P3D The MGM Audioscopic/Metroscopic 3-D Films

[Derek Gee <73157.2172@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Awhile back I promised to send this article to the list when it was
finished so here it
is.  If you know of any errors, please let me know...

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THE MGM AUDIOSCOPIC/METROSCOPIC 3-D FILMS by Derek Gee

After showing two of the MGM Audioscopic 3-D films in January, I was asked
by several people for more detail on the history of  those unique 3-D
films.
So by popular request...

In the mid-thirties, 3-D movie pioneers John Norling and Jacob Leventhal
began
experimenting with an anaglyph 3-D process using a two interlocked cameras.
Leventhal had previously worked with Eugene Ives during the early 1920's to
produce a series of short anaglyph 3-D films that started off being called
Plastigrams, but were later renamed Stereoscopics in 1925 when Pathe picked
up distribution of their shorts.  Norling and Leventhal's experiments were
successful
enough that they convinced Metro-Goldywn-Mayer to purchase their film
footage
to be released as a short subject.  The film was given to Pete Smith, head
of the
MGM short subject department, to edit into a releasable film.  Smith tagged
on a bit
at the front of the film explaining stereoscopy to the uninitiated, and
then proceeded
to add his smarmy narration to each short scene.  The film, Audioscopics,
was
released in 1936 in Technicolor using hand held glasses with filters that
were more
Turquoise and Magenta than the red and blue used in later films.  The film
suffers
from problems caused by objects being filmed too close to the camera for
the stereo
base selected.  The film was a success with the audiences and a sequal,
The New Audioscopics,  was created in 1938.

The New Audioscopics, featured more of the same short sketches as the first
film, but
had less of the improperly filmed close-ups of the first film.  Both of the
first two films
suffered from having no plot, and many of the gimmicks that people
associate with the
1950's 3-D films are used here including rollercoaster rides, car chases,
and gratitious use
of objects being poked through the stereo window.  I find the 3-D footage
of the car chase
and the rollercoaster rides particularly exciting since I enjoy
rollercoasters and I find the
car chase a nice little slice-of-time of the 1930's portrayed in 3-D.  This
film was a success for
MGM and another 3-D film was produced.

Third Dimensional Murder (aka Murder in 3-D) was released as the final
Norling-Leventhal film on
March 1, 1941.  The process was renamed Metroscopix because it supposedly
had some
improvements to it, although this is difficult to see from the final
product.  This film was completely
shot in a studio, but it does have a small plot about a detective trapped
in a spooky house.
The rest is just more stuff being poked at the camera along with more Pete
Smith
narration.  During the 3-D boom of the early 50's, all three of the above
shorts were
combined into a single film and released under the title, Metroscopics.  No
other films
were ever produced using the Audioscopics/Metroscopics moniker.
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