3D Meet Bob Furmanek: HTF Golden Age 3-D Consultant (2 Viewers)

[Bob Furmanek]

There's not much to announce other than it's on the operating table as we speak.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

*Pictures Bob, Greg Kintz et al in safety goggles and masks carefully handling film elements with tweezers and white gloves as they check for bad splices, vinegar syndrome, shrinkage, slugs of missing footage, etc.*

 

[Bob Furmanek]

You're not too far off-base, Stephen!

I had a fabulous time presenting "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" in 35mm widescreen last Saturday at the Packard Campus Theatre in Culpeper, VA. While there, I took off the Bud and Lou hat for a few days; got into 3-D mode and dug deep into the Library of Congress film archive.

Thanks to the invaluable assistance (and heavy lifting) of Geo. Willeman, Lynanne Schweighofer, Jenny Paxson and Larry Smith, some incredibly rare 3-D treasures were found in the vaults. They include a previously lost and significant demo film from 1951 and if all goes well, we hope to include it on our 3-D RARITIES II release next summer!

 

[John Hermes]

There's not much to announce other than it's on the operating table as we speak.

You can rebuild it. You have the technology. You can make it better than it was. Better, stronger, faster...just hopefully it doesn't cost you $6 million.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

A film, barely alive...

 

[3D Projectionist]

Very nice picture

 

[Johnny Angell]

Yes, I did and it's excellent.

My apologies for the delay. We're working on a super-tight deadline (locked-in contractually) on a most important restoration that is going to make many people very happy.

I cannot share any details.

No Comment Until the Time Limit is Up...​

The latest Tease-O-Rama begins!

Bob, I, the jury find you guilty of keeping us in suspense!

I can always rely on this thread to provide frustrating posts that are eventually fulfilled.

Ed, this is for you: https://movieposters.ha.com/itm/inv...001.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Oh how I wish I had the money.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Ed, this is for you: https://movieposters.ha.com/itm/inv...001.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

One of the three pumpkins I carved this year.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Thanks to the invaluable assistance (and heavy lifting) of Geo. Willeman, Lynanne Schweighofer, Jenny Paxson and Larry Smith, some incredibly rare 3-D treasures were found in the vaults.

I had the unbelievable privilege to volunteer in the LoC nitrate vaults with George for a year during the late 1990's when they were still located in an old WWII-era vault on Wright-Patterson AFB. I learned more about film history in that year than a lot of folks learn in a lifetime. It was truly one of the highlights of my life.

 

[Patrick McNeal_274288]

This was scheduled to be released yesterday, but now my preorder has been changed to December 28. Any word on the delay? Is it still coming?

 

[RolandL]

You're not too far off-base, Stephen!

I had a fabulous time presenting "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" in 35mm widescreen last Saturday at the Packard Campus Theatre in Culpeper, VA. While there, I took off the Bud and Lou hat for a few days; got into 3-D mode and dug deep into the Library of Congress film archive.

Thanks to the invaluable assistance (and heavy lifting) of Geo. Willeman, Lynanne Schweighofer, Jenny Paxson and Larry Smith, some incredibly rare 3-D treasures were found in the vaults. They include a previously lost and significant demo film from 1951 and if all goes well, we hope to include it on our 3-D RARITIES II release next summer!

View attachment 41623

Is that the same Larry Smith, that was manager and co-owner of the New Neon theatre in the late 90's when it was a Cinerama theatre? Also head of the Cinerama Preservation Society? I wonder if Quentin Tarantino seeing Cinerama at that theatre had anything to do with filming The Hateful Eight in Ultra Panavision?

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Yes, the same Larry Smith!

Patrick, the official release date for CEASE FIRE is November 21.

 

[Camps]

Just got my Kino blu of Cease Fire. Another great job by the good folks at 3D Film Archive!

The 3D depth and separation are outstanding -- literally! The opening credits seemed to protrude halfway into my living room.

If you're 3D-equipped, or a fan of classic war movies, this is a must-have!

Can't wait for The Maze...... and more classic 3D!

 

[3D Projectionist]

My international delivery may take a little longer but oh so looking forward to it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This will be a familiar story:

The latest 3D Film Archive restoration came out yesterday, and I thought I'd sample a few minutes before bed. As always seems to happen, I got so sucked into the thing that I watched "Cease Fire" in its entirety. I don't have time for a fully in-depth review this second (though will try to get one into my blind buy thread as soon as possible), but I wanted to say that it's yet another impressive disc from Bob and Co.

Among the things to love:
-The 3.0 soundtrack restoration was fantastic, with some nice directional dialogue throughout
-The restoration is nearly flawless, with a very clean, clear, stable and detailed image
-The 3D alignment is flawless
-The pop-outs that are in the film are massively effective
-The depth is some of the very best I've ever seen, with wonderful layering and separation of objections

The movie itself was an interesting time capsule to a very specific time and place, and it was interesting to see myself someplace I'll obviously never have a chance to be.

This is an easy disc to recommend that I believe will be very satisfying to fans of previous 3D Film Archive projects.

 

[Mike Ballew]

By now, most of you know what there is to know about the story and the production history of CEASE FIRE. The outstanding production research by Bob Furmanek and Jack Theakston, and the very moving essay by Ted Okuda, have brought more to light in the last six months than all the prior sixty years of film scholarship. Many of you will have seen the film for yourselves, thanks to Kino Lorber's sterling Blu-ray release.

The first time I ever saw CEASE FIRE, I was privileged to view it in two-strip Polaroid 3-D. This was in the very closing hours of World 3-D Film Expo II, as I recall, when "festival fatigue" was bound to cloud my appreciation for any film, let alone one so unconventional, in its way. I did not exactly fall in love with CEASE FIRE in that first viewing.

Since then, I've seen the film twice in 2-D, once on cable television, once in streaming format. Neither encounter left a deep impression.

But as so often happens-- as we have seen again and again with a whole range of films these past three years-- a proper 3-D presentation in comfortable viewing conditions makes all the difference in the world. From THE BUBBLE to GOG to THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE, films I was once prepared to brush aside have become permanent fixtures in my heart and in my imagination. And in CEASE FIRE, I think we can say the 3-D Film Archive has done it again.

CEASE FIRE contrives to employ the filmmaking techniques of 1953 to capture some sense of what life was like for ordinary infantry soldiers in the field during the Korean War. The film has the guts to add one massive technical complication to the proceedings, namely stereoscopic 3-D. And that is what really makes the difference.

I myself never had the privilege of serving my country in uniform, and I have certainly never tasted combat, but thanks to CEASE FIRE, I can claim to have peered through a magic window, down the better part of a century gone by, and looked over the shoulders of men at once revered and half-forgotten, the veterans of the Korean War, to observe with my own eyes the courage, the dedication, the hard and often thankless work of American and allied soldiers who were prepared to lay down their lives to preserve an independent South Korea, and to uphold at the cost of their own blood personal liberty, the self-determination of peoples, and the defense of friendly nations.

It is not hard to find fault with CEASE FIRE, if one insists. In two dimensions on a small screen, one is made instantly and relentlessly aware that we are watching non-actors doing non-acting. But in stereo, the "You Are There" dynamic the filmmakers were aiming for comes fully into play. Three-D truly elevates the film into an experience that ordinary, planar cinema could never hope to achieve.

I freely admit, I speak for myself when I say I trace the hand of Providence in the many remarkable achievements of the 3-D Film Archive. I am not prepared to call it coincidence that I have been reacquainted with this film in the earliest hours of our national day of Thanksgiving, having watched the Blu-ray this very morning. The soldiers of CEASE FIRE, at least one of whom never lived to see his own cinematic contribution, are representative of myriad other brave men and women to whom I feel I owe my own felicitous and largely happy life circumstances. I may never taste the same hardships and dangers they did, and which their present-day brothers- and sisters-in-arms endure on a minute-by-minute basis, but I am very sincere in expressing to them my heartfelt thanks.

Let me add to all this my profound gratitude to Greg Kintz, Bob Furmanek, Jack Theakston, Thad Komorowski, and Eckhard Buttner, the valiant few who comprise the 3-D Film Archive, for their sterling work in bringing this unique and remarkable film back to life. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

[revgen]

Very strong 3-D throughout. This film is what I wished Dragonfly Squadron could have been. Less canned melodrama and more onscreen action. Which is fine since dialogue delivery isn't what these soldiers do well. Watching them in action, doing what they're trained to do is much less awkward, and thankfully the director and producers played to their strengths as much as possible.

The wide open landscapes of Korea are perfectly suited for native 3-D shooting, with plenty of mountains, hills, valleys and rivers to take full advantage of the format.

I also want to thank Eckhard Buttner for his fantastic work on the stereo soundtrack. There were several gunshots and explosions that actually startled me during the film, which is very rare from films released in the early 1950's. This is definitely the most impressive stereo soundtrack I've heard from a 1950's film, and I've heard quite a few.

A huge round of applause for all of the folks involved with this restoration.

 

[3D Projectionist]

Watched Cease Fire last night and it was a 3D film which drew us unto the screen constantly along with quite an amazing sound track. The music score would easily make a excellent soundtrack CD. It was nice to see one of our British service men come into the story to lead a safe passage through a minefield as well.

We couldn't help but wonder how they coped with moving a hefty 3D camera rig around that terrain and the technicalities of operating it in what will have been difficult circumstances for the crew. In the end the film was a fascinating insight, now restored and saved in 3D on Blu-Ray much thanks go to everyone involved and thank you Kino Lorber for distributing this valued 3D title along with others we have enjoyed here.

A highly recommended 3D Blu-Ray from the 50's.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thank you very much, Lenny. It was an honor bringing this lost gem back to life.

In case you missed it, here are some articles on the hazardous filming conditions: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/cease-fire-articles

 

[ilovenola2]

Can't wait to see this. I'll be ordering mine mid-December.
Congrats to you, Bob, and all the Usual Suspects.
Joe B aka ilovenola2