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Entertainment

See Classic Movies in 3-D

Hitchcock, Rita Hayworth, horror and more.

All of our posting about upcoming 3-D this and 3-D that: film, cameras, smart phones, iPad apps, sound, graffiti, and even printers may have given you the idea that the desire to have images jump out at us is a relatively new phenomenon. While putting the power to create 3-D images and home movies into the hands of the masses is still very next year, 3-D movies had their golden age long before Avatar, Imax, or HD were ever even pipe dreams.

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From 1952 to 1955, the American film industry produced 45 “stereographic features,” 15 of which are being aired by the Film Forum in NYC through the end of this month.

Classic 3-D uses much the same process as the current stuff; scenes are shot from two angles and then the images are layered over top each other and viewed through polarizing glasses to create a 3-D effect. The difference between the analog techniques used in the 50’s and the digital mastery behind modern day marvels like Avatar, is that classic 3-D not only had to be filmed from two angles, it also has to be screened simultaneously from two projectors — a tricky business to pull off — which is why theater owners haven’t been brave enough to bring out the old reels, until now.

All we can say is that we’re delighted that Bruce Goldstein, the Film Forum’s repertory programmer, was dedicated enough to give it a go. We saw Dial M for Murder in 3-D this past Saturday, and were positively thrilled by the way the attempted murder scene leapt off the screen. Even though these films are NYC only for the moment, part of the impetus for this post is the hope that classic 3-D revivals become a national, even international trend. We want to see every one.