BUM WRAP

Sunday’s letter from Luis-Manuel Meza de la Torre criticizing the projection facilities at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome should not go unchallenged.

The Dome is one of the few remaining venues where movies are presented at their full-blown best, returning us to the glory days of big screens when moviegoing was truly “an event”--unlike today’s videos, dilapidated theaters and multiplex crackerboxes, which have reduced movies to their visual worst.

If the wraparound screen is somewhat soft on the edges, it nonetheless pulls us into the theatrical experience like few others and is well worth the trade-off. No annoying pre-show ads; perfect sight lines; dramatic sound levels and, above all, that enormous screen: All add up to an extraordinary theatrical environment which should be praised, not vilified. KENT WILSON

Hollywood

As a big fan of the Cinerama Dome, and as a former projectionist and theater manager myself, I can firmly state that any focusing problems at the Dome are the result of sloppy projection rather than an inherent flaw in the theater’s design. Next time Mr. De la Torre sees a blurry wide-screen image (a problem certainly not unique to the Dome), I suggest that he not accept life for what it offers him and that he instead get off his duff and complain. DOUG HAINES

Los Angeles