Sixty years ago Hollywood had its first serious engagement with exhibiting feature films in three dimensions. Dr Simon Brown looks at one of the first films released on the then new film format, Inferno, recently released on Blu-ray in the UK, and considers these kinds of films might be heading in the future.
About the Author: Dr Simon Brown is Principal Lecturer in Film, TV and Media at Kingston University. He has written widely on early cinema, colour cinematography, 3DTV and contemporary American television. His book Cecil Hepworth and the Rise of the British Film Industry 1899-1911 is scheduled to be published by Exeter University Press in the Spring of 2016. He is currently working on a new book on horror author Stephen King. Previous publications include: Colour Cinema in Britain: Theories and Practices, co-edited with Sarah Street and Liz Watkins ( BFI Palgrave, 2013); Color and the Moving Image: History, Theory, Aesthetics: Archive co-edited with Sarah Street and Liz Watkins (Routledge, 2012); Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies, co-edited with Stacey Abbott (I.B. Tauris, 2007).
Released for the first time for home viewing in the UK, and also in its original 3D format, Inferno stars Robert Ryan as businessman Donald Whitley Carson III, who is stranded in the Mojave Desert with a broken leg, having been abandoned by his wife and her lover, played by Rhonda Fleming and William Lundigan. Cutting between Ryan’s attempts to find safety and the search for him by local law enforcement, rather ingeniously the film requires the audience to spend much of its snappy 83 minutes alone with the unpleasant Carson with only his voice-over for company. Sometimes a rather clunky device, here the narration offers access to Carson’s thoughts and a way to sympathise with this selfish, drunken man as he bullies and improvises himself towards survival. Ryan’s central performance is mesmerising and reminds us what an outstanding actor he was.
Inferno was directed by the late, great Roy Ward Baker, produced by 20th Century Fox and released in 3D in August 1953. Updated here for contemporary 3D formatting, what is immediately striking is the quality of the three-dimensional framing, which sees Baker avoiding unnecessary gimmicks and using 3D primarily to offer a stimulating visual backdrop to the action. Favouring deep focus, out in the desert Baker frames Ryan in medium and long shots before a series of exquisite distant landscapes, while interiors are carefully crafted in planes of depth to demonstrate the maximum potential of 3D. Clearly the work of a master, it is interesting to consider that not only with A Night to Remember (1958) did Baker manage to make a film about the sinking of the Titanic that, depending on your opinion, either rivals or utterly eclipses James Cameron’s telling of the story in 1997, with Inferno Baker used 3D as a background to a story in a way that clearly prefigures that of Avatar.
Inferno was part of a brief flirtation with 3D in Hollywood that began with Bwana Devil in 1952 and ran out of steam by 1954. Despite its short-lived success, this period did see the release of a number of 3D films that have become cult classics, or even just classics. Chief among the latter would be George Sidney’s splendid Kiss Me Kate (1953), Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder (1954 – although not released in 3D until 1980) and the celebrated Universal monster movie The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Among the former we should certainly include House of Wax (1953), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and, arguably, the John Wayne western Hondo (1954). Some of these may be better overall films, but not even Hitchcock uses 3D as well as Baker does here. This was a delirious time of experimentation in Hollywood with all elements of screen technology including colour and sound. So not only was Inferno shot and released in 3D, it had stereo sound and Technicolor. Again, Baker makes excellent use of colour, contrasting the vast, dusty brown desert landscapes with the richly coloured interiors in which Fleming and Lundigan scheme and worry. Indeed perhaps more than the film itself it is Inferno’s link to technology that gives it its place in 3D history, as it was the only 3D feature film produced by Fox, mainly because Fox were preparing to launch their own new technological format, Cinemascope, with the release of The Robe in September 1953. 3D in the 1950s was a flawed process and a frustrating viewing experience, with uncomfortable glasses and a myriad of projection problems owing to the need to have two identical prints running in synch. It was partly these problems but also the success of Cinemascope that finally put paid to 3D. On its original release Inferno very much foregrounded the immersive qualities of its technological achievements, ensuring the audience that ‘You are there, in the middle of a thundering, theatre shaking landslide.’ On the small screen the effect is more intimate, but shorn of the inherent problems of the 1950s anaglyph 3D system, the crisp Technicolor restoration by the late 3D pioneer Dan Symmes is certainly a feast for the eyes. The film is also here in 2D, and while this too looks spectacular, the 3D version is far superior.
https://youtu.be/XHqd6nl6rjk
After Inferno 3D largely disappeared from cinema screens until it made a cautious comeback in the 1970s, mainly in the exploitation arena with films like The Stewardesses (1972), Secrets of Ecstasy (1972), British made Three Dimensions of Greta (1973) and Andy Warhol’s gloopy and perverse Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula (both 1974), before tipping back into the mainstream briefly in the early 1980s. Compared to these the current digital 3D cycle, if not launched then certainly thrust into the public consciousness with James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) is unique, partly owing to its longevity and partly to the ability of new 3D technology to link up with other media. So in addition to watching 3D films in cinemas (on ordinary and IMAX screens), the embedding of 3D compatibility in the majority of new TV sets means that interested viewers can watch 3D television programmes (in the UK now solely if one has a Sky subscription, the BBC having decided not to continue to experiment with 3D after using it - in a very innovative fashion - to make the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special) and also 3D Blu-Rays, if one has a 3D player. While attempts have been made in the past to release 3D films on DVD in 3D for home viewing, for example the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine, which came complete with two sets of natty cardboard glasses, it is really only with the broader adoption of Blu-Ray that the market for 3D films for home viewing began to grow. Even then it has remaining relatively niche and only a small sector of broader Blu-Ray sales.
Given it is largely unknown, it is curious that Inferno should take its place as one of only a handful of classic 3D films that have been remastered for contemporary 3D Blu-ray capabilities and released in the UK, alongside Dial M for Murder and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In America these titles have been joined by House of Wax, but aside from these the re-release of classic 3D films remains frustratingly small. Where for example are Bwana Devil and Kiss Me Kate? Even films from the equally short-lived 3D boom of the 1980s are yet to appear. I can see why no-one is scouring the vaults for 3D prints of the sad Raiders of the Lost Ark rip-off Treasure of the Four Crowns (1983) but Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) was a decent movie and it’s very surprising that none of the classic ‘second sequel’ 3D films, Friday the Thirteenth Part III in 3D, Jaws 3D and Amityville 3D have not been released in the modern 3D Blu-ray format.
Outside of 3D, newly restored classic titles form a significant part of the Blu-ray market, one aimed if not exclusively then certainly primarily at collectors. This lack of archival 3D titles suggests that while Hollywood clearly sees the value in selling its back catalogue (something of course it did to TV as early as the 1950s) in the current cycle 3D is still seen as something primarily contemporary and linked to a particular type of product, namely the blockbuster and children’s films. By far the majority of available pre-Avatar 3D fiction films fall into these categories, and are almost exclusively 2D titles retro-fitted into 3D, including Disney’s Finding Nemo, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, as well as blockbusters such as Jurassic Park and Top Gun, all of which were released in cinemas as well.
The recent anniversary cinema release of The Wizard of Oz, remastered in IMAX 3D seems to suggest that at least in archival terms, the focus remains upon the retro-fitting of 2D films for 3D spectacle release, and Oz 3D is already available on Blu-ray. It is a matter of opinion, but I’d suggest that the last thing Oz needs is to be in 3D. It’s perfectly fine as it is and to suggest that something was missing from the film that 3D can bring to improve it is borderline insulting. This is especially true when one considers that there are perfectly good, or at least historically interesting, 3D films that are meant to be seen in this format as yet unavailable. There is of course a very important debate to be had around notions of authenticity. The image on an original red and green 3D film that has been cleaned up for modern digital release is not being seen as it originally looked. But, against this must be weighed the fact that the history of 3D is in a very real sense largely unavailable. To watch Jaws 3D in a mere two dimensions is largely as pointless as watching Oz in three. In this respect Inferno, while it was hardly a landmark in film history, is very welcome in digital 3D format, and while it looks nothing like it did originally, the tender and glorious restoration work allows the modern viewer to bypass the images problems of the anaglyph system and enjoy if you like this 3D film as the director would have wanted it to look. Extras include the original 3D trailer (only available in 2D), and an engaging interview with Rhonda Fleming conducted by Pat Boone. All in all Inferno is a real treasure. Forget about the present and the faux-past, and grab yourself a piece of real 3D cinematic history.
Dr Simon Brown