When 3D had a sudden and unexpected revival at the start of the 1980s – thanks to the unlikely success of the low-budget spaghetti western comedy Comin’ At Ya – I was an enthusiastic adopter of the form. Whenever a 3D movie played in a local (or even not-so-local) cinema, I was there – Friday 13th Pt 3, Jaws 3, Amityville 3 (‘part 3’ movies were an obvious choice for the addition of the third dimension, given how you could tweak the title for 3D and ‘flat’ screenings with ease), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Treasure of the Four Crowns and re-issues of House of Wax and The Creature from the Black Lagoon were amongst the titles that I saw – a mixed bag for sure, with the worst (that’d be Treasure of the Four Crowns) being no more fun in 3D than it would’ve been flat.
I was also keen on the idea of 3D TV and video, though in practice, this proved to be a very hit and miss affair. The science documentary series The Real World did a 3D episode that was a lot of fun, but ITV in the UK then immediately killed the prospects of any more 3D TV by showing the dull western Fort Ti as the ‘big’ 3D movie – not only was the film tedious viewing but the 3D quality of the colour film was rather poor. And that, pretty much, was the end of that. While a few video releases – Electric Blue 008, The Mask, The Four Dimensions of Greta – came in 3D versions, the format wasn’t really suited to rental, given the need for the 3D glasses to be included every time – even if these survived regular use, they were designed for solitary viewers. If more than one of you wanted to enjoy the 3D experience, you’d have to find your own glasses.
By the mid-1980s, the 3D craze was over once again. It had uncannily paralleled the 1950s boom – kicking off in 1952/82, peaking in 1953/83 and fizzling out in 1954/84, a gimmick swamped by inferior movies, bad projection and the public finding other distractions. As with the original boom, 3D never quite went away – there were several 3D movies in the 1960s and 1970s and the gimmick was resurrected in the 1990s and beyond, leading up to the most recent revival, when 3D seemed set to become standard for big-budget blockbusters. Yet once again, the 3D cinema explosion seems to have slowed down in recent years and 3D TV never lived up to the hype. For audiences, the disadvantages – especially for home viewing – seem to outweigh the fun, and no matter how many improvements are made, there are still complaints about poor quality, headaches and far too much faffing around required. While variations on virtual reality seem set to be the next frontier in 3D entertainment, I suspect that it will always be something of a niche thing until glasses, headsets and the rest and no longer needed and people can immerse themselves into a film without any additional cost or effort.
Here’s our latest video, covering the rise and fall of 3D in the 1980s and beyond through your humble editor’s ridiculously large collection of viewing glasses.
DAVID FLINT
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