Re: The Mask in 3D

[Marvin Jones <72657.3276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>You got the name right... Slavko Vorkapich, who is probably better
>remembered for his work on films like "The Good Earth" (1937). I agree
>with you... anyone who would lump the Menzies film "Invaders From Mars" in
>with "Reefer Madness" or Ed Wood, Jr. films is film illiterate. I would
>also add incompetent to run a film festival. Menzies, who made "Things to
>Come" among others, created a low budget masterpiece in "Invaders From
>Mars." The film was originally designed to be shot in 3D, but it was not
>done. Rumors that a 3D print exists are just that... rumors. There is a
>surviving color print-- most people remember "Invaders..." as a b/w film,
>but it was originally released in color in 1953. It's a classy little
>piece of psychological horror from a child's pov. 

Hooray, Elliott! I agree that people are FAR too quick to categorize all "genre"
pictures as "bad" pictures, when they most certainly are not. I've even taken a
lot of heat for my own opinion that "Glen or Glenda" has some extremely creative
and truly brilliant documentary techniques, badly done only because of the
extreme low budget and time restrictions.  "Invaders from Mars" is considered a
classic among sci-fi buffs, and if you've never seen in the the original
SuperCinecolor, it is truly spectacular. But to answer the original question of
whether "The Mask" is worth a Friday night, the wrap-around film is not terribly
good, but the 3D sequences are very imaginative. They're so good, in fact, that
when I first saw the film years ago I assumed that they were lifted from some
other source, although it's obvious on reflection that they were not (there are
some cast members in both sets of scenes, for instance). Vorkapich was past his
prime when he filmed these scenes, but they still demonstrate the hand of a
thoughtful and creative filmmaker. (I was very sorry, incidentally, that
Vorkapich was no longer lecturing at USC when I was a film student there--his
theories were legendary among my professors.)


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