Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1952)

NATURAL VISION READY FOR PUBLIC SHOWING How Natural Vision Functions PROJECTORS Right Eye Subject \ Broin A'",, f Occipitol ^ Vortex left Eye tmag«s are photogrophed from two different points of view, just os they ore seert in noture. Each lens, focusing ond converging on on object olmost precisely os do the hurhon eyes, provide, o seporote and complete 2 dimenslonol picture. In the theoire, the normal two projectors >a a booth project the two seporote pictures onto the screen in superimposition, much os in noture they are projected onto the ‘broin eye* (see diagrom). The right and left imoges pass through Polaroid light lillerv ploced in the portholes of the projection booth, imoges Ore superimposed almost os one on a reflec^ type screen. PThe images are reflected back to the viewer who is equipped with Polaroid glasses, which serve to accept the correct imoge intended for eoch eye, while rejecting the imoge not intended for thot eye. The diagram above shows how the Polaroid filters on the twin synchronous projectors separate the two images on the screen and how the audience, viewing the screen through simiiar filters, sees a left eye and right eye image. Pictured at right is the camera unit, with two reguiar 35 mm cameras mounted facing each other with their lenses aimed at 45 degree prisms. by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollywood Editor This is the first presentation anywhere of the accompanying chart showing showmen how the Gunzburg Natural Vision 3 Dimension system works. The first presentation anywhere of the system in public operation will take place next Wednesday evening at the Hollywood and Los Angeles Paramount theatres where Arch Oboler’s “Bwana Devil,” the first feature length picture ever filmed with the NV camera installation, will have its world premiere. The first formal notice to the public concerning this double premiering was given in the Sunday, November 16, editions of the Los Angeles newspapers in a display ad 9y2 inches deep and two columns wide. It was the beginning of an advertising and exploitation campaign geared to build up to full-page co-ops before premiere night, with radio and television stations, commercial organizations and camera clubs (amateur and professional; plain and stereo-realist) swelling the promotional tide. The Sunday advertisement is headed, “The World’s First Feature Length Motion Picture in Natural Vision 3 Dimension,” and the optical accent is kept on the phrase “3 dimension” through three repetitions. There are no extravagant statements or claims — no attempts to overwhelm a reader — either in connection with the process or the picture, described in the copy simply as “Arch Oboler’s ‘Bwana Devil’ in thrilling color, starring Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, Nigel Bruce.” This is in line with the feeling of all concerned in the enterprise that the responsibility for overwhelming the public rests properly with the process and the picture, and that a fair trial of both requires that the public be brought in neither undersold nor oversold, but open-minded and expectantly disposed. The process coming now to the court of public reception is the fruit of two years of work by Milton L. Gunzburg, the inventor, Julian Gunzburg, a distinguished optical scientist, and Friend Baker, a camera technician. It could have been thrown into public exhibition on a novelty basis more than a year ago (some of the armed services have used it for private purposes that long) but it was withheld until its economical use in any and all existing theatres had been made practical. It has been brought to a point of simplicity and economy at which, its sponsors say, it can be installed in any theatre in the nation at a cost a good deal under $100. The picture coming now to public trial in Natural Vision 3 Dimension is a subject written, produced and directed by Arch Oboler in full awareness of the characteristics and capacities of the process, which he had studied exhaustively, and also with the firm conviction that a good story enacted by good players well directed is as essential to the satisfaction of a customer seeing it in 3 dimensions as if he were seeing it in the usual two. “Bwana Devil” is about Africa and people and animals, with Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce heading the human cast, and it’s in Ansco Color. The double world premiere at the two Paramounts next Wednesday evening is an easy sellout at |2.40, and the admission price drops to normal on Thursday morning. What happens after that, business-wise, is no more predictable than a national election. Natural Vision 3 Dimension is (if you care to credit these eyes) exactly that, and “Bwana Devil” is (if the reel of it witnessed by this witness he representative) a precisely appropriate feature picture. The Polaroid spectacles required for viewing are totally unobtrusive, entirely forgettable after five minutes or so (again according to this witness). The long dream of so many showmen who, like the late George K. Spoor, invested so many millions in futile pursuit of its realization, is on the point of coming, for all practical purposes, true. It looks as rosy as ever — no, rosier. Legion Approves Six of Seven New Producfions The National Legion of Decency this week reviewed seven films, putting one in Class A, Section I, morally unobjectionable for general patronage; five in Class A, Section II, morally unobjectionable for adults, and one in Class B, morally objectionable in part for all. In section I is “Breaking Through the Sound Barrier,” and in Section II are “Cairo Road” (rating applies only to prints distributed in the U.S. and its possessions), “Gods of Bali,” “The Lawless Breed,” “Plymouth Adventure” and “Thief of Venice.” In Class B is “Androcles and the Lion” because it “tends to misrepresent and ridicule fundamental Christian and traditional religious beliefs; moreover it contains suggestive sequences and material unsuitable for entertainment motion picture theatres.” "Androcles" to Capitol Gabriel Pascal’s production of the George Bernard Shaw classic, “Androcles and the Lion,” will have its New York premiere at the Capitol theatre early in January, it was announced this week by Charles Boasberg, general sales manager for RKO Radio, which is distributing. 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD. NOVEMBER 22. 1952