The Mask is one of those movies that I loved as a teenager. It was the first 3-D movie I recorded off of TV in 3-D back in 1986. I watched it repeatedly, even catching it in 2-D, until I got sick of it.
I recently revisited The Mask thanks to an astonishing 3-D Blu-Ray from Kino and the 3-D Film Archive and got to be reminded of what looney fun it was.
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Like I said, the movie is not subtle at all about it's drug allegory. In the movie's single worst acted moment, Nevins gives an embarrassingly bad speech outright calling the mask a drug. To his credit, director Julian Roffman does try to make the dream sequences look terrifying. However, like too many other "trip" movies, the dreams come off as pretty wild, especially in 3-D. And the 3-D on this is terrific. Like so many other vintage 3-D releases, there's a good amount of depth and a fun amount of pop out gimmick effects without being overly obnoxious.
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The Mask is a part 3-D film, with three separate dream sequences in 3-D, each one running about five minutes. The rest of the movie is in standard 2-D. Originally shown in anaglyphic 3-D, this may be the best of the part 3-D movies. It certainly beats the pants off Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The 3-D Film Archive got hold of the left/right separations for the 3-D sequences and have made the movie available for the first time ever in discrete 3-D. That's quite a feat. They restored the film in a few other ways, too.
Back in the 1980s this was one of the movies 3-D Video Corporation offered to stations forThe Mask on VHS and Laserdisc in 3-D, it was the cut version that was offered. The 3-D Film Archive, however, put those scenes back in and, for the first time since the film's theatrical release, included the original intro to the movie with mask expert Jim Moran. To boot, the movie is being offered in it's original widescreen format. So, basically, this is the version audiences saw in 1961, but even better.
broadcast. It was, in fact, one of only five or six the company made available to non-cable stations, the rest being saved for SelecTV. It came with a 3-D hosting segment featuring magician Harry Blackstone, Jr. and, as such, several scenes from the film were trimmed out to make room for the Blackstone segments. When Rhino offered
The Kino Blu-Ray also includes the anaglyphic sequences in their original format. The DVD has just the anaglyphic version, of course, as well as the Blackstone segments as extras and replicas of the original glasses patrons were given in 1961. I got the DVD for those two reasons as well as getting the Blu. I'll say this about the Blackstone footage: it was fun to watch again, but it is rough on the eyes. Ol' Harry is wearing a red tuxedo and this is in red/blue color 3-D. Just sayin'.
Michael Weldon, in his Bible of Exploitation Films The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, called The Mask one of the all time great gimmick films. As a gimmick film, it's a load of fun. Sure, it's not as good a movie as Dial M For Murder or Kiss Me Kate, but it's far better than most of what came after it, at least until the modern run.
So come on, man. Put The Mask On--Now! Take the trip. You know you want to.
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