Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

Wrteltif ojf ykree-kiwMfoiiti CxciteA Public* guana fati!/ tike Ciheratna, &ckih$ foxttfficeJ Cxclu^e $L BULLETIN ?e*htte W A GIMMICK! Novelty is not new. This seeming paradox has been in existence ever since Eve, against her better judgment, accepted that strange new fruit from the serpent, just to try something different. Fortunately, novelty doesn't always have the same consequences. In show business, particularly, novelty has been one of the basic crowd-drawing factors. Give 'em a gimmick and they'll come flocking. The drawing power of the gimmick has been displayed in the movie business time and again and very often has become an institution. The nickelodeon was a gimmick that was the beginning of a great new industry. Then within that industry came the "gimmicks": hour-length movies, color, talking pictures, all of them eventually taking over as the norm. Now, it's threedimensional films. Evidence that novelty is still one of the moving forces of boxoffice draw was provided in most dramatic fashion with the unveiling of Cinerama in New York at the Broadway Theatre. Corroboration was furnished when Arch Oboler's "Bwana Devil", a feature length film in Natural Vivion 3Dimension, opened in two Hollywood theatres about three weeks ago with eye-popping results. $96,000 Gross in Week At Two Hollywood Theatres Wide-screen Cinerama took the public by storm, has been playing to sold-out houses ever since it opened and tickets are unavailable for weeks in advance. They're selling seats for performances well into next year. The opening of "Bwana Devil" is even more fantastic. Where Cinerama had hugecritical approval and Broadway's vast visiting crowds from which to draw, the Natural Vision film received an uncomplimentary press and an unfavorable reaction from the premiere audience, yet rolled up a $96,000 gross in the first week at the Paramount, Page 10 FILM BULLETIN December 15, 1952 NATURAL VISION PROJECTOR Just Like a Pair of Eyes Hollywood and Downtown theatres, total seating capacity 5,000. It has been playing to long waiting lines since, and, significantly, the customer reaction has been much less critical of what they saw than were the professional critics and Hollywood opening night's intelligentsia. The first-nighters complained about the inferior script, that the special Polaroid glasses required to be worn for the viewing annoyed them and caused eye-strain. Strangely, these grumblings were not in evidence among the ticket-buyers. From OBOLER DIRECTING 'BWANA' A Notorious Gtidgeteer the long lines that continued, it was evident that they were recommending it to their friends. There wasn't any talk about th.; quality of the script, or any other faults. Filmed in Africa by Oboler, with stars Robert Stack and Barbara Britton, the fantastic story tells how a pair of man-eating lions prevented the building of a railroad, killing 200 human beings before the beasts were destroyed. The factor that brought the amazing crowds was the gimmick — third dimension. And, of course, a sock ballyhoo campaign. Just what is this gimmick that has caught fire, that is hot enough to set bookings within two weeks in first-run houses in 225 cities and towns? Projection Requires Two Machines in Position of Eyes Without resorting to technical language, it is simply what the title implies — natural vision, the old-time stereoscope. Natural Vision applies the principle of human vision, of seeing with two eyes. Two cameras, corresponding to each of the human eyes, photograph the image. The projection, consequently, requires two machines similarly placed, projecting both images on the screen in the positions that the human eye would see them individually. The Polaroid glasses worn by the viewer block out conflicting images in each of the lenses and the two pictures merge into one. The difference between this and ordinary motion pictures is simply that between looking at a photograph and looking through a window. "Bwana Devil" is the fascinating result oi a meeting between Arch Oboler, who was famous in radio for years before he moved into the movie field, and M. L. Gunzburg, an enterprising young man who persisted in the development of a practical 3-dnnension photographic technique. Gunsburg, together with his brother, Dr. Julian Gunsburg, eminent eye specialist, joined up with Friend Baker', one of Hollywood's top camera engineers, and spent two (Continued on Page 19) I