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Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Promised Land -
Reacher Coming to DVD and Blu-ray -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-Django Unchain ... -
John Ford's Favorite Film -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-The Impossible
Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Hyde Park on Huds ...
MAKING FILM SCHOLARSHIP FUN
Now on DVD/Blu-ray—This Is 40
Playing Nationwide: On the Road
Celeste and Jesse Forever on DVD and Blu ...
Photographic Memory—Now on DVD and Blu-R ...
HOORAY FOR 1933—EIGHTY YEARS LATERJohn Wayne—But Not In 3-D
In any form, I have come to the conclusion that Hondo features one of John Wayne’s best performances. For starters, he never looked better onscreen. Then watch him conduct a conversation with Geraldine Page while blacksmithing horseshoes, never missing a beat, and tell me he isn’t a model of what film acting is all about.
I find it hard to believe that it’s been seven years since I shot introductions for Hondo’s
As for that missing dimension, it’s a source of some frustration. The Batjac company has done a first-rate 3-D restoration which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival several years ago. I even hosted a showing at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2007. (click HERE)
The problem may not be with Wayne, but with 3-D. I’ve read that sales of 3-D television sets have not lived up to expectations, just as many moviegoers are seeking out 2-D screenings of new releases in order to save money (and headaches).
But all may not be lost. I’m told that Warner Home Video may take the plunge with Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, which would be very exciting. I’d also encourage the company to try releasing the reliable House of Wax, and Universal could hardly go wrong with Creature from the Black Lagoon (with Walter Lantz’s Woody Woodpecker cartoon Hypnotic Hick as a bonus feature). Admittedly, there wouldn’t be much of an audience nowadays for many of the programmers and potboilers that came out in 1953. I enjoyed seeing Those Redheads from Seattle and Taza, Son of Cochise at the last World 3-D Film Expo but I don’t think they’d be best-sellers today… and preparing two sets of negatives (right eye and left eye) for the exacting standards of Blu-ray is very, very costly.
There is, however, one major studio 3-D release from 1953 that’s already available…yet when I mention it to people, it seems to have escaped their notice. Sony Home Entertainment’s The Three Stooges Collection Volume 7 includes both two-reel comedy shorts featuring the Stooges, made by Columbia and producer-director Jules White: Spooks and Pardon My Backfire. Yes, they’re in anaglyph (red-green) 3-D instead of the superior Polaroid system, but they look amazingly good on a conventional TV set.
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5 Comments
Bob Furmanek | June 7, 2012 9:48 AM
Norm, I agree. The film gave me nightmares watching it on a black and white TV in my basement!
Menzies filmed THE MAZE in 3-D for Allied Artists and the extra dimension adds a great deal to the atmosphere. He also directed a segment of the un-finished 3-D FOLLIES for Sol Lesser.
Norm | June 7, 2012 2:07 AM
Bob, my comments were more wishful thinking & tongue in cheek, seeing that "Invaders From Mars"in 3 -D would have been a perfect vehicle for my childhood nightmares..Menzies would have had a field day with that process...but, I suppose they could manufacture 3-D that could digitally advance to a psuedo 3-D format...one can only dream...
Bob Furmanek | June 6, 2012 10:21 PM
Norm: I hope you're kidding about INVADERS FROM MARS in 3-D. If not, please visit our 3-D Myths page at www.3DFilmArchive.com
Norm | June 5, 2012 8:25 PM
All is not lost LM, as you can see, people are unique, as are their efforts and successes...3-D in a one dimensional world...Now, if they could only get "Invaders From Mars " in 3-D, that would be out of this world...
Herb Stratford | June 5, 2012 3:19 PM
We showed the 3D version at the Fox Tucson Theatre a few months after the screening you hosted. I was at the Academy screening as well and we brokered a deal to get the equipment and film along with Wayne family memorabilia for 2 screenings. It was spectacular to be in a movie palace, with the restored film on screen....so much better than modern 3D offerings.