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A Technician's Dream? The Critical Reception of 3-D Films in Britain

2012; Routledge; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2012.669887

1465-3451

Keith M. Johnston,

Cinema and Media Studies

Abstract Recent debates about the role of 3-D within cinema (and other media) have contained the traces of a largely anti-stereoscopic agenda that can be traced back to critical responses to 3-D in the 1950s. This article considers how British film reviews from the 1950s and 1980s established potent terms of discussion around the 3-D technology, its potential aesthetic development, and the role of stereoscopy within cinema. Exploring the parameters that the original reviewers set in place concerning the 3-D aesthetic, notably claims around realism, novelty, and gimmickry, the article argues that the language and terms of 1950s British film reviewers have worked to set an agenda that resonates through both the 1980s 3-D revival and modern day digital 3-D. Notes 1. Raymond Spottiswoode, Stereoscopic Films: A Chance to Experiment, 1951 Edinburgh Film Festival materials, National Library of Scotland, File Acc 11308/Box 9, file 32: 9. 2. R. M. Hayes' 3-D Movies: a history and filmography of stereoscopic cinema (Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, 1989) and Ray Zone's Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2007) are solid historical introductions; while Hal Morgan and Dan Symmes' Amazing 3-D (Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1982) and Ray Zone's 3-D Filmmakers: conversations with creators of stereoscopic motion pictures (Oxford, Scarecrow Press, 2005) are more journalistic in nature. 3. Roger Ebert, D-minus for 3-D, Chicago Sun-Times (16 August 2008), http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/08/dminus_for_3d.html (accessed 10 June 2009). 4. Robert C. Allen and Douglas Gomery, Film History: theory and practice (New York, Albert A. Knopf, 1985), 90. 5. Barbara Klinger, Melodrama and Meaning: history, culture and the films of Douglas Sirk (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1994); Ernest Mathijs, Bad reputations: the reception of 'trash' cinema, Screen 46(4) (2005), 451–472. 6. Klinger, Melodrama and Meaning, 69–70. 7. Klinger, Melodrama and Meaning, 69. 8. See, for example, Charles Barr, CinemaScope and after, Film Quarterly 16(4) (Summer 1963), 4–24, including a riposte to Andre Bazin's discussion of widescreen, or John Belton, Widescreen Cinema (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992). 9. The film exhibitor's reaction to 1950s British 3-D has been discussed elsewhere, but the larger critical response remains unexplored: Keith M. Johnston, Now is the time (to put on your glasses): 3-D film exhibition in Britain, 1951–55, Film History 23(1) (2011), 93–103. 10. Mathijs, Bad reputations, 451–452. 11. Mathijs, Bad reputations, 435. 12. The films were produced by a group of British technicians (notably Leslie Dudley, Spottiswoode and Charles Smith), in association with animators Norman MacLaren and John Halas, the Pathé Documentary Group and International Realist. Johnston, Now is the time (to put on your glasses). 13. Distant Thames and Royal River are different versions of the same film: Distant Thames was an incomplete cut of the stereoscopic footage, prepared for the Festival of Britain screenings when the producers ran out of time; Royal River, the finished cut of the full filmed material, debuted at the 1951 Edinburgh Film Festival. 14. Laura Burd Schiavo, From phantom image to perfect vision: physiological optics, commercial photography and the popularization of the stereoscopic, in Lisa Gitelman and Geoffrey B. Pingree (eds), New Media, 1940–1915 (London, MIT Press, 2003), 113–137. 15. Quotations from Laura Burd Schiavo, From phantom image to perfect vision, 128–129. 16. Several attempts had been made to launch stereoscopic films ahead of the 1950s 'boom', including short experiments by the Lumiere Bros, a feature film The Power of Love (1922), MGM's 'Audioscopiks' series (1936–1941), a Polaroid system developed for the 1939 New York Worlds' Fair, and a 1940s Russian 'lenticular' system that did not require the use of spectacles. The 1950s is commonly regarded as the first concerted commercial expansion and exploitation of the technology. 17. Chapman Pincher, Is This Super Cinema the Model for the Future? Daily Express (1 May 1951), 3; J. A. W., Stereoscopy and the Cinema, The Scotsman (18 August 1951); Donald Zec, Specs make these films come to life, Daily Mirror (1 May 1951), 6. 18. J.A.W., Stereoscopy and the Cinema; What to see at the South Bank—4, Daily Mirror (11 May 1951), 3. 19. What to see at the South Bank—4, 3; Forsyth Hardy, The New Dimension in Films, The Listener (6 September 1951), 370; American critics made similar observations: 'Distant Thames … is an essay in realism … The scenery, reproduced in delightfully subdued colour, had 3-dimensional depth … the spectator actually felt that by leaning slightly forward it would be possible to stroke the swans on the Thames' (Gerard Pratley, The Latest 3-Dimensional Films, Films in Review 3(4) (April 1952), 174). 20. Reviews of McLaren's films are largely restricted to Monthly Film Bulletin and Mini-Cinema. 21. British 3-D commercials for Capstan Cigarettes (The Real Thing, 1953) and Kellogg's Cornflakes were equally absent from critical commentary. 22. Pincher, Is This Super Cinema the Model for the Future?, 3; Zec, Specs make these films come to life, 6. 23. The Stroller, Long Shots, Kinematograph Weekly (15 March 1951), 5. See also R. Howard Cricks, Do We Want That Third Dimension? Picturegoer (15 September 1951), 19—where stereoscopic 3-D was also described as 'an old system' that had been 'keeping filmdom guessing for many years'. 24. British producers Stereo Techniques (the company formed by Spottiswoode, Smith, Jack Ralph and Ken Nyman) claimed to have developed advanced stereoscopic technology, but noted similarities between their equipment and that used for a stereoscopic experiment at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Both were based on existing stereoscopic theory (Spottiswoode, 1951). 25. The Stroller, Long Shots (15 March 1951), 5. 26. The Stroller, Long Shots (15 March 1951), 5. 27. Cricks, Do We Want That Third Dimension?, 19; R. Howard Cricks, Stereoscopy—Is it here to stay or is it a Nine-Day Wonder? The Ideal Kinema 18(207) (12 June 1952), 19. 28. For more on the British 3-D films success, see Johnston, Now is the time (to put on your glasses). 29. New Looks for Gold, Kinematograph Weekly 414(2306) (6 September 1951), 4; Onlooker, Up and Down the Street, Today's Cinema 78(6511) (26 May 1952), 4; An expert looks at Three-D, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,030 (3 April 1953), 6. 30. First Full Length Venture in Three Dimensions: 'Bwana Devil' Comes to Glasgow, Glasgow Herald 171(63) (16 March 1953), 3g. 31. Onlooker, Up and Down the Street, 4; Gloomy … but among the greats, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, 20,848 (2 September 1952), 10. 32. Reg Whitley, The Funeral of Flat Films, Daily Mirror (17 February 1953), 2; Francis Raymond, House of Wax, ABC Film Review (October 1951), 16. 33. Glasgow Cinemas: The Charlatan, The Mute, and the Girl, Glasgow Herald 171(189) (10 August 1953), 3h; Frad Majdalany, Here's 3-D the Hard Way, Daily Mail (21 March 1953), 4; Gavin Lambert, House of Wax, Man in the Dark and Bwana Devil, Sight & Sound 23(1) (July 1953), 31. 34. A Day in the Country review, Monthly Film Bulletin 20(233) (June 1953), 92; House of Wax review, Monthly Film Bulletin 20(234) (July 1953), 84. 35. Inferno review, Sunday Dispatch (27 September 1953); Kiss Me Kate review, Sunday Dispatch (21 February 1954). Both sourced via BFI microjacket. 36. Spottiswoode, Stereoscopic Films: A Chance to Experiment, 10. 37. Shirley Booth is worth her Oscar, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,051 (28 April 1953), 11. 38. Bwana Devil review, Monthly Film Bulletin 20(232) (May 1953), 65. 39. Great Potentialities of 3-D Technique: Flaws of Immaturity in 'Bwana Devil', Glasgow Herald 171(69) (23 March 1953), 5f; Hondo review, Daily Mail (28 February 1954), Hondo BFI microjacket; The Charge at Feather River review, Monthly Film Bulletin 20(238) (November 1953), 158; Three-D adds beauty and point to Western, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,272 (12 January 1954), 11. 40. Future for 3-D? It's Doubtful, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,019 (21 March 1953), 18. 41. Edinburgh gets a taste of 3-D, Evening Dispatch 21,036 (10 April 1953), 14; Newell Rogers, A kiss out of the picture, Daily Express (29 November 1952), 2; Glasgow Cinemas, 3h; Chiefly Fightin', Feudin', A'Fussin', Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,440 (27 July 1954), 11; Kiss Me Kate review, Financial Times (1 March 1954), BFI microjacket. 42. First Full Length Venture in Three Dimensions, 3g. 43. Irving, 3-D starts 7000 Arguments, 6. See also, Tanfield, Tanfield's Diary: 3-D plus, Daily Mail (18 April 1953), 4; Bwana Devil review, Monthly Film Bulletin 20(232) (May 1953), 65; Man in the Dark review, Today's Cinema 80(6736) (14 April 1953), 8. 44. Future for 3-D? It's Doubtful, 18. 45. Around the Cinemas: Three-D Conversion at the Critics Request, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,320 (9 March 1954), 11. 46. Three-D adds beauty and point to Western, 11. 47. B. Baxter, A portent, Evening Standard (12 November 1953), BFI microjacket; It's not another Shane—but almost, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,422 (6 July 1954), 11. 48. Dial M for Murder review, Daily Star (16 July 1954), BFI microjacket. 49. Dial M for Murder review, Sunday Times, 18 July 1954), BFI microjacket. 50. Pincher, Is This Super Cinema the Model for the Future?, 3. 51. Keith Waterhouse, Slap it on, Edward! Daily Mirror (10 April 1952), 2; Hollywood Speedy Reply to Challenge of Television, Daily Mirror (10 February 1953), 9; Whitley, The Funeral of Flat Films, 2. 52. Sangaree review, Edinburgh Evening Dispatch 21,165 (8 September 1953), 2; Majdalany, Here's 3-D the Hard Way, 4; Bwana Devil review, 65; Leonard Mosley, Focal No. 1 Just Made My Head Ache, Daily Express (21 March 1953), 3. 53. The glasses were also an issue for film exhibitors, many of whom had to pay tax on the glasses. See Johnston, Now is the time (to put on your glasses). 54. This critical dismissal of glasses was at the heart of CinemaScope's advertising campaigns, which promised an immersive film experience that didn't require 'special glasses'. For more on the technological competition between 3-D and CinemaScope in the 1950s, see Keith M. Johnston, Coming Soon: film trailers and the selling of Hollywood technology (Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, 2009). 55. An expert looks at Three-D, 6. 56. The Stewardesses review, Variety 260(5) (16 September 1970), 24. 57. Bill Warren, 3-D Movies/Parasite, Starburst 4(11) (July 1982), 52–55. 58. Peter Haigh, Big Technical Advance Makes Way for Return of 3-D Films, Film Review (September 1982), 36–37. 59. Patrick Gibbs, Jaws 3-D review, Daily Telegraph (16 December 1983), 11; Ian Bell, Jaws goes flat in three dimensions, The Scotsman (10 December 1983), 3; Cinema: New Releases, City Limits 84 (13–19 May 1983), 26. 60. Haigh, Big Technical Advances Makes Way for Return of 3-D Films, 37. Critic Patrick Gibbs did note the presence of Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder in his brief overview of 3-D history, but there was little sense that an auteur figure—often used as a mark of cultural significance—could be used to claim artistic relevance for the 3-D process: Gibbs, Jaws 3-D review, 11. 61. Jaws 3-D Production Notes, 2 (BFI microjacket). 62. Jaws 3-D review, Monthly Film Bulletin 50(599) (December 1983), 330; David Robinson, Jaws 3-D review, The Times (16 December 1983), 10. 63. Comin' at Ya! review, Monthly Film Bulletin 49(583) (August 1982), 166. 64. David McGillivray, Comin' at Ya!, Films and Filming 335 (August 1982), 31. 65. McGillivray, Comin' at Ya!, 31; Cynthia Rose, Comin' at Ya, City Limits 39 (2–8 July 1982), 4. 66. Alan Jones, Parasite review, Starburst 4(12) (August 1982), 16–17. 67. Nigel Andrews, Jaws 3D review, Financial Times (16 December 1983), 21; Alexander Walker, Another fin mess, Evening Standard (15 December 1983), 21. 68. Neil Sinyard, Amityville 3-D, Films and Filming 355 (August 1984), 31. 69. Robinson, Jaws 3-D review, 10. 70. Iain Johnstone, Jaws III-D review, Sunday Times (18 December 1983), 43. 71. Arthur Thirkell, Jaws 3-D review, Daily Mirror (16 December 1983), 19. 72. Robinson, Jaws 3-D review, 10. 73. Rose, Coming' At Ya!, 4; Cynthia Rose, Coming at Ya review, Monthly Film Bulletin 49(582) (July 1982), 135; Brian Baxter, Jaws 3D, Films and Filming 352 (January 1984), 36; Nick Roddick, Jaws 3-D review, Monthly Film Bulletin 50(599) (December 1983), 330. 74. Gibbs, Jaws 3-D review, 11; Kim Newman, Amityville 3-D review, City Lights 137 (18–24 May 1984), 30. 75. Bell, Jaws 3-D review, 3. 76. Friday the 13th review, Starburst 58 (June 1983), 38; 3rd Helpings of Horror, Film Review 33(6) (June 1983), 14. 77. Friday the 13th review, Starburst 58 (June 1983), 38. 78. Friday the 13th review, 38; Jaws 3-D review, Film Review 34(1) (January 1984), 28. 79. Johnston, Coming Soon, 41–42. 80. Andrews, Jaws 3-D review, 21; David McGillivray, Friday the 13th Part III 3-D, Films and Filming 348 (September 1983), 34. 81. Virginia Dignam, Jaws 3-D review, Morning Star (16 December 1983), 2; David Castell Jaws 3-D review, Sunday Telegraph (18 December 1983), 12; Bell, Jaws 3-D review, 3; John Coleman, Jaws 3-D review, New Statesman (16 December 1983), 32; Margaret Hinxman, Jaws 3-D review, Daily Mail (16 December 1983), 22; Andrews, Jaws 3-D review, 21. 82. Castell, Jaws 3-D review, 12; Gibbs, Jaws 3-D review, 11. 83. Mark Kermode, No, your eyes aren't deceiving you—3D really is a con, The Observer (11 April 2010), http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/11/3d-avatar-hollywood; Roger Ebert, Why I Hate 3-D (And You Should Too), Newsweek (9 May 2010), http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/30/why-i-hate-3-d-and-you-should-too.html; Mike Eisenberg, Christopher Nolan Talks 3-D, IMAX and 'Inception', http://screenrant.com/christopher-nolan-talks-3d-imax-inception-mikee-50838/; Edgar Wright—Scott Pilgrim Director No 3-D Fan, http://www.contactmusic.com/news/scott-pilgrim-director-no-3d-fan_1158652. 84. Few reviews exist for these films, particularly 3-D screenings of them. Film Review reduced 3-D to a 'special effect' in Treasure of the Four Crowns and describing Metalstorm as 'comic strip … great stuff for kids,' connecting gimmickry with visual spectacle and not immersive narrative. A Pair of 3-D Spectacles, Film Review 33(7) (July 1983), 27; Metalstorm review, Film Review 34(4) (April 1984), 35. 85. The author knows of at least one screening of Jaws 3-D in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, circa 1987, likely on a re-run circuit. However, this points to the difficulty of identifying a date at which the 1980s 'boom' ended for British audiences. Adverts for Spacehunter note that it was playing in 3-D in 'some cinemas': Spacehunter advert, Film Review 33(12) (December 1983), 35. 86. Castell, Jaws 3-D review, 12. 87. Mark Kermode, No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. 88. Kermode regularly appears with Simon Mayo on BBC Five Live, on the BBC blogs, in The Observer, on Twitter, and talks about 3-D in his 2011 book The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex (London, Random House). 89. Bell, Jaws 3-D review, 3. 90. Mathijs, Bad reputations, 435. 91. Allan Hunter, Streetdance film review, Daily Express (21 May 2010), http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/view/176399/Streetdance-3D-Film-review-and-trailer-; Simon Crook, Streetdance 3-D, Empire (May 2010), http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=136806; Catherine Shoard, Streetdance 3-D, the Guardian (20 May 2010), http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may/20/streetdance-3d-review (all reviews accessed 4 March 2011) 92. Hunter, Streetdance film review. 93. Anthony Quinn, Streetdance 3-D, The Independent (21 May 2010), http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/streetdance-3d-pg-1978588.html; Chris Tookey, Let the Dancers Do Their Stuff, The Daily Mail (21 May 2010), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1280056/Streetdance-3D-Let-dancers-stuff.html; AJ, Streetdance, Radio Times, http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?searchTypeSelect=5&frn=49744 (reviews accessed 4 March 2011) 94. Crook, Streetdance 3-D; Hunter, Streetdance film review; Tookey, Let the Dancers Do Their Stuff; Quinn, Streetdance 3-D. 95. Shoard, Streetdance 3-D; Crook, Streetdance 3-D; Matthew London, Streetdance 3-D, View London (19 May 2010), http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/streetdance-3d-film-review-33965.html (accessed 4 March 2011).