Books about 3D movies

[globalimages2]

Yeah, the go-to book for the history of 3-D films would be the R. M. Hayes one, which I don't find as bad as people say. The problem is that he doesn't properly quote sources and some times makes stuff up to fill-in the gaps, which then makes it harder to find the truth when properly researching the subject.

3-D movies : a history and filmography of stereoscopic cinema by R.M. Hayes

Most of his stuff seems based on other prior books, such a

Introduction To 3-D
by H. Dewhurst

Also one of the best in the subject of 3D films' history is: Four aspects of the film
by Limbacher, James L

During the 80's "3D revival" there were several articles and magazines dedicated to 3D movies, such as:

Starlog Photo Guidebook: Fantastic 3-D

and many others. Check the special issues of "American Cinematographer" dedicated to the subject of 3D films.

A couple of books from roughly the era are "Amazing 3-D", by Daniel Symmes, "The World of 3-D Movies" by Eddie Sammons and "Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema" by Lenny Lipton, the last two available for free download:

http://www.stereoscopic2.org/library/sammons.php
http://www.stereoscopic2.org/library/foundation.php

More recent books on the subject by author Ray Zone:
3-D Filmmakers: Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures
3-D Revolution: The History of Modern Stereoscopic Cinema

Some websites have useful info on the subject, such as:

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com
http://www.3dmovingpictures.com/
http://www.3dmovielist.com/
IMDB list of 3D films

And if you can follow the foreign languages or have a way to get translations, there are many books out there that also deal with the history of 3-D films:

-Der 3-D Film by Peter A. Haggerman (german)
-3D Century - Wonders: 100 Years of Three-Dimensional Cinema and The New Century by takayuki oguchi and others (easier to locate in japanese 3D世紀 -驚異! 立体映画の100年と映像新世紀 )

There are a few other german ones I'm aware of, such as "Raumdeutung: Zur Wiederkehr des 3D-Films (Metabasis - Transkriptionen zwischen Literaturen, Künsten und Medien)", a couple in French, such as "Le cinéma 3-D : Histoire, économie, technique, esthétique" ...

I know I'm forgetting an important one I used to reference a lot, but can't think of it now. Perhaps I'm thinking about the research by Michael Starks, who studied the subject during the 70's but only published some loose articles and papers around.

https://independent.academia.edu/htt...MichaelStarks2

But, of course, none of the books and sources are quite perfect when it comes to describe the history of 3D films, so we are all still hoping Bob Furmanek, the current highest authority in the history of 3D films, takes on the job of writing the definitive one one day, perhaps as a retirement project -- hint-hint <3

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by globalimages2

Yeah, the go-to book for the history of 3-D films would be the R. M. Hayes one...

I respectfully disagree. But even if the point is conceded, sooner or later, Hayes is liable to be completely eclipsed by a massively better book.

Originally Posted by globalimages2

Most of his stuff seems based on other prior books, such as

Introduction To 3-D
by H. Dewhurst

I'm curious to learn what Hayes derives from Dewhurst, as Dewhurst's book is mostly concerned with optical means of getting stereo pairs onto one band of film, preserving a proper sense of stereoscopic scale, and advocating for a fixed, "normal" interaxial. It is not really a historical survey. But maybe you have noticed something I have not.

Originally Posted by globalimages2

A couple of books from roughly the era are "Amazing 3-D", by Daniel Symmes...

By Hal Morgan and Dan Symmes. I've read enough of Dan's standalone articles to have a real sense of how much Mr. Morgan must have contributed to the usefulness and readability of that book, which I dearly love. I make a point of always, always acknowledging Hal Morgan.

[globalimages2]

Originally Posted by bavanut

I respectfully disagree. But even if the point is conceded, sooner or later, Hayes is liable to be completely eclipsed by a massively better book.

Oh, I've been waiting for that for a long time. I just meant that if you could only choose one single book for reference in the "historical subject", well, I guess that could be the most complete one in spite of all the shortcomings.

Originally Posted by bavanut

I'm curious to learn what Hayes derives from Dewhurst, as Dewhurst's book is mostly concerned with optical means of getting stereo pairs onto one band of film, preserving a proper sense of stereoscopic scale, and advocating for a fixed, "normal" interaxial. It is not really a historical survey. But maybe you have noticed something I have not.

You are asking for too much, I've last read any of those books some 30 years ago lol. I just remember Hayes borrowing a lot of drawings and such from some previous book(s), as well as the sequence of inventions and such. I was also perhaps thinking of Lenny Lipton doing the same on his book and got them both a bit mixed up, I bought and read both of those "at the same time". Again, some 30 years ago Yeah, I think I'm forgetting about another important book on the subject that later authors borrowed quite a bit from, not just Dewhurst.

Originally Posted by bavanut

By Hal Morgan and Dan Symmes. I've read enough of Dan's standalone articles to have a real sense of how much Mr. Morgan must have contributed to the usefulness and readability of that book, which I dearly love. I make a point of always, always acknowledging Hal Morgan.

Absolutely !!!!

Also I just dug up some more of the starlogs magazine articles when looking for references to answer this thread:

https://archive.org/details/starlog_...e/n27/mode/2up


https://archive.org/details/starlog_...e/n15/mode/2up

[bavanut]

Originally Posted by globalimages2

Oh, I've been waiting for that for a long time. I just meant that if you could only choose one single book for reference in the "historical subject", well, I guess that could be the most complete one in spite of all the shortcomings.

Fair to say, for sure.

Originally Posted by globalimages2

You are asking for too much, I've last read any of those books some 30 years ago lol. I just remember Hayes borrowing a lot of drawings and such from some previous book(s), as well as the sequence of inventions and such. I was also perhaps thinking of Lenny Lipton doing the same on his book and got them both a bit mixed up, I bought and read both of those "at the same time". Again, some 30 years ago

It may astonish you to learn I read Dewhurst for the third time about four or six weeks ago. I think any thoroughgoing history of stereo cinema has to include mention of Dewhurst and his theories.

Originally Posted by globalimages2

Absolutely !!!!

Also I just dug up some more of the starlogs magazine articles when looking for references to answer this thread:

https://archive.org/details/starlog_...e/n27/mode/2up


https://archive.org/details/starlog_...e/n15/mode/2up

Fantastic 3-D from Starlog Press was one of my great favorites as a kid, and I still have a soft spot for it.

[Cusion]

What a lot of recommendations here that I hadn't even thought about, but now I definitely want to see. Probably the last book I read was about ancient Greece when I was writing an essay finding a topic on https://studydriver.com/ancient-greece/ about the architecture and structure of the city. I have this hobby of looking for ready-made ideas and trying to come up with something new inside them.