How not to show a 3D film...let me count the ways

[P3D Robert Cruickshank <robcruic@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The other night I was subjected to a screening of Flesh For Frankenstein
(aka Andy Wharhol's Frankenstein), and I must say I can really sympathize
with audiences in the 50's whe were victims of bad projection. (I can't
totally fault the Bloor Cinema- I saw Dial M for Murder and House of Wax,
and both were fine (aside from some ghosting) Something was up with
Frankenstein , though- most of the film was actully shown flat, but
"behind a window" there was a little bit of depth in motion shots, which
was probably due to the of the left and right frames being
different enough (due to the motion) to show some depth *if* the camera
was moving the right way. Or maybe it was wishful thinking. There was a
collective gasp of surprise when, lo and behold, the film jumped into
actual stereo, for one reel- or as close as it could get- the frames were
badly misaligned vertically,  the plarizers were out of alignment
and one frame was really dark, but if you
held your head just right... then the film stoped the lighs came on for a
while, then we saw some leader, then back to the flat version, then some
more leader, the lights came on again...etc. Maybe twenty minutes were
actually in stereo. The scene with bats flying into the camera was flat,
as was the infamous "liver on a stick" scene. 
At one point I actully saw someone pull out a pair of anaglyph glasses to
see if they made things better!  
I was one of the few people who actually bothered to get my money
refunded- I think a lot of people were convinced that 3d really *does* 
mean
headaches and eyestrain. (My head sure hurt, but then, I had just watched
House of Wax sitting way too close. These films make a good double bill if
you want to have a "gee, I've seen that head before" theme, BTW)

I imagine the problems were caused by the frame sequence getting out of
whack after a splice- how exactly do single strip systems work, anyway? 
Apperently this print was Paul Morrisey's (the director) personal copy- I
wonder if he's watched it lately.  




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Rob Cruickshank                    robcruic@xxxxxxxxxxxx  
www.interlog.com/~robcruic
                



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