3-D ON TV ISN’T LARGER THAN LIFE
Miami Herald, The (FL) - May 21, 1982
Author: TERRY KELLEHER Herald Arts Writer
These eyes haven’t beheld "The Miracle of Third Dimension" since Injuns shot flaming arrows at Guy Madison, and innocent movie audiences, in Charge at Feather River.
The year was 1953, and Hollywood was groping for gimmicks to outflank the burgeoning new medium of television. But the fad faded so quickly that scores of films shot in 3-D were released "flat." Cardboard glasses became an optometric antique.
Flash forward three decades. Independent TV stations are groping for gimmicks to outflank the network affiliates and cable alternatives. The 3-D Video Corp. of North Hollywood, Calif., has come up with an effective method of transfering 3-D movies to videotape. Last February, WGNO-TV in New Orleans aired Revenge of the Creature in three (count ’em) dimensions. Special glasses, flimsy as ever, were sold through local convenience stores. Promotion was heavy. Ratings soared.
According to Jack Fishman, vice president of 3-D Video, 28 stations will have conducted a similar 3-D experiment by the end of this month. An estimated 15 million glasses will have been snapped up. The new 3-D wave reaches South Florida at 8 tonight, when Chs. 6/33 show Gorilla at Large (’54), starring Ann Bancroft, Cameron Mitchell and Lee J. Cobb. Also featured are a guy in an ape costume and Raymond Burr, who today would be wide enough to cover the second dimension all by himself. Barbara Smith, programmming director at the station, reported
365,000 glasses sold through 7-Eleven outlets as of Tuesday night. At two pairs for 99 cents, Gorilla at Large qualifies as a cheap thrill.
To these eyes, Gorilla was something of a disappointment. Not the movie, which figured to be bad, but the 3-D sensation. True, there was the illusion of depth perception when the actors strolled the amusement-park set. Where, however, was the 3-D trickery? The gorilla (a genuinely tragic figure, by the way) swung into the camera but stopped well short of the screening room. A 3-D viewer wants to be smacked between the eyes -- preferably by somebody in the movie.
Via phone from California, Fishman warned against unrealistic expectations. The color on your set must be adjusted carefully, he explained, and even then the images will not leap onto your couch.
"Good 3-D is a layered effect," Fishman said, "not things coming out of the screen. I saw it in a theater , and the gorilla didn’t fall into my lap. On TV it’s more of a dimensional thing. When the gorilla comes close, you get a little impression that he’s coming at you. On the big screen, there’s more of an effect, but not much.
"People remember how big the screen looked in the ’50s, when they were young. They expect a Star Wars in depth, but they forget that it’s the B-minus movies that happen to be in 3-D."
It’s not as if there’s nothing to look forward to. Kiss Me Kate and Hondo are among the B-plus features that will soon be offered for telecast. Picture the layered look on John Wayne. "There were 150 movies done in 3-D," Fishman said. "This is only the tip of the iceberg." Fishman and friends are also in possession of two Three Stooges shorts. "They throw pies through the screen," he said, not at all boastfully.
Plus, original production is on the drawing-board at 3-D Video. Fishman insisted he’s serious about live coverage of the Rose Parade, "with -- what else? -- scratch-and-sniff, rose- scented glasse
