To Fly!
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To Fly!
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1995.
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To Fly! is a 1976 American short docudrama film directed by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman of MacGillivray Freeman Films, who wrote the story with Francis Thompson, Robert M. Young, and Arthur Zegart. It premiered at the giant-screen IMAX theater of the National Air and Space Museum, which opened to celebrate the United States Bicentennial. The film chronicles the history of aviation in the US, with a narration written by Thomas McGrath. Thematically, it explores the search for national identity through the country's westward expansion as well as humanity's relationship with aviation.
Why It Rocks
- It's one of the earliest IMAX films (which basically combines Todd-AO and VistaVision by running 65mm stock horizontally through cameras, which gives their process a negative area equal to three standard 65mm frames -- or a very big picture), and one of many released in between 1970 and 1976. The film's success helped legitimize large-format films, particularly IMAX.
- The main reason the documentary was formed was because the Smithsonian Institution wanted a film to open its new National Air and Space Museum, timed to coincide with the United States' bicentennial (200 years: 1776-1976). The museum's setting and historic occasion helped determine the shape of the film, which would provide an account of the history of aviation. Work started as early as 1974, set to be done by 1976.
- The film opens on a majestic bank of clouds, showing off all the strengths of the IMAX system, then introduces a hot-air balloon ride, supposedly taking place in 1831. While the writing here and throughout the film is perfunctory, the cinematography is stunning. Since earlier IMAX viewers complained of motion sickness, the filmmakers here refrained from quick cutting and from rapid camera movement. “You want the shots to last a long time,” MacGillivray said later. “The audience wants to be there."
- The point of view in To Fly! is stately, processional, celebrating the American landscape while remaining distant from it. At least until a scene in which the camera, peering downward, seems to float above a river, and then extends out and over the edge of a tumbling waterfall that fills the entire frame. Even in smaller formats, it’s a breathtaking shot, one that induced gasps from viewers.
- The rest of the film, whether consciously or not, mimics the closing section of This Is Cinerama. Like that film, To Fly! tours the country, showing scenic vistas without having much to say about them, apart from stirring up some patriotic empathy. Conestoga wagons, trains, cars and biplanes slide by as the film journeys from coast to coast. At about twelve minutes into the film, the frame splits into multiple frames in order to include non-IMAX footage, now a standard practice in large-format films. (Blown up to IMAX proportions, normal footage would appear too blurry and out-of-focus.)