Silver Age 3-D 1966-1997 including the 1980s 3D revival

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

On a side note, where can I get a decent pair of anaglyph glasses?

I tried some from scAmazon and the reviews were dead-on: the red lenses are way too dark, creating left eye strain, impairing 3D, and imparting a lifeless, almost sepia tone on the colors.

Buy yourself a copy of the DYNASTY Blu and presto, you’ll have a pair approved by the 3DFA AND one of the best Silver Age 3-D films there is!

[jtchance]

I bought what amounts to anaglyphic sunglass clips from Amazon. More comfortable than using paper glasses.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by jtchance

I bought what amounts to anaglyphic sunglass clips from Amazon. More comfortable than using paper glasses.

I saw something like that on Amazon but the ones I saw also had the review about the red being too dark. How are yours?

One of the alternate color schemes, like ColorGuard, seem like they could be fun to try out, are they any good?


Thanks for the Dynasty mention. I'm planning to snag it to compare how its classic kung fu fights look vs SC's modern CGI kung fu, and I hadn't noticed it shipped with the glasses. Is it the most modern release with an anaglyph bluray option?

[jtchance]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

I saw something like that on Amazon but the ones I saw also had the review about the red being too dark. How are yours?

One of the alternate color schemes, like ColorGuard, seem like they could be fun to try out, are they any good?


Thanks for the Dynasty mention. I'm planning to snag it to compare how its classic kung fu fights look vs SC's modern CGI kung fu, and I hadn't noticed it shipped with the glasses. Is it the most modern release with an anaglyph bluray option?

I tested it with both SILENT MADNESS & DYNASTY. I thought they were quite effective as far as I was concerned.

[WaverBoy]

I’m so SO glad I snagged a 65” of Sony’s last 3-D compatible 4K LED TV model while the getting was good. After all the firmware updates there’s almost never any crosstalk, not even on the heavy duty Golden Age titles like THE MAZE or DIAL M except for a few isolated instances here and there. Waaaaay better than my early-adopter 2010 Samsung. And amazing titles like ROBOT MONSTER, SHOGUN WOMEN and TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS are still on the way! I’m in 3-D heaven.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

I’m so SO glad I snagged a 65” of Sony’s last 3-D compatible 4K LED TV model while the getting was good. After all the firmware updates there’s almost never any crosstalk, not even on the heavy duty Golden Age titles like THE MAZE or DIAL M except for a few isolated instances here and there. Waaaaay better than my early-adopter 2010 Samsung. And amazing titles like ROBOT MONSTER, SHOGUN WOMEN and TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS are still on the way! I’m in 3-D heaven.

Is Dial M for Murder a heavy 3D title? I haven't yet seen it, but I'd gotten the expectation from reviews, like the official one here, that it was meh on the 3D.

Does your TV mean you have the rare opportunity to have properly passive 3D with each eye getting 1080p?

I think I'd like to try proper passive 3D, as I don't know that I ever have, not outside of maybe a theme park, as my understanding is that RealD does not simultaneously project both the left and right eye.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

Is Dial M for Murder a heavy 3D title? I haven't yet seen it, but I'd gotten the expectation from reviews, like the official one here, that it was meh on the 3D.

Does your TV mean you have the rare opportunity to have properly passive 3D with each eye getting 1080p?

I think I'd like to try proper passive 3D, as I don't know that I ever have, not outside of maybe a theme park, as my understanding is that RealD does not simultaneously project both the left and right eye.

DIAL M has very nice depth, not so much pop out except for the murder scene. It’s just that that particular title is known to be crosstalky on some displays (the fault of the displays, not the disc), so if your display can do justice to DIAL M, you’re gold. My setup is active 3-D, the Sony Bravia XBR65Z9D. If you can find one I’d highly recommend it. Pretty much universally regarded as one of the best LED models ever produced, and the 3-D is spectacular; the glasses are even lightweight and comfortable, which is definitely not the case with some other active 3-D glasses I’ve used on other setups, such as my older Samsung. I’m absolutely in love with this thing.

[cinerama]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

DIAL M has very nice depth, not so much pop out except for the murder scene..

Extreme pop-out moments:

[Show spoiler]At 44:04 Margot's arm.

At 44:30 the killers head, shoulders, arms and the scissors pop out of the screen when he falls to the ground. His head is more than halfway out into my home theatre room. It's only for about three seconds so it's easy to miss.

At 1:45:24 key in hand.

I'm watching this on a 130 inch screen from 12 feet away. What's amazing about this 3D is that it makes me feel I am in the room with them.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by cinerama

Extreme pop-out moments:

[Show spoiler]At 44:04 Margot's arm.

At 44:30 the killers head, shoulders, arms and the scissors pop out of the screen when he falls to the ground. His head is more than halfway out into my home theatre room. It's only for about three seconds so it's easy to miss.

At 1:45:24 key in hand.

I'm watching this on a 130 inch screen from 12 feet away. What's amazing about this 3D is that it makes me feel I am in the room with them.

Yep, that murder scene is fantastic, and I must have forgotten about that bit later on you mentioned, gonna rewatch it tonight just for that!

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

Chances are the original 3D negatives have been lost, but if Bob is interested in checking with Richard Crawford just in case they still exist, the site (made by people involved in the film) has contact info on this page.

The recent discussion of Captain Milkshake got me curious so I ended up buying the DVD and got a chance to check it out over the weekend, found it to be a well-made little indie movie that was also interesting as a slice-of-life of the counterculture of the time, would probably appeal to people who enjoyed movies like Easy Rider and Zabriskie Point. The basic story is about a young marine named Paul on temporary leave from Vietnam, and his love affair with a hippieish young woman named Melissa who's involved with the antiwar movement, with complications starting to arise as Paul is unhappy with how Melissa and her friends try to rope him into activities like a big protest rally they're planning, and driving down to Mexico to buy pot. Both of the main actors give good, natural-seeming performances. The filmmakers are clearly against the war themselves but the portrayal of Paul is very sympathetic, and although it may seem at first that Melissa is going to be portrayed as a sort of idealized free spirit, the character becomes more complex as you start to see that her approach to life involves a certain amount of youthful carelessness (the actress who portrayed her had some reflections on the character and the film on this section of captainmilkshake.com).

I'd love to see the film restored to partial 3D if the elements still exist--it's mostly black-and-white with a few key scenes in color, I assume from the interviews that those are the scenes that were also shot for 3D. At the beginning of the movie the color scenes are restricted to Paul's memories of Vietnam, but as the director said in the interview I linked earlier, as the movie progresses he also uses color/3D for scenes where Paul is feeling more "alive", like Paul and Melissa walking and talking in nature or on a beach, or dancing at a rock club (like Easy Rider the film has a great soundtrack for fans of 60s music, the website mentions that it includes songs from 'The Steve Miller Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & The Fish, and Kaleidoscope'). There are also some color scenes where Paul is not present, like a big protest rally late in the film. One of the things I enjoy about less fantastical 3D movies is the sense of being transported to another time period (I really enjoyed this aspect of Cease Fire for instance), if this movie were ever restored to 3D I think this would be part of the appeal.

In my earlier post I had guessed that the 3D elements were probably lost since it was just an indie movie and a 3D print was never made, but doing a little googling, I came across this article from 2019 which mentions that director Richard Crawford recently got back possession of the negatives after the movie's crooked-sounding investor passed away (the article says the investor had possibly only funded the film as a tax scam, which may explain why it got only very limited showings at the time). As of 2019, Crawford was apparently interested in having the film rediscovered, and was trying to get a 4K scan done:

Then, about 10 years ago, Crawford said, he received a phone call from his former attorney. Sounding remorseful about his role in the investor’s shenanigans, according to Crawford, he bore some good news: Since everyone with any control or interest in the film was dead, Crawford now owned it again.

Crawford went back to Technicolor, which took three months to locate the negative but lost the original paperwork demanding the $25,000. (“I got out of there really fast!” Crawford said.)

Now, he’s in the process of converting the film to the state-of-the-art 4k format so Amazon can offer it for downloading. He’s also got offers from more film festivals. And, for the time being, he’s offering DVD copies for sale on his website: captainmilkshake.com

“I’m really excited about getting it back out there,” he said, “where it belongs.”

Bob, I know the 3-D Film Archive has a lot on its plate, but is there any chance this might be considered for a restoration in the not-too-distant future if the negatives for both views of the 3D scenes still exist and Crawford is willing? I would think it'd be less labor-intensive than some other titles since the 3D scenes only take up a fraction of the running time, and this would be a unique type of movie to see restored to 3D.

[Robert Furmanek]

If anyone can find his contact information, I'll gladly reach out!

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

If anyone can find his contact information, I'll gladly reach out!

I sent an email to the address on the contact info page asking if they were in touch with Richard Crawford and if so whether he might be interested, I'll let you know if I hear back.

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

In my earlier post I had guessed that the 3D elements were probably lost since it was just an indie movie and a 3D print was never made, but doing a little googling, I came across this article from 2019 which mentions that director Richard Crawford recently got back possession of the negatives after the movie's crooked-sounding investor passed away.

- that's the same article I posted a few pages back; I wasn't clear whether they had the complete camera negatives or just the final edit. It sounded to me like they possibly only edited it for 2d release (as was the case with 1954's The Command). If that's the case, but 3D footage survives, they'd have to identify the scenes and match everything up. If it's relatively little footage, that might not be such a big job. Would you say it's under 10 minutes?

I thoroughly agree that it's worth following up with. Sounds like a real time capsule. I would definitely support any restoration efforts should fundraising be necessary.

[Robert Furmanek]

Very likely filmed with a single-lens system so 3-D would be on one-strip of film.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Camps

(Almost) fully agreed with you -- though for Starchaser I'd swap in two titles: Tales from the 3rd Dimension and Wildcat Women.

I’d be all over those WILDCAT WOMEN — do 3-D elements for it exist?

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

Very likely filmed with a single-lens system so 3-D would be on one-strip of film.

I wasn't thinking it through, that's almost certainly correct. While it would be expected given the period, even if that were not the case, given the nature of the footage in the trailer it seems unlikely to have been photographed with heavy dual-camera rigs. I presume they then incurred additional expense reformatting that 3-D footage for the 2d prints that were created.

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

I’d be all over those WILDCAT WOMEN — do 3-D elements for it exist?

It's come up for discussion before, and as I understand it the Stephen Gibson 3D films were shot colour anaglyh, so even if you go back to the original camera negatives, it's impossible to perfectly separate left and right eye views. It would also be impossible to have a 2d version with a clear image. There's always going to be ghosting baked in.

I would settle for an optimized anaglyh version scanned from the original negative or as close as can be located. It wouldn't be possible to adjust alignment or anything like that, but colours could be tweaked to enable best possible anaglyph cancellation.

I always liked the Black Lolita poster, one of those classic 3-D posters that makes a big deal of the format. It turns up in unexpected places.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

It's come up for discussion before, and as I understand it the Stephen Gibson 3D films were shot colour anaglyh, so even if you go back to the original camera negatives, it's impossible to perfectly separate left and right eye views. It would also be impossible to have a 2d version with a clear image. There's always going to be ghosting baked in.

I would settle for an optimized anaglyh version scanned from the original negative or as close as can be located. It wouldn't be possible to adjust alignment or anything like that, but colours could be tweaked to enable best possible anaglyph cancellation.

I always liked the Black Lolita poster, one of those classic 3-D posters that makes a big deal of the format. It turns up in unexpected places.

Reading that, I expected the poster for the movie to be in 3D.

Was filming for anaglyph 3D common?

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

I’d be all over those WILDCAT WOMEN — do 3-D elements for it exist?

Wildcat Women was shot in Deep-Vision, which is single-strip anaglyphic 3-D originated on color stock. My understanding is that time has not been kind to the 1970s-era films made in Deep-Vision by Stephen Gibson and Arnold Herr. I imagine severe color fade would hamper all attempts to harvest usable anaglyphic images; discrete 3-D is probably not possible, even with today's tools.

On the subject of Captain Milkshake, I am of the impression the stereo footage was originated in dual-strip format. The director said this: "In the end, when it came down to making the prints of the film, [the financer] wouldn’t give up the additional money for the 3-D processing. This was after we had to build our own camera rigs for 3-D because they didn’t exist at that time. It was so frustrating that we had done so much but the backer wouldn’t give us the extra $25K for 3-D. It would have been killer." This suggests to me that one "eye" or the other was considered a ready source of 2-D material without any additional outlay for "processing." Whether single-strip or dual, I hope the 3-D Film Archive gets to the bottom of this intriguing mystery. I'd love to see a fully restored Captain Milkshake!

[Robert Furmanek]

Dual 16mm, perhaps?

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

It's come up for discussion before, and as I understand it the Stephen Gibson 3D films were shot colour anaglyph...

Interdimensional, I had inadvertently looked right past this portion of your previous post when I offered my response above. You are quite right, of course! I reckon it just might get on my nerves a little if someone came along and reiterated what I had just said without acknowledgment; just know that I did not do that on purpose! Please excuse my faux pas.