Daily iPad App: Paramount100
2012 marks the 100th anniversary of Paramount Pictures, the company that brought you The Ten Commandments, Saturday Night Fever, the new Mission Impossible movie and hundreds of other cinematic treats.
In recognition of this milestone, Paramount100 has arrived on the App Store. P100 is a free, rather massive (376 MB) app with info on most of the Paramount films made in the last century. The app contains a reasonably complete history of the studio, loads of stills and clips from selected Paramount movies, and even some selections from the movie scores.
Unfortunately there are a lot of films missing. Seven Days in May, for example, a classic Oscar-nominated film released by Paramount, is nowhere to be found.
Some of the photos have never been seen before, and make for an interesting browsing experience. The app also contains a studio tour, but it is mainly a map and you can't click on locations to see some of the movie sets and studio interiors, which seems a rather large missed opportunity.
Adding to the misery is that every so often you click and the app demands a Flash player! Uh, this is an iPad app, right? Probably a port.
The app also gives you a chance to watch the movies, providing a helpful link to the iTunes store. Of course, they don't have all the movies Paramount has produced, so sometimes the link goes nowhere. There is also no search function, which, given the amount of material in the app, is downright silly. The app also says you can share content, so I tried to send a still from Forrest Gump to my email account. Nothing ever arrived in my in-box. When I looked at the message I tried to send it didn't contain the still, simply a link to the app at the Apple Store. That's not quite what the app implies you can do.
For all its faults, the app is loaded with information. Casts, crews, Oscar lists and a nice collection of rare stills are there for the browsing.
If you're a movie fan and have an iPad, Paramount100 is a fun trip down memory lane. I'm hoping it will get more complete, add some features, and eliminate any dependence on Flash.
The app is iPad only and requires iOS 4.0 or later. I have some screen shots in the gallery below.
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