Maybe it shouldn't have been made but it was, nonetheless. The film was never released in the United States. It began as Milly Goes to Budapest but the title was changed to The Golden Head, which was probably a more marketable title but one having a variety of connotations. Cinerama, Inc. began production in 3-strip Cinerama but almost immediately changed to Technirama (AKA Super Technirama 70), much as George Stevens had begun The Greatest Story Ever Told in three-strip Cinerama and changed to Ultra Panavision 70.
Be that as it may, we are fortunate enough to have some production stills from the film that show the gigantic Technirama camera in its European sound blimp. The pictures are courtesy of Jim Kroeper, Epic Proportions.
The Golden Head has undergone an exhaustive remastering by Cinerama expert Dave Strohmaier from the 8-perf Technirama negative and five perf 65mm MCS 70 negative. The remastering looks wonderful considering the condition of the original elements. Technirama was used for most of the film but great as that system was it had no ultra wide angle optics which were essential for you-are-there POV type action scenes. The producers used German MCS 70 (Modern Camera Systems), a 65/70mm Todd-AO clone, for the film's big chase scene. As for the film itself, visuals aside, it's not a bad romp around Budapest. It's very much in the same vein as Disney's well made Emil and the Detectives. It's no classic but is pretty decent family fare. It should be available on Blu-ray in the near future. (Note: It will probably have been out on Blu-ray for five years before I finally realize that this text needs revision.)
