WAITING FOR OUR REVENGE..
When Bob first shared his Revenge of the Creature findings with me before he took the Archive's "Revenge" webpage public, I was a bit taken aback, as I had originally assumed Revenge was last "escapee in 3-D". Meaning, one of those 3-D shot titles that barely made it out in depth at the end of the Golden Age 3-D releases, most likely with a limited 3-D release. I was shocked to read the history behind the scenes for this title and the lessons that could still be learned today. If you haven't checked out his extensive collection of material on Revenge of the Creature already, it's well worth checking out:
http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/revenge-of-the-creature
Before shooting had even started, 3-D in the box office was already essentially dead, but as Bob Furmanek's research shows, Universal clearly still saw a viable market for 3-D, rebuilt the underwater 3-D rig that had already been dismantled, and urged distributors to show Revenge in depth. Before shooting had even started, the studio felt there was still considerable public interest where occasional 3-D titles could succeed. And they were right. In 1955, when the 3-D craze was easily considered over and all exhibitors were allowed to show the film in either 2-D or 3-D, almost half of the premiere showings for Revenge of the Creature were in 3-Dimensions. It was encouraging enough where Universal considered making new 3-D titles, and in 1957 they reissued both "It Came From Outer Space" and the first "Creature from the Black Lagoon" in their original dual 35mm 3-D formats which again had profitable runs. This too after 3-D movies as a whole had been considered dead by the industry and public alike.
While it did have a successful run, the original 3-D release of Revenge of the Creature suffered a bit, being a victim of circumstance. Many of the stereoscopic features of the 1950s had the luxury of 3-D retakes if needed, as well as additional "3-D TLC" work in post, should any obvious issues with the stereoscopic presentation need corrected. But as Tom Weaver noted in his recent book "Universal Terrors 1951-1955"(*), due to a variety of reasons "Revenge" was running behind schedule and at least $22,000 over budget, which was no meager amount in 1955. Adding to the troubles were also additional shoots for new scenes weeks after filming officially wrapped. With these delays and overages, it is no wonder the various 3-D issues were not at least partially dealt with in post production.
And Revenge of the Creature had a variety of stereoscopic issues. Ranging from out of sync scenes where one eye can be a frame or two ahead of the other eye, some reverse cut 3-D scenes where the right eye is seen by left eye and vise versa, some occasionally wildly inconsistent stereo window placement, and some phasing and brief 2-D shots. Thankfully with today's latest digital tools and our experience with vintage 3-D material, most of these issues have been dealt with, literally on a shot by shot basis. So it is no promotional stretch at all to easily say "Revenge of the Creature" has never looked as good in 3-D as it does now. (**)
Universal's restoration team for this project was top notch, using the best elements and keeping extremely detailed notes all along the way. Their team were always very receptive to our input as well. I cannot wait to see the final disc, as just the improvements I saw from their first scanning tests to when we officially began our work was considerable. I have no doubt further refinements continued long after our contributions were in place, so trust me when I say we're just as anxious to see the final REVENGE as everyone else.
Greg Kintz
Technical Director
3-D Film Archive
http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/
(*) Tom Weaver's excellent book "Universal Terrors 1951-1955" also has extensive coverage of the 3-D classics "It Came From Outer Space" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Highly recommended.
(**) Every once in awhile someone will post a comment questioning our laborious shot by shot stereoscopic correction process, or might lament missing "the original charm" of the first run stereoscopic presentation. We are never upset when hearing this question and sometimes chuckle a bit, as it is a case of one simply not understanding the original issues often found in these 60 plus year old titles. We see stereoscopic 3-D on a horizontal plane, per the horizontal spacing difference of our two eyes. In addition, our eyes expect the images to be the same size with no geometric issues or level differences. When these differences occur, our eyes are called to do things they were never designed by nature to do, and that typically results in discomfort, eyestrain, or even to see a double image. The most common issue with these titles is vertical misalignment, which literally causes one eye to look up while the other looks down.. something one would never have to do otherwise. Like 60hz hum in audio, or torn film frames, this is obviously not what the director ever intended. The original productions often did do a fair amount of corrective work in post, but in the analog world of film in the 1950s, this meant a generational loss of quality and additional time and money. With these analog complexities in mind, a good number of issues were often allowed to slip by. Thankfully today's tools allow these corrections to be completely lossless in quality, plus allows for a level of stereoscopic alignment previously unobtainable by the original film makers. And that, literally... is a relief to the eyes.
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