Rear Window (1954) Never in 3D

[BleedOrange11]

Alfred Hitchock's Rear Window is getting a 3D conversion that will hit limited theaters in Fall 2012 and then Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. Apparently, Hitchcock originally planned to shoot Rear Window in 3D, using Dial M for Murder as a practice run, but switched to 2D as the 1950s 3D craze was ending.

http://www.pr.com/press-release/412244

http://vimeo.com/40280512

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

Alfred Hitchock's Rear Window is getting a 3D conversion that will hit limited theaters in Fall 2012 and then Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. Apparently, Hitchcock originally planned to shoot Rear Window in 3D, using Dial M for Murder as a practice run, but switched to 2D as the 1950s 3D craze was ending.

http://www.pr.com/press-release/412244

http://vimeo.com/40280512

With lawsuit from Universal and the Hitchcock Estate following shortly afterwards.

("With the memo, we feel we almost have Hitchcock's blessing on this project."
Yeah, "almost", that's when you don't, isn't it? )

[BleedOrange11]

Yeah, these guys seem to be justifying their conversion with the news of Hitchcock's original plans to shoot in 3D. I'm 100% certain that their 2D-3D conversion is not the way he intended the film to be viewed. They are just kidding themselves if they think they are doing some noble gesture and finally "realizing his vision."

I'm kind of interested in seeing what the conversion will look like, but ultimately, this movie probably should have just been remastered and left alone since they can't actually get Hitchcock's blessing or input.

[BleedOrange11]

Originally Posted by therainberg

EDIT: I really hope that side by side example at the start of the promotional video is from the early development of the conversion. I screen-caped it and put it in my photo viewing program and it looks like dog shit! I don't have red&blue glasses to watch the end sample they show so I can't comment on what that looks like.

The people in the anaglyph sample have a pretty bad cardboard-cutout look, particularly Grace Kelly. They did an okay job with James Stewart's camera though, making it pop out of the screen.

[mseeley]

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

Alfred Hitchock's Rear Window is getting a 3D conversion that will hit limited theaters in Fall 2012 and then Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. Apparently, Hitchcock originally planned to shoot Rear Window in 3D, using Dial M for Murder as a practice run, but switched to 2D as the 1950s 3D craze was ending.

http://www.pr.com/press-release/412244

http://vimeo.com/40280512

Oooh neat info! Had no idea Hitchcock had planned 3D for this Looking forward to it imo

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by therainberg

This isn't happening at WB.

(Not the least of which reasons being, it'd be a Universal movie if it was.)

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

Yeah, these guys seem to be justifying their conversion with the news of Hitchcock's original plans to shoot in 3D. I'm 100% certain that their 2D-3D conversion is not the way he intended the film to be viewed. They are just kidding themselves if they think they are doing some noble gesture and finally "realizing his vision."

One sharp eye on the HTF pointed out that the picture on the website seemed to be taken from a 16mm print....Hmmm.

[UFAlien]

It's not just the cardboard cutout effect that's the problem. There are multiple times when the edge of an object has been both shifted AND duplicated at its original position in the "modified" frame - see the left side of the window as they spy on the neighbor, and the right side of James Stuart as the camera zooms in to Grace's face. This makes a distracting and sloppy warping/double image effect. In that same shot you can also see some terrible pseudostereo as Grace's hand, resting on the back of the wheelchair, overlapping part of it, and even casting a shadow, actually appears BEHIND it at the same depth as the rest of her body.

If this is what the finished project looks like, then it's unspeakably awful. The edge doubling is what I'd expect from an incomplete conversion process in which the "missing" image hasn't been filled in yet, so it seems likely this is a work-in-progress demo. Hopefully things will drastically improve before release.

[Tns49]

Originally Posted by EricJ

With lawsuit from Universal and the Hitchcock Estate following shortly afterwards.

("With the memo, we feel we almost have Hitchcock's blessing on this project."
Yeah, "almost", that's when you don't, isn't it? )

I would guess they got someone's blessing, since the copyright is in effect.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Tns49

I would guess they got someone's blessing, since the copyright is in effect.

Or else they....DIDN'T. Just sayin'.
(Like, they'd have a 35mm non-private-collector print source if they did?)

Someone on another thread suggested this may have been a bit of private cyber-squatting, with the mom-and-pop conversion company thinking that Uni would surely rush into a "Hitchcock's memo!" conversion right away after the film-historian hoo-hah for Dial M, and our little quick-thinking garage entrepreneurs planning to sell their conversion BACK to Universal for a hefty legal settlement...
Which is not entirely out of the realm of motive theory. Except that Uni wasn't planning to do one, of course.

[Paul H]

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

Alfred Hitchock's Rear Window is getting a 3D conversion that will hit limited theaters in Fall 2012 and then Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. Apparently, Hitchcock originally planned to shoot Rear Window in 3D, using Dial M for Murder as a practice run, but switched to 2D as the 1950s 3D craze was ending.

http://www.pr.com/press-release/412244

http://vimeo.com/40280512

Think this is one movie I will avoid seeing or buying on BD 3D.

IMO, this 3D conversion is not a renovation or even a reconstruction from following a native-stereographic plan approved by Alfred Hitchcock, but rather an attempt by contemporary visual 3D effects artists to guess at what can be converted to make a classic 2D work of art look like 3D.

Motive? An attempt to cash-in on talk of a 3D shooting plan of a creation that never came to fruition.

Paul

[chrisron]

This is just sad. hope it bombs so we don't get more people thinking it's a good idea to convert classic 2d movies into 3d.

[Tns49]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Or else they....DIDN'T. Just sayin'.
(Like, they'd have a 35mm non-private-collector print source if they did?)

Someone on another thread suggested this may have been a bit of private cyber-squatting, with the mom-and-pop conversion company thinking that Uni would surely rush into a "Hitchcock's memo!" conversion right away after the film-historian hoo-hah for Dial M, and our little quick-thinking garage entrepreneurs planning to sell their conversion BACK to Universal for a hefty legal settlement...
Which is not entirely out of the realm of motive theory. Except that Uni wasn't planning to do one, of course.

Copyright still applies in such cases. The fun only begins when the original copyright is no longer in effect. For example many of the older flicks they never bothered to renew the copyright. This being one of those that Hitchcock kept the rights to we know that Universal eventually had to negotiate to even release a copy with Patricia Hitchcock before it could be released. The copyright is intact.

[BleedOrange11]

This project might actually be a fake.