2-D transfers of 3-D Rarities

Like most Americans, rather than fortify the pre-feedbag portion of Thanksgiving Day with parades and sporting events, I chose to gorge on 2-D transfers of two dozen or so impeccably restored-to-blu-ray 3-D curios. Why 2-D? The picture quality at a recent small screen 3-D demo was as underwhelming as the price tag was staggering. To paraphrase Ralph Kramden, I’m waiting for holographic TV.

3-D Rarities, Volume One

One month ago, this space waxed rhapsodic over the necessity of stereoscopic cinema. What followed was a certainty of fate: a text message from Re-Animated Records announcing the arrival of “some new stuff I think you’d like,” that just this week placed in my care a copy of 3-D Rarities Vol. 1, Flicker Alley’s cavalcade of depth perception. A find such as this raises the profound question: why would anyone relinquish this scarcity for resale? From anaglyphic test footage to complete Polarized immersion, the selections span the decades from the origins of cinema to widescreen exhibition. Genres covered include sci-fi, westerns, cartoons, musicals, and an A-Bomb scare film, along with other assorted documentaries. Also included: long-form commercials from Chrysler, Plymouth, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. There’s even a boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Wolcott. A veritable history of the medium unfolds before our eyes in a scant 147 minutes. And you can see it without glasses!

The blu-ray comes with both 2-D and 3-D versions of all 22 of the multidimensional oddities and curiosities contained within, but viewing them in the latter format will require more than a visit to 7-11 for the free pair of red-and-blue cardboard specs you might obtain with every purchase of a Slurpee. Nor will two side-by-side monitors (set slightly askew) and a pair of corrugated goggles cut it. Current specifications require compatible specs on top of both a 3-D TV and 3-D blu-ray player.

A sample of the goodness herein, positioned at the beginning of Part 2: Hollywood Enters the Third-Dimension: M. L. Gunzburg Presents Natural Vision 3-Dimension was designed to open Arch Obler’s Bwana Devil, Hollywood’s first foray into the third-dimension. Veteran leading man Lloyd Nolan acts as host, and apart from showing off the pulchritudinous charms on Miss USA of 1949, Shirley Tegge, he introduces us to the stars of Bob Clampett’s wildly popular Time For Beany. According to the liner-notes penned by my old Chicago compatriarte, Ted Okuda, Gunzberg’s plan of pairing Clampett with Frank “Apex’” Tashlin on a Beany and Cecil feature shot entirely in 3-D just wasn’t meant to be.

Who needs features when there’s scads of promotional material to go around? Trailers include It Came From Outer Space, Hannah Lee — featuring a flatly lit trio of stars Macdonald Carey, Joanne Dru, and John Ireland — Rita Hayworth in Miss Sadie Thompson, and production designer extraordinaire (Gone With the Wind) turned delirious steropstitcian William Camermon Menzies’ pointedly perverse The Maze. Casper the Friendly Ghost’s Boo Moon rounds out the disc, and there are two notable special features: a clip from The Bellboy and the Playgirls directed by Francis Coppola and a 3-D comic featuring the Three Stooges.

You don’t have to be a historian to find something to love about this set... other than the price. It lists for $39.95 and a Vol.2 follow-up released last year will set you back $34.99. (Here’s your chance to see The Heart and the Sword, starring an eye-popping Cesar Romero.) But flat or deep, you’ll get your money’s worth.