Showing posts with label 3D. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3D. Show all posts

Thursday 14 August 2014

Dial M for Murder - 3D (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)



DIAL M FOR MURDER IN 3D 
reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani
To grasp the full dramatic impact of Dial M for Murder it must be seen in its 3D format, the way it was envisioned and conceived by Hitchcock.
Although 3D films have been in existence since 1920's  (with Anaglyph system, creating separate images for each eye with the use of complementary red and green colours), the real birth  3D cinema started in early 1950's  with the advent of Polaroid  system (using polarised light to create two separate images).   Among the forerunners of using the system was Warner Brothers starting with House of Wax, followed by some other 3D films such as Charge at the Feather River, Hondo, and of course,  Hitchcock’’s Dial M for Murder.      
However,  due to the difficulties of the system, after a short while the companies were discouraged to continue with its use.  (It was expensive due to having to print two prints to be projected simultaneously by two separate projectors.  Besides the incomplete harmony and synchronisation of the two images could give the audience a severe headache. )
 The 3D system was forgotten and out of use for about three decades before its use was started again in 1980's.  Later it was technically refined (especially with contribution from IMAX 3D) and routinely used commercially specially for its spectacular effects.  A more serious use of  3D was taken up by James Cameron in his artistic creation of the magical world of Avatar.  . His efforts were followed by works of Wim Wenders in Pina and Werner Herzog in Caves of Our Forgotten Dreams.  Two documentary films worlds apart in their choice of subjects but having a common aim of using 3D effect to create a physical space to give their films an extra dimension in reality. . Later they were joined by Martin Scorsese in Hugo by using 3D effect to give the nostalgic world of silent cinema and the magic of Georges Melies a concrete and tangible reality.  These film makers were all aiming at use of  3D as part of film language.