The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

THE CINE TECHNICIAN Editor: REG GROVES EDITORIAL OFFICE: 2 Soho Square, W.I Telephone: GERrard 8506 ADVERTISEMENT OFFICE: 5 & 6 Red Lion Square, Telephone: HOLborn 4972 W.C.I One's Round-up on 3-D . 26, 27, 28, 29 The Final Test, by R. J. Minney . . . 30, 31, 52 Cartoon, by Jimmy Land . . . .31 George Elvin Reports on Russia 32, 33, 34, 39 Complete Guide to British Film Makers .... 35, 36, 37, 38 Farewell to Denham Studios, by Chris Brunei 40 Report on Sponsored TV 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 Cine Profiles, fey Recorder . . . .47 A.C.T. News, compiled by 'Middy' 48, 50, 51, 52 Pathe Strike in Pictures .49 THE CINE TECHNICIAN MARCH -APRIL, 1953 VOL. 19 No. 101 PRICE ONE SHILLING OPTICAL BINGE TF reports from Hollywood and New York are to ■* be believed, American movie makers and movie goers are in a frenzy of excitement about 3-D pictures. " This year," announces Eric Johnson, head of the Producers' Association of America, " is going to be known as 1953-D." Eyes and ears are to be assailed as never before by stereophonic sound, stereoscopic pictures, and various expanded projection techniques. So far, quite a few are promised. In wide screen techniques there is Cinerama, first reported on in this Journal two years ago : and the " smaller and more practical" CinemaScope (yes, 20th CenturyFox insist on the capital S!). In stereoscopics there are Natural Vision, the Festival of Britain StereoTechniques, Bolex's Triorama, and the undisclosed methods of Paramount and RKO. All the stereoscopics require the spectators to wear glasses. None of this is, in essentials, new. Sanson's Cineorama created a stir in the year 1900, and, judging by all accounts, it seems safe to assume that Cinerama is related to it. CinemaScope, reported by our usually reliable contemporary " The Cinema " as the invention of 75-year-old Professor Henri Chretien, appears to bear a very close resemblance to Anamorphoscope, exhibited in 1930 by its inventor, Dr. H. Sidney Newcomer, and Newcomer gave a deal of the credit for his successful invention to a German optician named Paul Rudolph, whose " anamorphisis " patent of 1898 was a development of British patents of 1862, 1884. and 1889. As for stereoscopics, the method is almost as old as photography itself. The history of the British film industry from 1912 onwards is plentifully sprinkled with stories of inventors who failed to convince exhibitors that stereoscopics were commercially practicable. What is new is the fact that American companies are embarking on 3-D production and exhibition in a big way. Certainly showmen in the States are welcoming the new developments as the cinema's answer to TV. and as harbingers of bigger takings at the box-offices. Bwana Devil, the first full-length stereoscopic film is being hailed as " the Jazz Singer of 3-D." The movies have seen many changes since the days when audiences were attracted by the simple novelty of pictures that moved. The story film; the coming of sound and of colour — all these have attracted audiences, and, once the " novelty " stage has passed, have added to the potency and drawingpower of films Sound brought in big audiences. So did colour. And so, without doubt, will 3-D. But when first fine raptures are over, it will still be necessary to tell a good story, to say something significant, and to stir people's imaginations, if audiences are to be kept. The wide screen and stereoscopic devices offer an easy way to fill the cinemas — for a time. If movie makers are satisfied to play for sensation only, the crowds will come — and the crowds will go again. It is foolish for critics to argue that because 3-D is not, as was sound, an expressive adjunct, that it cannot add much to the power of the film. 3-D can increase the effect of film greatly. But only if it is used, not as a toy, as a fairground exhibit, as an audience-titilation, but used with imagination and with restraint. R.G.