House of Wax 3-D in Rochester

[P3D Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The May/June film schedule for the George Eastman House arrived the other
day.  Among the scheduled films are "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T" (so that's
how he keeps up with this list), "Last Tango in Paris" (Would someone please
pass the butter?), "Koyaanisqatsi" (One of my personal favorites!), and in
3-D, "House of Wax".  

Although I've seen this last film several times, including Atlanta in '95,
I'm always up for another showing.  Previous 3-D offerings from the GEH (The
Mask, It Came From Outer Space) have been shown in anaglyph, and since their
screen is white, I naturally assumed that this film would be anaglyph as
well.  Recent postings to this list however have indicated that a polarized
version of H.O.W. has been circulating, so I called GEH to check.

I spoke to one of their historians who told me that this would indeed be a
polarized projection, their first.  "Oh, so you got a silver screen?", I
asked.  He responded, "Well, a silver screen is used only because it
reflects more light to make up for that which is lost by projecting through
the polarizers.  We have really bright lamps, so a silver screen won't be
necessary."  (Yikes!) 

"Um, I am somewhat familiar with polarized projection, and the way I have
always understood it," I replied, "the  silver is required to prevent the
de-polarization that a white or beaded screen would effect."  He replied:
"Oh.  Well, we're going to test it, and if we need a silver screen we'll get
one.  Right now we're trying to get a prism adapter for the front of the
lens, needed for the side-by-side (on film) format."  I left it at that.

Anyhow, if anyone wants to see how they make out (I sure do), Saturday, May
31 at 8 PM at the Dryden Theater, George Eastman House, 900 East Avenue,
Rochester NY.   $5 admission; $4 for members and students.  Glasses provided.

Schedules for the other films should be on their website:
http://www.it.rit.edu/~gehouse

Best regards,
Bill Davis





------------------------------