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3D was never dead. It was just forgotten.
I was not old enough to live through the heyday of 3D during the 1950s. I don’t think up until recently, I ever had the opportunity to watch a film in the 3D format other than sampling some amateur showing that involved the use of cardboard anaglyph glasses.
Yet, today, I have become one of the strongest proponents for the advancement of the new 3D format. How did this happen? I was one of the first in a group back in 2007 to see an early prototype 3D display at Panasonic. After sampling some demo material, I had complete faith that this technology would be responsible for a complete resurgence of 3D both theatrically and in the home.
For the most part, 3D has become hugely successful. Over recent years, Hollywood has ramped up their efforts to either shoot films natively in 3D or take their 2D material and upconvert it in post-production. Theatrical releases translate into home video releases, and as such, today consumers have a sizeable assortment of 3D Blu-ray titles that they can enjoy on their displays.
The biggest problem I find with today’s 3D technology is that it isn’t used to potential. Studios are finding it cheaper to upconvert 2D films into 3D. The results are generally not great. These films have problems with varying degrees of depth, and there is absolutely nothing projected towards the audience. Filmmakers that film natively in 3D, carefully choreograph their shots to maximize depth perception, but often play it too safe by not throwing in enough “gimmicks” that make the film a more immersive, fun experience.
How many of us remember our visits to Disney World, watching 3D exhibitions with Michael Jackson or The Muppets, where objects projected out of the screen, coming inches before our face. These are the 3D experiences that bring the fondest memories, yet they are sadly missing from theatrical movies of today.
If you are wondering where all this is leading up to, please read on….
Meeting Bob Furmanek
This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Bob Furmanek, President of the 3-D Film archive, an organization that saves and restores lost 3D materials. Our afternoon together was a complete “eye-opener” for someone like myself who not only had little knowledge of classic 3D, but was under the misconception that the format actually first appeared during the 1950s.
What I had learned was that the first 3D presentation to an audience happened in 1915 with feature films making their appearance as early as 1922.
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One of the first demos that Mr. Furmanek showed me, was a 3D short entitled, Thrills For You that was shot with a Polaroid system in 1939 and presented at the Pennsylvania Railroad exhibit during the Golden Gate Exposition in 1940. The short had been restored from its original 35mm print and transferred to Blu-ray disc. Watching this short -- which was essentially a promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad – I was quite pleased with the amount of depth that was present. In fact, I was actually amazed that I was watching 3D from the 1930s that clearly, by that time, already had been refined.
I was then taken back even earlier, as I was shown a clip of Lumiere’s L’Ariveé d’un Train, which was shot in 1934. Those of you familiar with film history, know this famous film was originally shot in 1895. It was then re-shot with a stereoscopic film camera 39 years later. Though the footage I watched was rather crude, it was still quite amazing to see that indeed, the perception of depth was present.
Our look at earlier 3D efforts was capped off with a viewing of Motor Rhythm, the first full-color 3D film which made its premier at the World’s Fair in 1940. This animated short, beautifully restored, is a rather fun look at the building of an automobile complete with parts that move in and out of the screen.
As we moved on to the material of the 1950s, my heart began to race. We were about to enter the heyday of 3D cinema when the format was fully realized and being used to its full potential. This was the age of “gimmickry” and films spared no expense to exploit it.
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We began with a 1954 B&W Pinky Lee short called Hawaiian Nights. This unknown short was discovered while Mr. Furmanek was doing research at Universal in 1990. At the time of this short, Pinky was already a television star with his own primetime variety show on NBC. Hawaiian Nights was a great showcase for the comedian and for the 3D format itself, which featured some of the most effective 3D pop-out effects that I had seen all afternoon. As a cast of beauty pageant girls danced, their waving arms extended outwards, inches away from me. I experienced the same level of satisfaction when Hawaiian Natives lunged spears that protruded from the screen almost seemingly striking my body. Of course, the effects would have been minimalized if not for the exceptional restoration work that has been done on this short by the 3-D film archive. Despite its excellent use of the stereoscopic system, it was never shown in 3D due to public apathy towards the process when released in early 1954.
Though 3D received its share of bad press when people complained about headaches while viewing it, truth be, the Polaroid Corporation conducted field tests in the fall of 1953 and discovered that 50% of all 3D presentations were either out of sync our out of phase. The sync control units they introduced solved those problems, but by then it was too late. People had been burnt and weren’t going back. 3D glasses had become box-office poison. It was at the same time that Zanuck and Fox were introducing The Robe in Cinemascope, a process promoted as “the Modern Miracle you see without glasses.
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Next up, were samplings of popular (and not so) 50s Sci-Fi classics, It Came From Outer Space and Robot Monster. Both looked quite good with the amount of added depth the format provides. Explosive effects usually contained debris that effectively hurdled themselves towards the camera.
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Next, we watched trailers from 3D feature films that included 1953’s The Maze and Miss Sadie Thompson. I also had the opportunity to view introductory shorts (in 3D) that preceded features Robot Monster(1953) and Bwana Devil(1952). The previously lost 3-D short Stardust in Your Eyes (1953) features a song and comedy routine by Slick Slaven, who demonstrates how your favorite stars are going to appear in the new 3-D movies..
Moving forward, we sampled a clip from a 1961 Warner Bros. feature entitled, The Mask, originally only seen in anaglyph, which was an attempt to revitalize the 3D craze. Unfortunately, I think the film was a bit over-the-top with its hallucinations of demons and ghostly spirits for audiences to really attach themselves to it. Still, an interesting watch and the 3D was quite convincing.
The final clip of the evening was a major 3D feature from 1953, lavishly produced in Technicolor, which made the 3D effects even more soothing to the eyes. I don’t want to mention the particular feature publicly at the moment, but I did want to point out that as I watched this beautiful color production, I could only imagine how much better it would look on Blu-ray.
The Startling Discovery
I now completely understand why there are so many members of Home Theater Forum begging for the studios to dig deep into their libraries and release feature films from the 1950s.
This was the pinnacle era of 3D. These are films that rival, and in some cases, surpass the 3D features we see today. This was a time when nobody played it safe with the format.
This is the 3D I had been longing for!
The amazing thing is, I haven’t even scratched the surface with these films from the golden age of 3D cinema. These samplings that I experienced through Mr. Furmanek has only whet my appetite for films like Creature From The Black Lagoon, It Came From Outer Space, House of Wax and Man in The Dark (to name just a few).
I think a lot of what Hollywood is calling 3D these days, is in many ways, mediocre. I can clearly see there is a growing need for the studios to reach into the vaults and make these classic features available.
Additionally, there is a wealth of rare 3D finds that Robert Furmanek and the 3-D Film Archive have been actively restoring in hopes of finding a means of distribution to the public. Instead of collectors having to seek out bad bootlegs of these rarities, it is Mr. Furmanek’s hope that newly restored copies could find their way into the hands of those that would appreciate them the most.
Having the opportunity to view before/after clips showcasing the Archive’s unique restoration techniques, I was quite pleased to see that they were able to take mis-aligned, shrunken and faded 3D elements and beautifully restore the 3D image. In some cases where problems existed with the camera rig, they were able to fine-tune and make the 3D image flawless. I was confident that with their techniques, any vintage stereoscopic image could look its very best.
Until these features and shorts are released, the public really hasn’t experienced the best this format has to offer.
Is there something we can do to make it known we are very interested in these classic titles on 3D Blu ray?
