Excerpt:
From their inception in the late 1800s, the movies have taken on many shapes and sizes, not just on the screen but also a variety of film gauges were used in the early days. Thomas Edison is generally credited with the creation of the 35mm format that became the norm. Edison and many others had also done work with 70mm and other film widths. The 35mm standard pioneered by Edison has remained almost unchanged. With a nearly square aspect ratio of 1.33:1, later altered to 1.37:1 in the early 1930s with the addition of sound on film, this frame shape is still seen on television, 8mm and 16mm film. Experiments with 56mm, 65mm, 70mm and other film widths were done throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s. A few films were produced in these larger formats but they quickly died as the depression made the expense to re-equip theatres with new projectors and screens an economic impossibility
Annotation:
This visually busy site includes three exhibits that should interest historians of film and sound technology. These pages include information about the technologies used in color and sound production as well as their history (Did you know that the first "talkie" was shown in Mobile, Alabama in 1926?). The site provides useful explanations of film technology for a non-technical audience and thus they can be followed by individuals unfamiliar with these processes. The site is not particularly academic, yet scholars will find a trove of images and a useful introduction to the subject. Full text documents include operating manuals, technical sketches, historic articles and handbooks.