3D 20th Century Fox 3-D (1 Viewer)

[Richard--W]

So far as I know offhand Fox produced only two stereoscopic films in the classic era:

Inferno is a personal favorite, an under-rated film noir along the lines of Bad Day At Black Rock, which it resembles, and directed by the under-rated Roy Ward Baker who would later helm the remarkable A Night to Remember.. Baker works the landscape to get the most out of 3-D. The stereoscope cinematography in Death Valley by Lucien Ballard is worth seeing.
Gorilla At Large has been released flat on DVD. It's a well-produced B movie and a hoot for audiences, but the stereoscopic photography achieves perfection and surpasses many A-budget 3-D films.
For sheer camerawork these are two of the best 3-D films, and they are beautifully preserved.

 

[Richard--W]

In September 1960, six years after Cinemascope defeated 3-D as the exhibitor's choice, Fox released a romantic adventure that combined CinemaScope with Stereo-Vision. It boasted an A-budget, a script by veteran noirest Steve Fisher from a story by influential crime novelist W.R. Burnett, extensive underwater 3-D photography, and direction by the great Byron Haskin:

A page out of the pressbook showing admats for the film:

So far as I know September Storm has not been restored nor screened in 3-D since its initial release.
If Fox transferred their stereoscopic films onto Blu-ray I'm confident they'd have three winners.

 

[Charles Smith]

Mouthwatering.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

So far as I know offhand Fox produced only two stereoscopic films in the classic era:

Inferno is a personal favorite, an under-rated film noir along the lines of Bad Day At Black Rock, which it resembles, and directed by the under-rated Roy Ward Baker who would later helm the remarkable A Night to Remember.. Baker works the landscape to get the most out of 3-D. The stereoscope cinematography in Death Valley by Lucien Ballard is worth seeing.
Gorilla At Large has been released flat on DVD. It's a well-produced B movie and a hoot for audiences, but the stereoscopic photography achieves perfection and surpasses many A-budget 3-D films.
For sheer camerawork these are two of the best 3-D films, and they are beautifully preserved.

INFERNO is brilliant. Have seen projected in 3-D twice at Film Forum over the years. I own a 2-D Spanish DVD...this is a film that stands on its own without the 3-D effects.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

SEPTEMBER STORM is no longer owned by Fox. The elements may not exist. They've never been inspected and the distributor had no interest in allowing access.
Bob Furmanek
Vice President
3-D Film Preservation Fund
http://www.3dfilmpf.org/

 

[Jon Lidolt]

SEPTEMBER STORM is no longer owned by Fox. The elements may not exist. They've never been inspected and the distributor had no interest in allowing access.
Bob Furmanek
Vice President
3-D Film Preservation Fund
http://www.3dfilmpf.org/

I saw September Storm in 3-D at the Oriental theatre in Chicago when it was first released and remember it as the worst 3-D movie I'd ever seen. A boring mess. On the other hand, almost all of the stereo films made in the 50's resulted in far more realistic looking images than almost anything produced in this digital era. And that includes the highly regarded Avatar.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

VERY interesting Jon, thanks for sharing that memory. The reviews at the time of release were not very kind either. I've only seen it flat, pan and scan so I really can't judge the qualities of the cinematography, but the story itself was a bit of a snooze.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

I remember in the 80's for months and months one channel here (channel 12 CTV ) had prepared the population
of Montreal for a special event fow which they sold 3d glasses in all the depanneurs ( the 7-11's ) so almost everyone in Montreal
had bought them and watched Gorilla at large.I can't remember if the experiment was a success or a failure.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

They may have sold a lot of glasses but technically, it was a failure. The poor quality anaglyph red/blue image was a far cry from the films original Technicolor/Polaroid presentation.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

i thought that was probably the case.

 

[Richard--W]

Hondo was also broadcast in anaglyph 3-D in 1989 or 1990 or thereabouts. 7-11 sold red and blue cardboard glasses. I'm told they sold a lot of glasses -- several to me -- but technically the broadcast was a failure. Muddy and dim although it was nice to see the film again. The red and blue gels don't bring out the depth so much as break-up separation, and the human eye begins to compensate anyhow. I tape recorded it all three time it aired and still have the tapes, and the glasses.
Think of all the people who were mis-informed about 3-D from this ill-advised broadcast.

 

[Richard--W]

I saw September Storm in 3-D at the Oriental theatre in Chicago when it was first released and remember it as the worst 3-D movie I'd ever seen. A boring mess. On the other hand, almost all of the stereo films made in the 50's resulted in far more realistic looking images than almost anything produced in this digital era. And that includes the highly regarded Avatar.

Perhaps, if the owner of September Storm could be negotiated with, and the elements were properly restored and transferred, a better stereoscopic film could be had over the projection you saw. It's possible. The people who made the film were not hacks. I don't mind an occasional soap opera;and there were a lot of them at the time (Peyton Place and Return to Peyton Place, etc).

 

[Bob Furmanek]

I agree but they wouldn't even allow access in 2005 when we were looking for new titles for Expo 2, so I'm not optimistic.

 

[Matt Hough]

I also remember clearly those anaglyph TV presentations and watched them and didn't enjoy them especially since I had seen reissues of Dial 'M' and House of Wax and Creature from the Black Lagoon during the second 3D craze of 1983-84.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

In addition to the inferior quality, they virtually cemented the belief in peoples minds that 3-D movies of the 1950's were all anaglyph. Even the venerable Roger Ebert repeats that myth.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

You'll note the hype for stereophonic sound on the posters for INFERNO. That added sense of realism was an important part of 3-D movies in 1953 and aproximately 20 features were released with 3 channel stereophonic sound. Sadly, only three survive and one of those is incomplete.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by Bob Furmanek /t/314334/20th-century-fox-3-d#post_3846930
In addition to the inferior quality, they virtually cemented the belief in peoples minds that 3-D movies of the 1950's were all anaglyph. Even the venerable Roger Ebert repeats that myth.

I never trust anything Roger Ebert says about 3-D, based on his visceral hatred for it.

It would be interesting to see September Storm based solely on the combination of Cinemascope and polarized 3-D. Even today they don't mix the scope ratio with 3-D (although IIRC some of the 1980s titles did).

 

[Bob Furmanek]

I agree although we are pretty sure that it was not shot anamorphic. It used the Natural Vision camera rig (same as HOUSE OF WAX) and that rig could not have been modified for a scope lens. We believe it was framed for 2.35 but shot full frame and optically converted. An inspection of the elements would need to done but they are not available.

 

[Jon Lidolt]

You'll note the hype for stereophonic sound on the posters for INFERNO. That added sense of realism was an important part of 3-D movies in 1953 and aproximately 20 features were released with 3 channel stereophonic sound. Sadly, only three survive and one of those is incomplete.

Bob, I'm curious if one of the surviving 3 channel stereo tracks is for the 3D film Kiss Me Kate.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Yes Jon, KISS ME KATE and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE are complete. HOUSE OF WAX has the original surround channel only.