3-D Classics on Blu Ray: 3-D Rarities

Someone give the 3D Film Archive an Oscar. Seriously. Bob Furmanek, Greg Kintz, and Jack Theakston need to be given an Oscar and the right to restore any vintage 3D movie they want. Their work in the restoration and preservation of our 3D heritage is as important as it is astounding. 3-D Rarities, now out from Flicker Alley, is as good an example as any I can think of.


Covering material from 1922-1962, 3-D Rarities literally has something for everyone. The disc is broken into two parts: Dawn of the Stereoscopic Cinema, covering from 1922-mid-1952, and Hollywood Enters the Third Dimension, covering from November 1952 -1955, with bonus material giving us a peek at some 1960s footage. This Blu Ray is the motherlode, a 3D fan's dream come true. Test footage, trailers, cartoons, industrial shorts--it's all here. Every short and clip perfectly aligned and looking better than ever.


Part One starts with the oldest existing 3D footage from 1922. Some of it is test footage while a bulk of it is a fascinating glimpse at Washington, D.C. from that time frame, shot through the trees. Part one chugs along through the 20s with more test footage, mostly fun gimmick shots. Those shots were used in a variety of 3D shorts back then, all of which are lost. Some 1930s test footage, used for the Pete Smith Metroscopix shorts from 1936-1941 (all three of which do exist) updates a few of the gags from the 20s while adding to their own. You could literally stop the disc right there and have seen more 3D gimmick shots than in almost any ten modern 3D films you can name. But then you would miss the real highlights of Part One: Thrills for You and New Dimensions.

These two shorts were done for the 1940s World's Fair. Thrills for You played in San Francisco while New Dimensions played in New York. The former short is a wonderful snapshot at a time gone by: the era of traveling by locomotive. It was produced by the Pennsylvania Rail Road and not only shots the trains being built, but gives a glimpse into what riding on those trains was like. It was a lost short until 2006 when it popped up at the World 3-D Film Expo II. If you are any sort of train enthusiast, this is a must see short.


New Dimensions will appeal to car lovers. It's a color re-do of the previous year's black & white In Tune With Tomorrow, a stop motion animation short of a full size Plymouth being built, set to music. For years, fans of the short could only see the edited version RKO released in 1953 called Motor Rhythm. This disc restores the complete short as seen by audiences in 1940.


If animation is your thing, there's four Canadian 3D shorts from 1951-1952. Two of them were by Norman McLaren. They're interesting examples of 3D animation. An industrial short for the Bolex 3-D camera rounds out part one.


Part Two kicks off, appropriately enough with the short that opened Arch Oboler's Bwana Devil, M.L. Gunzberg Presents Naturalvision 3-Dimension or as it came to be referred to in later sources, Time For Beany since it features Beany and Cecil the Seasick Serpent. Oh, Lloyd Nolan is in it, too, along with Shirley Tegge, Miss 3-D. It's a humorous explanation of the Naturalvision camera system.


Other highlights for Part Two include four trailers, a Casper Cartoon (Boo Moon),a short about Atom Bomb testing (Doom Town), a Burlesque short (I'll Sell My Shirt), the Rocky Marciano-Joe Walcott fight film, and the short that opened for Robot Monster with comedian Slick Slavin (Stardust in Your Eyes). The bonus material includes two minutes from the 3D footage Francis Ford Coppola directed for the 1962 3D nudie film The Playgirls and the Bellboy. Mr. Furmanek has threatened to unleash the rest of that film on us in the near future.

Personally, I most enjoyed the Time For Beany short and another puppet cartoon on the disc called The Adventures of Sam Space. But the truth is, there isn't a bad piece of footage on this disc. The product of five years work, it's a great celebration of all things 3D and a perfect showcase for the diversity the process once had before settling into cartoons and comic book movies. Not only should any 3D fan get this disc, but anyone who wants to make 3D movies should get it, watch it, and learn from it.


So yeah, get the 3D Film Archive an Oscar for this one. This is hands down the Best 3-D Blu Ray you'll ever own.