A*P*E 3D Blu-ray (1976) [Region A Locked]

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by revgen

The worst of the lot is Metalstorm. I consider myself fairly 3-D tolerant, but this film is awful on my eyes. There are very few sections of the film that don't bother me. The easiest on my eyes to watch is Amityville, which I credit to director Richard Fleischer, who had previous experience directing 3-D with his film Arena (1953). Jaws and Comin' At Ya! are in the middle. I put Jaws ahead of Comin' At Ya! since it's a slightly better film and I like underwater stereography.

For me Comin' At Ya! gave me the hardest time. The 3D was strong but the image didn't fuse well at all much of the time. I did enjoy it, and it was actually quite fun with all the gimmicks, but it was difficult at times to fuse the images properly. It really gave my eyes a workout. Metalstorm had issues for sure. So did Amityville, though I remember Amityville working out okay for me mostly.

[cinerama]

Watched a few minutes of it last night. Great 3D! I think the terrible acting and cheesy effects were done on purpose to be funny.

[Robert Furmanek]

Check out the brilliant and insightful comments from Hillary Hess on the commentary track. She nails it!

You'll be hearing more from Ms. Hess on future Archive projects...

[Joe D.]

Mine's being delivered today.

As Neil Sadaka once said "I go ape!"

The moon is bright above
Oh, what a night for love
And as I hold you near
I whisper in your ear
I go ape everytime I see you smile
I'm a ding-dong gorila and
I carry on cave man style
I'm gonna bop you on the head
And love you all the while
Well, I'm a monkey's uncle
Who's a cousin to a chimpazee
Like I was reelin and rockin
And swingin from a coco-nut tree
Oh, honey can't you see
You bring out the monkey business in me
Orangotango ring-ting-tong
I'm related to old King Kong
Honey won't you say you're mine
With no hunky dunky monkey shine
When you hold my hand
I'm a pre-historic man
I go ape!
Like a barrel of monkeys
On an aba-da-ba honey moon
I go squealin and screechin and howlin
Like a big baboon
Well, baby I'll explode
If you don't come and kiss me soon
Yeah! Ooh!
Ohh... Honey you know that
I'm gonna be true to you
I'll keep you in bananas
and bring you coco-nuts too
And we'll settle down
In the nearest county zoo
Orangotango ring-ting-tong
I'm related to old King Kong
Honey won't you say you're mine
With no hunky dunky monkey shine
When you hold my hand
I'm a pre-historic man
I go ape!

Written by Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka •

[Damon1281]

Originally Posted by Joe D.

Hi revgen,

It's also because the title is not the word APE. APE is an acronym for "Attacking Primate Monster".

You mean "attacking primate eonster" 😀

[T. Warren Scollan]

Originally Posted by Movieman66

Is this a cryptic clue about who could possibly be releasing Bwana Devil? *cough*3-D Film Archive*cough*

Oh, there's something cryptic there alright! I saw it right away but waited to see if someone else would say anything. Bob knows something more than just it's not being released by Shout, but I'm guessing that right now he can't say what. But there is something going on, you can bet on that! We just need to be patient.

[bavanut]

I'm going to float a theory about A*P*E.

It is well known that A*P*E was meant to capitalize on the excitement brewing for Dino De Laurentiis' 1976 remake of King Kong, released in December of that year. It is also well known that A*P*E was shot in Space-Vision.

Now, Space-Vision has for many years been owned by Capitol Records, who never seem to have done a whole lot to promote the process. After Arch Oboler's The Bubble (1966), it got used for one other Oboler film, Domo Arigato (1973), and for Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1974)*. According to some sources, Capitol had the idea of using Space-Vision occasionally for very special concert or music-related films, which may explain its scant use in narrative features.

In The Bubble, Domo Arigato and Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, Space-Vision is mentioned prominently in the film's credits and/or in promotional materials. But not so for A*P*E. Space-Vision is nowhere mentioned in the credits, and is never mentioned in any posters or other ads that I myself have seen. (I am bracing myself to be set straight on this, if I am mistaken.)

Now, Colonel Robert V. Bernier died in 1976. I'm not sure of the month and date—those are not listed on his grave, which I have visited. But I'm assuming he was in declining health, and possibly already deceased, by the time Dan Symmes was shooting A*P*E in Korea.

My theory is this: We know that A*P*E employed Space-Vision lenses (or perhaps a single Space-Vision lens) because Dan Symmes told us so. (As I say, there is no Space-Vision credit on the film itself.) I think Space-Vision was not officially licensed to the production by Capitol Records. I think Dan Symmes somehow inherited a lens (or lenses) that had remained in the personal possession of Robert Bernier, and shot the film below Capitol's radar, so to speak. This hypothetical, clandestine lens might even have been a prototype.

I want to watch A*P*E a third time this weekend—no, really!—in order to confirm an impression I have that may lend credence to my theory. In some scenes, Dan appears to have pulled convergence (that is, shifted the point of convergence from point "A" to point "B") during a shot. When the convergence shifts, the movement is kind of ragged and jerky, which to my mind suggests a prototype lens, or at least one that has not been properly serviced in a long while.

I've not read tons and tons of production background on A*P*E. Frankly, I've never been all that interested. But the present Blu-Ray release suddenly makes a very decent and watchable 3-D edition of this film immediately accessible for study and, yes, entertainment. And as you can see, the film is suddenly very much on my mind.

* - Space-Vision got used one final time for Murray Lerner's exceptional short film Sea Dream, a minor masterpiece. But Space-Vision was never used on any 3-D film during the 1980s, probably owing to the fact it was not designed for use with reflex cameras. Patent documents online show that someone at Capitol was updating the design later in the decade to allow the use of reflex cameras and to give Space-Vision a range of different focal lengths, but these efforts obviously ultimately came to naught.

[revgen]

Originally Posted by T. Warren Scollan

Oh, there's something cryptic there alright! I saw it right away but waited to see if someone else would say anything. Bob knows something more than just it's not being released by Shout, but I'm guessing that right now he can't say what. But there is something going on, you can bet on that! We just need to be patient.

MisterLime recently said that Kino is looking forward to a new deal with MGM. I wouldn't be surprised if the UA 3-D titles Bwana Devil and Diamond Wizard are included.

[Zivouhr]

Interesting details, thanks.

Hopefully I'll be watching this by next week or sooner.

[kyle]

Is it just me, or is the audio all out of sync? It's especially noticable whenever the colonel is speaking in his office.

[Joe D.]

Originally Posted by Damon1281

You mean "attacking primate eonster" 😀

Hi Damon,

You're right. Blame me and spell check working in coordination.

Actually, it was just me keeping in line with the film's high production standards.

[T. Warren Scollan]

Originally Posted by revgen

MisterLime recently said that Kino is looking forward to a new deal with MGM. I wouldn't be surprised if the UA 3-D titles Bwana Devil and Diamond Wizard are included.

Wow, somebody actually mentioned "The Diamond Wizard"! I've been waiting for a long time to hear something about that film.

An MGM/Kino deal might also include "I, the Jury" with which Bob F. has said to be working on.

[BleedOrange11]

I don't think MGM owns I, the Jury, but I could definitely see Kino making a separate deal to release it. I hope that happens. John Alton's cinematography is some of the best ever.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by kyle

Is it just me, or is the audio all out of sync? It's especially noticable whenever the colonel is speaking in his office.

I haven't seen it yet, but I believe this was filmed overseas in South Korea and then dubbed in English, so likely it's the dubbing that is off when they did the voice overs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_(1976_film)

[jtchance]

Originally Posted by mar3o

For me Comin' At Ya! gave me the hardest time. The 3D was strong but the image didn't fuse well at all much of the time. I did enjoy it, and it was actually quite fun with all the gimmicks, but it was difficult at times to fuse the images properly. It really gave my eyes a workout. Metalstorm had issues for sure. So did Amityville, though I remember Amityville working out okay for me mostly.

I had the same problem with COMIN' AT YA. It gave me a headache. Ended up trading it in.

[fatboy1111]

I thik im going to have to grab this....

[Jbug]

Watched this yesterday. Very nice, bright and colorful picture and 3D depth is very good. Excellent restoration done by 3DFA. Only problem is the movie is pretty bad as is the ape costume.

[Joe D.]

Originally Posted by Jbug

Watched this yesterday. Very nice, bright and colorful picture and 3D depth is very good. Excellent restoration done by 3DFA. Only problem is the movie is pretty bad as is the ape costume.

Hi jbug,

Ah, you just spoiled the picture for us!

[Joe D.]

Just watched it. Obviously not a great movie for its genre but not a ridiculously bad film. I expected to be laughing throughout the film but instead found myself more entertained by it, admittedly because it was saved by the 3D.

The story line wasn't all that bad. Not having high expectations made me admire the good points of the screenplay and overlook the periodic poor ones and mediocre moments of acting (people running away wasn't that convincing).

Thought went into the overall screenplay. Having the wind blow the gas away from the ape was clever. I think some of the lines that came out funny were meant to be, unlike Plan Nine and other Ed Wood classics. The closing line was corney, however.

There were three real bad production goofs. One was hearing the director yell "cut" at the end of the scene and another was the American Colonel's hair sticking up toward the back. But I wonder how a single, stationary camera can follow action blocked by two walls with its stars running down steps and further out of sight?

This was an inexpensive production and must be taken in consideration as to why, outside of the 3D (which unfortunately did have its share of terrible ghosting), the special effects were mostly poor even though admirable in concept. That of course was when the hillarity came in. The ape costume itself was bad. But one thing, this ape had better animation by the man inside the suit than Rick Baker was able to achieve with the delaurentis production.

So it was typical of a low budget production by B level producers. But it wasn't so bad as to make me laugh, which was what I expected. Would not have bothered watching it except for the 3D. But the 3D made it a fun film to enjoy when looking for something to just relax and keep simple.

[fatboy1111]

if anyone doesnt want their copy of the movie, i can maybe trade some uv codes for it...