GENERAL PRESENTATION INFORMATION
Unless noted otherwise, all of our films are presented in Stereo Surround Dolby Digital, DTS Digital, Dolby SR or Dolby A. Some 70MM titles are presented in 6 track magnetic stereo with surround. Most films produced before 1953 were made in monophonic sound with NO surrounds. All films produced this way are presented in their original Mono sound at the Heights. SCREEN SIZES (Aspect ratio followed by width X height). 70MM: 22 X 11, Cinemascope: 23 X 11, 1.85: 22 X 13, 1.66: 18 X 13, 1.37: 16 X 13, 1.37 35mm full frame silent and 16mm: 14 X 11.


The Heights Theatre is one of the best-equipped venues for film presentation in the United States. Compared to the new trend of "theater gigaplex," our versatility surpasses the standard contemporary. At great expense we have improved upon the ordinary by pulling in pieces of equipment and the personnel to install and train operators to maintain some of the finest equipment ever used in modern cinema. At the Heights Theatre, we are capable of running  the standard film gauges of 16mm, 35mm and 70mm. If necessary the speeds of projection can be altered to fit the requirements of a specific presentation, examples being, early silent films, or the 70mm Todd-AO specials of the 50s. We have also installed a permanent Optoma 3000 Lumens video projector.

In the Heights booth is one of the finest examples of projectors ever built. Our Phillips Norelco model AAII combination 35-70mm machine was built between 1959 and 1966, and was designed to present the grand epics of the Todd-AO process including Around the World in 80 Days, South Pacific and Oklahoma! A short-lived process, albeit, but one of the best created for the presentation of motion pictures. This Dutch-designed and American-assembled machine is capable of handling both 35mm and 70mm film in either 24 or 30 frames per second, with 10 tracks of magnetic stereo sound.

By the mid-1970s, Norelco 35-70 projectors were phased out, due mainly to the high cost of 70mm film production and the fact that these machines were very expensive to purchase initially. So production was low. Originally designed and built in Holland by Phillips Norelco, the two AAII^Òs in use at the Heights have been rebuilt and are in use daily. Films can be fed to these machines from 2000- foot reels or off an automated platter system for continuous operation, depending on the type of presentation.

Also in the booth is a 16mm Phillips Norelco projector for the presentation of some silent films not available on standard 35mm, and films solely made in the 16mm format, such as many local independent and student works, and some vintage television programs.

All equipment is kept in excellent operating condition by T.J. Hopland of Bright Star Systems, and is checked regularly with the proper test films for sound and image quality. Presentation with the proper illumination and fidelity with a little bit of style thrown in is very important, and we're doing our best to bring this back to theatre-going in the Twin Cities. In certain instances we can do Video, 28mm and 9.5mm presentations with portable equipment from the main floor.

-- Rich Landre

Rich Landre is a 40-year veteran in the U. S. film industry, and native of Nordeast. During the 1960s he was a substitute projectionist around the Twin Cities operating and servicing equipment at the Heights, Hollywood and Ritz Theatres. Locally he is known for his theatre installation work at the Minneapolis Orpheum and State Theatres, Walker Art Center and F. Scott Fitzgerald in St. Paul. When he isn't guarding the popcorn bin at the Heights, he can be found at the Historic Paramount Theatre projection booth in Austin, Minn.

If you would like a private tour of our booth just email us ahead of time with a specific show and time that you will be attending and we will try our best to honor your request.