Mike Ballew
Second Unit
Like many of you, I am very, very pleased to own a copy—make that two copies—of Twilight Time's recent 3-D Blu-Ray release of The Mad Magician. It's an entertaining movie and a very worthwhile disc to own. If you've not bought a copy, I commend it to you wholeheartedly and urge you to buy it in a hurry, before all copies are gone.
One great benefit to the recent spate of vintage 3-D Blu-Ray releases is that we are finally able to really study the strengths and weaknesses in stereo cinematography in vintage 3-D films. If I now call your attention to a peculiar weakness in The Mad Magician, please do not read that as a condemnation of the film or its key technical personnel.
I believe that a number of shots in The Mad Magician exhibit geometric distortions brought about by the use of mismatched lenses. It may be that the lenses employed on these particular shots were of slightly different focal lengths. Be that as it may, the net effect of the distortions is that the stereo image is unnaturally "tilted" in space, with objects at the left edge of the screen appearing closer to the spectator than objects at the right edge, regardless of where those objects would naturally appear in stereo space.
Please take a moment to examine our first figure, labeled Parallax Conditions. It is meant to illustrate the fact that, in any stereo photograph, objects viewed in the left eye will seem to shift leftward as they recede into the distance, away from the spectator. Objects that come closer will seem to shift rightward, when viewed in the left eye. To make absolutely clear, this is a universal condition in stereo photography, and indeed in all stereoscopic imagery.
Now have a look at Figure 1, a frame grab from The Mad Magician.* Viewing the image through anaglyphic spectacles with the red lens over the left eye and the cyan lens over the right, you will observe that the wall and surrounding objects at point A exhibit negative parallax and appear forward of the plane of the screen. Objects at point D exhibit positive parallax, and recede slightly behind the plane of the screen—this despite the fact that they are arguably as close or closer than objects at point B, where the condition of zero parallax exists. Lest we suspect we are being shown a pseudoscopic image (where the left and right eyes are inadvertently swapped), have a look at point C, which exhibits appropriate negative parallax in relation to point B.
Turn your attention please to Figure 2. I have tweaked the convergence in this shot to make very clear the distortion of which I speak. At point A, distant tree branches, a condition of zero parallax exists. But at point B, the much closer face and body of the cabby exhibit positive parallax. This is not what we would see in nature.
Now have a look at Figure 3. As in Figure 2, I have tweaked the convergence in this shot to make clear the geometric distortion. At point A, we observe a condition of zero parallax. But at point B, closer to both camera and spectator, there is a substantial amount of positive parallax. As corroborating evidence that the lenses are probably mismatched, note the vertical disparity evident at point C.
There are further such examples throughout the film. But I really wish to underline, The Mad Magician is overall a fine example of stereo cinematography from the 1950s. As several of you have already observed, each shot seems specially crafted to take full advantage of the compositional dynamics unique to stereo. The 3-D is very robust, and replete with both naturally motivated negative parallax and the occasional (but very welcome) pop-out "gimmick." The present "warts and all" presentation of The Mad Magician—by which I mean a presentation not subjected to shot-by-shot correction by a technician of equal caliber to Greg Kintz, if such a one exists!—is still very worthy of every 3-D connoisseur's collection, and will reward repeated viewing.
* - You will please note that figures 1, 2 and 3 have been converted to anaglyph format for the sake of clear illustration. The Blu-Ray disc is not anaglyphic, but presents discrete left- and right-eye views for presentation on modern 3-D televisions, projectors and head mounted displays.
One great benefit to the recent spate of vintage 3-D Blu-Ray releases is that we are finally able to really study the strengths and weaknesses in stereo cinematography in vintage 3-D films. If I now call your attention to a peculiar weakness in The Mad Magician, please do not read that as a condemnation of the film or its key technical personnel.
I believe that a number of shots in The Mad Magician exhibit geometric distortions brought about by the use of mismatched lenses. It may be that the lenses employed on these particular shots were of slightly different focal lengths. Be that as it may, the net effect of the distortions is that the stereo image is unnaturally "tilted" in space, with objects at the left edge of the screen appearing closer to the spectator than objects at the right edge, regardless of where those objects would naturally appear in stereo space.
Please take a moment to examine our first figure, labeled Parallax Conditions. It is meant to illustrate the fact that, in any stereo photograph, objects viewed in the left eye will seem to shift leftward as they recede into the distance, away from the spectator. Objects that come closer will seem to shift rightward, when viewed in the left eye. To make absolutely clear, this is a universal condition in stereo photography, and indeed in all stereoscopic imagery.
Now have a look at Figure 1, a frame grab from The Mad Magician.* Viewing the image through anaglyphic spectacles with the red lens over the left eye and the cyan lens over the right, you will observe that the wall and surrounding objects at point A exhibit negative parallax and appear forward of the plane of the screen. Objects at point D exhibit positive parallax, and recede slightly behind the plane of the screen—this despite the fact that they are arguably as close or closer than objects at point B, where the condition of zero parallax exists. Lest we suspect we are being shown a pseudoscopic image (where the left and right eyes are inadvertently swapped), have a look at point C, which exhibits appropriate negative parallax in relation to point B.
Turn your attention please to Figure 2. I have tweaked the convergence in this shot to make very clear the distortion of which I speak. At point A, distant tree branches, a condition of zero parallax exists. But at point B, the much closer face and body of the cabby exhibit positive parallax. This is not what we would see in nature.
Now have a look at Figure 3. As in Figure 2, I have tweaked the convergence in this shot to make clear the geometric distortion. At point A, we observe a condition of zero parallax. But at point B, closer to both camera and spectator, there is a substantial amount of positive parallax. As corroborating evidence that the lenses are probably mismatched, note the vertical disparity evident at point C.
There are further such examples throughout the film. But I really wish to underline, The Mad Magician is overall a fine example of stereo cinematography from the 1950s. As several of you have already observed, each shot seems specially crafted to take full advantage of the compositional dynamics unique to stereo. The 3-D is very robust, and replete with both naturally motivated negative parallax and the occasional (but very welcome) pop-out "gimmick." The present "warts and all" presentation of The Mad Magician—by which I mean a presentation not subjected to shot-by-shot correction by a technician of equal caliber to Greg Kintz, if such a one exists!—is still very worthy of every 3-D connoisseur's collection, and will reward repeated viewing.
* - You will please note that figures 1, 2 and 3 have been converted to anaglyph format for the sake of clear illustration. The Blu-Ray disc is not anaglyphic, but presents discrete left- and right-eye views for presentation on modern 3-D televisions, projectors and head mounted displays.
