3D Movies

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's what the Ninth Edition of "Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion" has to
say about 3D.  I'm afraid it just muddies the waters further:

"Three-dimensional film-making had been tried in 1935 by MGM, as a gimmick
involving throwaway paper glasses with one red and one green eyepiece to
match the double image on the screen.  In 1953, Hollywood really got the
idea that this device would save an ailing industry, and a number of
cheap exploitation pictures were shot in 3-D before anyone got down to
the practical problem of renting out and collecting the necessary polaroid
spectacles, which threw cinema managers into fits.  _Bwana Devil_ was an
awful picture; _Man in the Dark_ and _Fort Ti_ were a shade better,
except that the action kept stopping for something to be hurled at the
audience; _House of Wax_, a Warner horror remake of _The Mystery of the
Wax Museum_, had better production values and seemed to catch on with the
public.  All the studios began to make 3-D films-- _Kiss Me Kate_, _The
Charge at Feather River_, _Dial M for Murder_, _Miss Sadie Thompson_,
_Sangaree_-- but by the time these were ready, interest had shifted to
Fox's new CinemaScope process, which although it gave no illusion of
depth was at least a different shape and didn't need glasses.  Nor did
it entail such problems as running both projectors at once, with
consequent intervals every twenty minutes; or long pauses when the film
broke in order to mutilate the second copy in precisely the same way; or
one machine running slower than the other, with gradual loss of
synchronization.  The remaining 3-D films were released 'flat', and the
industry breathed a sigh of relief.  So did the critics, who had wondered
whether they would ever again see a film which did not involve frequent
violent action.  The Russians did claim at the time that they were
inventing a 3-D process which would not require the use of glasses, but
we are still waiting for that.  In 1967 Arch Oboler made _The Bubble_ in
3-D and in 1970-71 there was a brief revival of interest in the process
as a promotion gimmick for cheap pornographic films.  It flared up again
in the early eighties as a medium for horror films and such shockers as
_Jaws 3-D_, while Hitchcock's 1954 _Dial M for Murder_ was shown for the
first time in the process.

A 1983 book, _Amazing 3-D_, was by Hal Morgan and Dan Symmes."

Unfortunately our film encyclopedia says only that _Creature_ was shot
in 3-D, but does not mention which process.  I know that anaglyph prints
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of the movie exist because I have seen it that way, but that doesn't
mean that the movie was originally released that way.  The above article
mentions both "polaroid" and "red and ... green" glasses, and so doesn't
really clear anything up either.

The bit about the Russian claim is interesting; does anyone know anything
about that?

	-Greg


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