The Totalvision Company (French: La Société Totalvision) was a French corporation that specialized in the design and manufacturing of lenses, cameras, and projection systems primarily focused on anamorphic optics. It was founded in June 1954. Totalvision was created and managed by Georges Bonnerot and Elie Libman students of Professor Henri Chrétien. Circa 1956, the company experienced significant expansion to foreign markets. Totalvision cameras equipment and lenses were sold in East Germany (DDR), Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, China, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria.[1]

Totalvision was a competitor of Cinemascope in Europe, providing cheaper licensing fees to European markets while presenting cinematographers with equipment of equal or better quality. The system comprised a wide range of anamorphic lenses, from 32mm to 150mm, that created little distortion and made CinemaScope almost obsolete in Europe.[2][3][4]

France

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  • Cinematographers such as: Claude Renoir, Louis Page, Lucien Joulin, Michel Kelber and Henri Alekan used Totalvision equipment for their work. All cameras were equipped with specifically designed couplings allowing a single primary and anamorphic focusing.[1]
  • Totalvision created an affordable 16mm anamorphic projection lens under the brand of Ruralscope which was marketed and sold to movie theaters in rural France.[1]

Italy

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Polish-born director of photography/cinematographer Henryk Chroscicki bought rights to manufacture Totalvison's equipment in Italy and effectively became a rental house and a distributor for Italian filmmakers. More than 200 major films, including La Dolce Vita, and 300 documentaries have been shot with Totalvision equipment under the brand name of Totalscope.[2] Based on his ownership of rights for Totalvision equipment, Henryk Chroscicki developed the anamorphic lens system Technovision which made its first appearance in 1974.

Films Made with Totalvision

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Name Year Director Country
Move and I'll Shoot (Italian: Come te movi, te fulmino!) 1958 Mario Mattoli Italy
Lui, lei e il nonno 1959 Anton Giulio Majano Italy
First Spaceship on Venus (German: Der schweigende Stern) 1960 Kurt Maetzig East Germany
Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) 1961 Peter Palitzsch East Germany
Die Liebe und der Co-Pilot 1961 Richard Groschopp East Germany
A Monkey in Winter (French: Un singe en hiver) 1962 Henri Verneuil France
Die schwarze Galeere 1962 Martin Hellberg East Germany
The Flying Dutchman (German: Der fliegende Holländer) 1964 Joachim Herz East Germany
Mir nach, Canaillen[5] 1964 Ralf Kirsten East Germany
Preludio 11[6] 1964 Kurt Maetzig East Germany
Schwarzer Samt 1964 Heinz Thiel East Germany
Karla 1965 Herrmann Zschoche East Germany
Hands of a Gunfighter (Italian: Ocaso de un pistolero) 1965 Rafael Romero Marchent Italy
La longue marche[7][8] 1966 Alexandre Astruc France
The Sons of Great Bear (German: Die Söhne der großen Bärin) 1966 Josef Mach East Germany
Frozen Flashes (German: Die gefrorenen Blitze) 1967 János Veiczi East Germany
Frau Venus und ihr Teufel 1967 Ralf Kirsten East Germany
Gallery of Horror 1967 David L. Hewitt USA
Encrucijada para una monja 1967 Julio Buchs Spain
Mord am Montag 1968 Hans Kratzert East Germany
Heißer Sommer 1968 Joachim Hasler East Germany
Mit mir nicht, Madam! 1969 Roland Oehme East Germany
Lesbo 1969 Edoardo Mulargia Italy
Verdacht auf einen Toten 1969 Rainer Bär East Germany
Im Himmel ist doch Jahrmarkt 1969 Rolf Losansky East Germany
Tödlicher Irrtum 1970 Konrad Petzold East Germany
Netzwerk 1970 Ralf Kirsten East Germany
Tecumseh 1972 Hans Kratzert East Germany

See also

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c "Anamorphic shooting lens" (in French).
  2. ^ a b "INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS (Film Formats Page 3)".
  3. ^ Olivier Rousseau (2014). Les procédés anamorphiques français concurrents du CinemaScope (1953-1971) (in French).
  4. ^ Olivier Rousseau. Histoire technique des formats larges en France (1953-1969) : stratégies nationales face à l'innovation américaine du CinémaScope (in French).
  5. ^ "Mir nach, Canaillen (1964) Directed by Ralf Kirsten".
  6. ^ "Filmdatenbank: Preludio 11" (in German). 19 March 1964.
  7. ^ "La Longue marche". bifi.fr (in French). Cinémathèque Française. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  8. ^ "La Longue Marche". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2022-08-30.