Travis_W

The Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D at the Drive-In!

This past July 4th I caught a screening of The Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D at the drive-in. It was at the Route 66 Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois. I was suprised to see how well the 3D was, although I think it would have been a little better in a closed environment. We were told that this was the first time the new print had been screened for audiences and you could tell. Besides a moment of one scratch this was the cleanest I've seen the film. Has anybody else seen this yet or seen other old favorites at drive-ins recently?

I am Jack\'s empty signature bar.

Peter Apruzzese

They ran a double-system polarized print of Creature at a drive-in (doubtful)? Or did they run an anaglyph (red & blue glasses) print? If it was anaglyph, then you really *haven't* seen Creature in 3-D, as the polarized version is spectacular.

I'm sure it was fun, though, as Creature is a good film.

Movies the way they were meant to be seen: Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Peter Kline

Maybe that's the print that's going to be shown at the 3D festival in Hollywood in September if it was polarized.

Peter Apruzzese

I've never heard of a drive-in running polarized 3-D, but anything's possible.

Movies the way they were meant to be seen: Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Peter Kline

Peter,

Did you know that there was a drive-in that showed 3 panel Cinerama movies on a giant aluminum strip screen? Go here.

Peter Apruzzese

Thanks for the link - who would have believed Cinerama at a drive-in? You learn something every day. Damn, a 310-foot throw! I'd *love* to try and keep that focused every show - hope they had a telescope!

But considering how tight Universal is with rare prints, I can't imagine they'd send a drive-in a brand-new dual-system 3D print of Creature. I'm not even sure they're supplying the one for the CA festival.

Movies the way they were meant to be seen: Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Bob Furmanek

There were drive-ins running dual-strip Polarized 3-D back in 1953/1954.

I'm pretty sure this new print from Universal is anaglyph. The print at the World 3-D Film Expo in September will be in the original Polaroid format. As Pete said, there is a world of difference in the quality.

Bob

Steve Phillips

I saw the (rather poor) downconverted red/blue print of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 16mm at an outdoor venue a few years ago, and it was so dark you couldn't see a thing half the time.

These anaglyphs already ruin the films reputations, but showing them outside? Yuck!

I wonder if any drive-ins will be running SPY KIDS 3-D this summer since it is also using the low tech red/blue anaglyph format for the 3D sequences?

Peter Apruzzese

I knew I should have asked you first before I went off trying to be factual . Thanks for clearing that up, Bob.

Movies the way they were meant to be seen: Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre

Bob Furmanek

Any time Pete. I've gotten that information from vintage trade magazines like Boxoffice, Exhibitor and Motion Picture Herald. They're a real goldmine of information from that era!

Bob

Travis_W

I couldn't believe it was in 3D either. I doubt they showed it on two projectors though. Must have been an anaglyph print.

They had it double billed with 'The Matrix Reloaded'. Quite an odd double feature, eh?

I am Jack\'s empty signature bar.

Steve Phillips

Travis, anaglyph uses the red/blue glasses. If you wore those to watch it, as you very likely did, you would have seen a monochrome image with a pinkish tint.

Polarized presentations (either the dual projector or single strip versions, even some IMAX 3-D theatres) use clear gray lens glasses. A black and white movie such as CREATURE would appear in normal B/W 3-D.

A few of the older 3-D movies from the 1950's (usually the black and white ones) were downverted to red/blue anaglyph for re-issues, 16mm rentals, even TV showings. These newer prints were simple to exhibit, but usually looked awful!

I've seen both CREATURE and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 35mm and 16mm anaglyph a few times over the years. I think CREATURE fared better in the conversion, but still, it looked nothing like the original polarized version.