3D Meet Bob Furmanek: HTF Golden Age 3-D Consultant (3 Viewers)

[Bob Furmanek]

You're not just throwing the bull, are you?

 

[Doug Bull]

Hey Bob, not talking about me are you.

I'm pretty sure that "Arena" was my third 3D movie experience back in the fifties. (preceded by Bwana Devil & Kiss Me Kate)
Certainly it would be nice to see it again.

whoops, fourth 3D experience.
I forgot about the short subject "Metroscopix"

"Metroscopix" or "Audioscopics" owned by Warners would make a great extra for any future 3D Blu-ray release.
Plenty of pop-outs there.

How about it George.

 

[Doug Bull]

Sadly not everybody in Australia got to see "ARENA" in 3D.

It had a short exclusive 3D run in a couple of the bigger cities here but was quickly reduced to a 2D support feature thereafter.

Unfortunately this is all it got in Tasmania.

 

[GregK]

You're not just throwing the bull, are you?

Arena-web.jpg

That's a great ARENA publicity pic, Bob! Have never seen that one before.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Hey Bob, not talking about me are you.

No, that never crossed my mind!

That's a great ARENA publicity pic, Bob! Have never seen that one before.

I've got a bunch of others. Here's a dandy from KATE. It's good to see them use a wide screen!

 

[Ejanss]

Moments like Ann Miller's scarf in the scorching "Too Darn Hot" number, Tommy Rall's foot during the "Why Can't You Behave" rooftop dance, Kathryn Grayson's Beer Tankard in the "I Hate Men" sequence and the most memorable moment of all when both Howard Keel & Kathryn Grayson emerge from the screen to float out over the audience at the end of the film. God I love that movie.

And Howard Keel sitting way out in front of the stage to talk "to" the audience, during Petruchio's soliloquy.Never saw it in 3D yet, but boy, can I imagine.

I don't want something thrown at me every five minutes ("Comin' at Ya" style) and very few of the 1950's titles are guilty of this. MAN IN THE DARK is one of the most aggressive so it will certainly please the audience that wants "pop out." Each studio had their own policy and Columbia was one of the more proactive with this aspect of stereo cinematography.

A couple months ago, I had the cable-guy come in (yes, it was Comcast sticking me with that stupid box), and he turned out to have a university education about just about EVERYTHING connected with TV--
He noticed it was a 3DTV, and we got to talking about that; I tried playing the early-adopter evangelism card for cool points--about how Active was better than Passive, etc.--and he started making me feel like a total newbie shmuck by throwing back scientific explanations about when and where 3D sometimes doesn't work.

Apparently, our eyes don't see 3D the majority of the time--It only happens when we focus our attention on an object, and then it takes the brain a split-second pause to register it as a solid object. If we see something out of the peripheral corner of one eye without noticing, we still sense it as a "flat" 2D picture, until we turn and focus both our stereo eyes on it, and the brain has to adjust and process the information.
When something comes "flying" out of 3D screen, like an arrow or a bucket of water, our eyes DON"T have that split-second time to process that it's a solid object coming into our living room--That's why the jump-boo of "thrown" stuff doesn't work, and just comes off as a blur that we have to rewind and freeze-frame to see whether or not it did. On the contrary, if I'm watching IMAX: Legend of Flight, and can see a long, scenic shot of a Harrier jump-jet sticking its nose a foot into the living room, I can sit and savor a movie breaking the "fourth-wall" for real.
There is no "good" or "bad" 3D, just those who know how to use it. Which applies as much to the post-Avatar "depth" slaves as to the 80's "thrown stuff" hucksters. And the fun part of the 50's was that they had to figure all this out themselves.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Ralph Kramden did say he was "waiting for 3-D television" back in 1955.

 

[Charles Smith]

The man knew whereof he spoke!

 

[Ejanss]

Ralph Kramden did say he was "waiting for 3-D television" back in 1955.

Alice: "So, are you waiting for 3-D refrigerators too?"

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Ansco color for the home 16mm market: February 1946

 

[Doug Bull]

I shot some 8mm home movies in Ansco Color back in the early sixties.
It certainly looked a lot different to the most commonly used Kodachrome.
I remember I liked it.

Last time I looked, a couple of years ago, there was no fade.

( I didn't use one of these super 8 cartridges )

 

[Bob Furmanek]

November 25, 1935

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Happy Halloween from the 3-D Film Archive.

This photo is too darn hot!

 

[Charles Smith]

And a Happy Halloween to you, sir!

 

[Reed Grele]

HAPPY 3D HALLOWEEN!!!

I'll be watching HOUSE OF WAX (again) to celebrate.

 

[Charles Smith]

Oh, excellent idea!!!

 

[Bob Furmanek]

We remember Audrey Totter, 1917 - 2013. She graced the stereoscopic silver screen in MAN IN THE DARK.

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-passings-20131214,0,7065147.story#axzz2nU27yWJX

May she rest in peace.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Awww, first Eleanor Parker and now Audrey Totter. What a sweet lady she was the few times I met her! And who can forget LADY IN THE LAKE where she had a most difficult role because she had to play directly into the camera so much of the time?

I remember the first time she I saw her at an L.A. Cinecon convention in the early 90s. She and director Robert Wise were guests for a screening of THE SET-UP, in which she starred with Robert Ryan as the wife of a down on his luck boxer. After the film, there was a Q&A session with Ms. Totter and Mr. Wise. I remember one question: "Miss Totter, I loved the look you had on your face [in the film] when you stopped on that bridge and stared bleakly down below. We didn't know what you were thinking at that point or whether or not you were going to jump. What was going through you mind as you were filming that shot?"

Ms. Totter faltered for a moment and muttered "I don't remember..." when Mr. Wise piped in with "When's that SOB gonna call 'Lunch!'"

 

[Doug Bull]

Audrey Totter was a very underrated actress.
I always enjoyed her work.

At least MGM thought Audrey important enough as to always feature her in their "More Stars than in Heaven" closing sequences in the "Romance Of Celluloid" Studio promotional series of short subjects.

Here's a small newspaper ad for Man in the Dark.