.

Darren is unashamedly sentimental for those 70mm days, even if there have been practical reasons for its disappearance. "It was better, it was clearer, and that's the reason it was used up till a decade ago but then digital came in to give you surround sound on 35mm, and many of the big old screens were turned into two, so that put an end to 70mm," he says.

"70mm was heavy, very heavy: it came in huge cases for protection, with larger spools, so it weighed four times as much - and it required more reels too! A film like Hamlet needed 20!"

Darren considers 70mm to be a format for enthusiasts. "There's a large cult following for these films at events such as the Bradford Film Festival's Widescreen Weekend," he says. "Now, all the projection team and all who have been involved in the task of bringing back 70mm for audiences to enjoy in York are looking forward to the first show on Sunday."

Advance ticket sales are brisk and the advice is to book pronto on 01904 541144. Usual City Screen prices apply.

Updated: 08:56 Friday, October 11, 2002