Gorrila at not so Large

[P3D Jonathan Orovitz <jorovitz@xxxxxxxxx>]

Since I have absolutely no knowledge of AMC's plans for "Gorilla at
Large" I feel fully qualified to chime in on the subject.  A few months
ago AMC showed the 1960 Canadian horror film "The Mask" with its
anaglyphic 3-D sections in B&W (flat).

As many people remember, there a was a mini-boom of interest in 3-D TV
in the 1982-83 period.  Several classic two-strip films, including
"Gorilla at Large," were reprinted as anaglyphs for the occasion.  Many
independent TV stations around the country showed them.  I was living in
San Francisco at the time.

In late 1982, James Gabbert, owner of San Francisco's TV channel 20,
arranged for a special broadcast of an electronically reprocessed print
of "Gorilla at Large."  The process, which also works real time, added
red and blue fringes to the images.  He hosted the showing using a
special stereo TV camera in the studio and a chimp as a guest.  A
special run of red and blue glasses featured a scratch-and-sniff bunch
of bananas between the lenses.

The full-color images looked reasonable without glasses. Anaglyhic
glasses did add depth in some scenes but spoiled the color.  The studio
antics were fun.  The film was just another stinker featuring a man in a
gorilla suit and actors whose time in the sun was ahead of them.

Sad to say, these fringed films do not transfer to VHS video tapes
well.  The fine detail of the fringes easily get lost at low speed
(EP).  Monochromatic 3-D films like "The Mask," with two-color
anaglyphic segments records surprisingly well.

BTW, S.F. Channel 44 beat out Gabbert by a week when they showed a
conventional anaglyphic print of the B&W "Creature from the Black
Lagoon."  Red and blue glasses were hot in the Bay area that week.

The last major TV broadcast of a color film converted to analgyphic
fringes was "Hondo" in 1991, starring John Wayne.

Jon O


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