STEREOSCOPIC FILM

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12315, 9 December 1925, Page 4

STEREOSCOPIC FILM

THIRD DIMENSION ON SCREEN THROUGH COLOURED .SPECTACLES UNCANNY EFFECTS Practically everyone has looked through a stereoscope am! seen-figures standing out as if they were real. “Stereoscopic,” a new method of taking films, is based on the same principle, but instead of lodking through a stereoscope one looks through l spectacles in which there are two gelatin discs—a blue one for the left eye, and a red one for the right. The effect is uncanny. A private _ exhibition of the apparatus, for which it is claimed that it puts the third dimension on the screen, was given yesterday. The first film shown was extremely comic. Those present were instructed to look through the blue disc only, and on doing so saw a beautiful bathing girl disporting herself on what appeared to he an. ice pack. '“Now look with the right eyOj” was the order, and the bathing girl changed to a Kaffir woman and her child doing the family washing. On opening the left eye the bathing girl reappeared. THROUGH BOTH DISCS After that the fun started. audience were told to look through both discs. Far in the distance were seen the head and arms of a young woman. Nearer and nearer they came, until they seemed to he only a few inches from the eyes. Thereupon the damsel : started, to stretch "the gum which she was chewing. Her hand appeared to he in mid-air. ■ She stretched the gum, and her head and arms then disappeared into the distance once more. Then there appeared a skull, the eyes of which came put from the screen. After that came a man who was pointing a gun at those watching. When fie approached to what seemed about six inches from the eyes he fired, and the smoke seempd to fill the air. Everyone gave an involuntary; shudder. The most realistic of all the subjects followed next. A cowboy sauntered out from nowhere, and stood , still for a moment. He stooped down, picked 'up a lariat and threw it out. So natural was this that the frightened audience drew Back in their chairs, and several gave cries of alarm. SCENERY IN PERSPECTIVE The next film was entitled “The Runaway Taxi,” and served to illustrate Eow well the third dimension is suited to scenic films. The effect was novel and beautiful. Hitherto on the silver sheet, no matter how beautiful the sednery may be, there has always been a fiat look about objects. There is not the true sense of distance that one sees when looking! at real scenery. By looking through the glasses one sees everything “stand out” in detail. '• In one part of this film the audience is taken for a Tide, on a switch-back railway. Those who fear sea sickness or -train sickness . should not look at this.

The views taken from the, tope of high buildings are wonderful.: . those who get giddy"when looking down tom a height willsoon-realise that’they are not looking at an- ordinary film. Seen without-the coloured spectacles the pictures are nothing but a cidnfused mass of blue and" ‘red shadows ‘ and blurs . PUBLIC SCREENING LATER Stereoscopic films are probably the greatest novelty of the, kind since the “movies” began. They give true perspective to all figures, and should if improved a little go a long way towards making the pictures an even greater’source of delight than they are now. TEe amusement which they caused to about twenty people yesterday was sufficient to show how popular they will become. These pictures are being released exclusively hy the Paramount Film Company, and are to he screened publicly in Wellington as a Christmas week attraction.