The Bubble 3D Blu-ray (1966) [Region Free] Roadshow Cut coming: Kickstarter

[Damon1281]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I wasn’t getting that. The 3D was floating out of my screen and touching my nose. Odd.

Zivouhr recently gave R.I.P.D. an 8 of 10 for pop-outs, where the Bubble has 3 times the number and nearly all of them stronger. Since he wrote about the Bubble in 2016 and R.I.P.D. just the other day, I think it may illustrate our lowering expectations in a sea of mediocre offerings. The Bubble had insanely strong pop-outs!

[Robert Furmanek]

Originally Posted by br3ttD

Just have a few questions for the 3-D Film Archive...
I've seen The Bubble with an alternate opening which (I presume)
depicts the alien(s) traveling through the cosmos to earth.
First it shows a large explosion with sparks flying towards the
camera. Then you see a surface level shot from one of Jupiter's
moons with Jupiter rising from behind a mountain range. Finally
there's a shot of Earth from outer space. As the camera pushes in
on Earth, a satellite zooms (left to right) through the frame before
cutting to Tony's plane with the wing jutting out of the screen.

Was this sequence created for the film's 1976 re-release?
Does the footage still exist?
Will be included in the upcoming roadshow disc?
And lastly, where and how did you find the extended version?
I thought it was lost. Thanks for reading this.

That flat alternate opening was done for some unauthorized home video release in the 80's or 90's without Arch Oboler's participation, it was never on theatrical prints. I think that's when someone bootlegged the film and called it "The Zoo."

It doesn't exist in good quality and is so poorly done, we wouldn't use it.

The 21 minutes of cut 35mm camera negative were discovered mislabeled and unidentified in Arch Oboler's collection at the Library of Congress.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Damon1281

Zivouhr recently gave R.I.P.D. an 8 of 10 for pop-outs, where the Bubble has 3 times the number and nearly all of them stronger. Since he wrote about the Bubble in 2016 and R.I.P.D. just the other day, I think it may illustrate our lowering expectations in a sea of mediocre offerings. The Bubble had insanely strong pop-outs!

I agree, excellent depth and pop out, amongst the best I have ever seen.

Zivouhr is a excellent source normally for me though, so the odd differing opinion I’m not going to worry about.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Damon1281

Zivouhr recently gave R.I.P.D. an 8 of 10 for pop-outs, where the Bubble has 3 times the number and nearly all of them stronger. Since he wrote about the Bubble in 2016 and R.I.P.D. just the other day, I think it may illustrate our lowering expectations in a sea of mediocre offerings. The Bubble had insanely strong pop-outs!

The Bubble is filmed in 3D and has amazing pop outs all throughout the film, I totally agree. With RIPD, for a converted 3D film from 2013 or so, Stereo D did a respectable job, offering pop outs that were actually strong and a good number of them sprinkled through the film intentionally. For that, I would give it a good rating for pop outs compared to most converted films these days.

But yes, The Bubble is one of my favorite examples of very strong 3D and pop outs.

[MattmanAlpha]

Originally Posted by br3ttD

Will be included in the upcoming roadshow disc?

Upcoming roadshow disc?!? Did I miss something?

[pixote]

Originally Posted by MattmanAlpha

Upcoming roadshow disc?!? Did I miss something?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1606

[bavanut]

The longest 3-D film of the 1950s (to my knowledge) was Kiss Me Kate, clocking in at 109 minutes. The original roadshow version of The Bubble was 112 minutes. My theory is that Oboler wanted to demonstrate that single-strip Space-Vision was in every way better than two-strip, one key strength being practically limitless run time without intermission.

I dearly love The Bubble and watch it quite often. And I am very, very keen to see the full-length roadshow edition on Blu-ray. But I do get the sense that Oboler was stretching his story to fill his run time. The man was demonstrably in love with long philosophical pontifications in the dialogue. He was not in love with fistfights, fireballs, or running escapes from immediate danger.

[Show spoiler]Despite the fact that Tony, the other new mother, and the flaming remnants of a commandeered truck and a dead showgirl are at different times hauled into the sky by the mysterious architects of the dome, these scenes are frankly clumsy and ineffective, and do not lend any urgency to the slow, creeping threat. The real peril for Oboler is apathetic indifference, the slow surrender of one's own volition and desires, not sudden death from above. But the unhurried pace of the resultant story will likely alienate the impatient viewer.

I never sat down and watched much of Under the Dome, but given the participation of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and several veteran television writers and producers, I can only imagine the overall story is quite a bit stronger than the one we get from Oboler.

As far as I can tell, the only connection between the two is the idea of a mysterious dome coming down. In King's story, it seems to trap a particular small town in situ; in Oboler's story, the entities responsible for the dome toss in a hodgepodge assortment of buildings, cultural relics, and hypnotized people who evidently come from all sorts of different places (witness for instance the man peddling Baltimore newspapers).

Most respectfully, if we wish to charge King with lifting Oboler's premise without credit, we may do well to consider what debt Oboler may owe to storytellers working before 1966. I myself do not carry around a mental catalog of mysterious dome stories, but I think everyone here has heard of items like "Stopover In a Quiet Town" and "A Feasibility Study," tales that are at least cousins to Oboler's brainchild.

[cinerama]

Originally Posted by MattmanAlpha

Upcoming roadshow disc?!? Did I miss something?

The complete film as it premiered will be released on Blu-ray 3D... I'm guessing 2019.

[petergee]

Just reading through the very interesting 3DFA page here http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/The-Bubble and spotted this comment

Bookings continued throughout 1968 and after some November playdates in Canada, Oboler cut the film from 112 minutes to 91. The camera negative was physically edited and the footage is not known to survive.

Has that 'lost' footage now been discovered? I guess it must've been to create the Roadshow edition mentioned above?

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by petergee

Just reading through the very interesting 3DFA page here http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/The-Bubble and spotted this comment

Has that 'lost' footage now been discovered? I guess it must've been to create the Roadshow edition mentioned above?

That page was written at the time of the 3D-Bluray release. But read a few posts above:

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

The 21 minutes of cut 35mm camera negative were discovered mislabeled and unidentified in Arch Oboler's collection at the Library of Congress.

An original uncut print was also discovered and screened not so long ago. A few of us were in attendance and can confirm that there is some highly effective 3D among the previously lost footage. However the edits were effectively made by the films director, and I wouldn't say the shorter version of the film suffers from the cuts.

[petergee]

Thank you very much - I missed Bob's comment above. Looking forward to seeing the original version more than ever!

[film11]

Originally Posted by cinerama

The complete film as it premiered will be released on Blu-ray 3D... I'm guessing 2019.

Im guessing...no?

[br3ttD]

Originally Posted by film11

Im guessing...no?

Looks to be sometime in 2020. Can't wait to see it.

[the13thman]

I’m not fussed that the original cut makes the film feel even more slow-paced, it’s a fair chunk of native 3D footage and I’m super keen to see it integrated back into the film. The original release has some of the best 3D out there so this is definitely one I have no compunctions about double-dipping on.

I have no problem with bad quality alternate openings being included though, in fact it’s what I’d expect. Why not include as many extras as possible (relevant to the film and/or 3D, of course)?

[cinerama]

Originally Posted by br3ttD

Looks to be sometime in 2020. Can't wait to see it.

The Bubble Roadshow next spring or early summer.

[Joe D.]

Wow, never knew 21 minutes was missing. Can't wait for the new release and thanks to 3D archives!

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by the13thman

I have no problem with bad quality alternate openings being included though, in fact it’s what I’d expect. Why not include as many extras as possible (relevant to the film and/or 3D, of course)?

Originally Posted by br3ttD

I've seen The Bubble with an alternate opening which (I presume)
depicts the alien(s) traveling through the cosmos to earth.
First it shows a large explosion with sparks flying towards the
camera. Then you see a surface level shot from one of Jupiter's
moons with Jupiter rising from behind a mountain range. Finally
there's a shot of Earth from outer space. As the camera pushes in
on Earth, a satellite zooms (left to right) through the frame before
cutting to Tony's plane with the wing jutting out of the screen.

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

That flat alternate opening was done for some unauthorized home video release in the 80's or 90's without Arch Oboler's participation, it was never on theatrical prints. I think that's when someone bootlegged the film and called it "The Zoo."


It doesn't exist in good quality and is so poorly done, we wouldn't use it.

That's a very intriguing description by br3ttD, although perhaps if I actually saw it, I might not find it so interesting.

If it's just low quality flat 2d footage created for some bootlegger's pirated version, then while it might make an interesting curio were it available as an extra, it's very much non-essential. Anyway, I could never insist on the inclusion of footage that might actually have to be licensed from a pirate!


Luckily we already have some info on what should be far more exciting extra material. Some may recall reading the following in the Golden Age 3-D thread last year:

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

Oh, trust me, we have too much respect for our audience base to simply re-issue a title without making it worth your while.

There will be some exclusive 3-D extras on this edition which will not be available anywhere else!

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

Rest assured, Arch Oboler's THE BUBBLE Roadshow restoration will be much more than just 18 minutes of additional footage.

Among the extras:

New scene to scene color timing by Jack Theakston. (The original release was rushed and the lab/timer in New York that we trusted with the color correction did a terrible job.)

New digital clean-up by Thad Komorowski. (Again, we were rushed on the first release in 2014 to meet a deadline and there was no time - or funds available - for a complete image restoration.)

In addition, there will be some incredible extras including test footage shot by 3-D pioneer - and Space-Vision inventor - Colonel Robert V. Bernier in 1951, unseen anywhere in 68 years!

Plus a few 3-D surprises...

[br3ttD]

That alternate opening actually is in 3-D but it's in rough shape with some misalignment. I have it on a VHS tape that I bought from Stereovision International some time in the late 80s/early 90s.
The tape came with a polarized panel you attached to your tv and a pair of polarized glasses with angled lenses. It was a true optical presentation. I still have the tape but sadly the panel and glasses have been lost over time.
It also had a scene I had never seen in any other presentations of The Bubble. Michael Cole is wandering around at night and sees all the townspeople walking like zombies to a town hall building to sleep for the night. The Dan Symmes directed 3-D short film The Wild Ride was on the tape as well.

[gazadams]

would be great to have that alternative opening in 3d as a extra

[Robert Furmanek]

As I've said, it was not done by Arch Oboler or for theatrical release. It was a cheap, video opening.

It will not be part of our Roadshow restoration release.