Aspect Ratio refers to the ratio of frame width to frame height. The dimensions were set early with the 1st film camera at approximately 4 to 3 yielding an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. When sound came the soundtrack was placed on the side of the filmstrip.

The Academy Ratio: 1.33

Cinerama, with its 3 synchronized cameras, was too cumbersome to replace the Academy Ratio format. The industry needed to find a workable process for widescreen to compete with TV.

Paramount took a film shot in Academy Ratio, chopped off the top and bottom of the frame, and blew it up to a 1.66 wide screen aspect ratio.

An anamorphic lens “squeezes” a wide image onto 35mm film. A correcting lens on the projector
“unsqueezes” the image onto the screen in a widescreen format.

Widescreen encouraged the use of longer takes laying the groundwork for a new film aesthetic switching emphasis from editing to shooting with ensemble acting.

The genre that benefited most from the color, widescreen, inflation of the 1950s was the Western, where landscape provides a naturally important element.

The heroic Westerns of John Ford, where good guys were good and bad guys were bad remained popular.

But they were gradually replaced by adult Westerns which concentrated on character psychological and moral conflicts of the hero in relation to society

The inflation of production values also brought the biblical epic back to prominence after it laid dormant for twenty years. Color, widescreen and surround sound allowed for the sweeping landscapes, ancient architecture and rousing action set pieces to be brought to life in these films.

some say that in the mid and late 1950s, musicals, getting the big production treatment, became bloated as they abandoned original scripts in favor of Broadway plays, featured stars who weren’t skilled singers or dancers, and used directors who had never directed a musical before.

Contrast that with the musicals of the early 1950s when MGM producer Arthur Freed had assembled a talented team of directors, choreographers, and performers that churned out stellar medium-budget hit musicals.

While there were science fantasy films from the beginning of cinema, before WWII the films concentrated on individual conflicts.

With the threat of nuclear war came the realization that science and technology could influence the destiny of humanity.

This brought about the modern science fiction film with its emphasis on global catastrophe.

The first important example of Science Fiction in the 1950s was Destination Moon. Destination Moon wins Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

All the decade's science-fiction contained an element of dread, but The Thing brought about a popular cycle of films about monsters and mutations produced by nuclear radiation or that arrived from outer space.

Most monster films of the 1950s were made by American International Pictures.