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Why the 3-D format refuses to go away

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Filmmakers have tried many gimmicks to entice audiences into cinemas over the years. Some have been more successful than others. Widescreen (which is often known by its brand names CinemaScope, VistaVision, and, in Hong Kong, Shawscope) was invented to lure viewers away from their new-fangled television sets in the 1950s. Once directors adapted to the demands of the new format - close-ups don't work in Cinemascope because it makes people's heads look weird - it became a durable success.

Other ideas, such as Odorama and its variants, never caught on. Schlock-horror genius William Castle once installed long tubes in a movie theatre so he could pump in smells to accompany his movies. Audiences weren't impressed. Cult trash film director John Waters was more modest in his attempt to stimulate the nostrils. He simply issued scratch-and-sniff cards to the audience for his film Polyester. The smells were cued by numbers flashing on the screen. Some smells weren't pleasant - sweaty training shoes, for instance. But those familiar with Waters' films would expect as much. The idea has, thankfully, been used sparingly. People don't seem to want to be surrounded by smells, bad or otherwise, while watching a movie.

Then there's the 3-D, which was popular in the 50s, and still occasionally returns to haunt cinema screens. If you mention 3-D, most people think of the audience rather than the films. Who can forget those old photographs of American viewers clad uniformly in the polarised spectacles needed for the effect to work? Today, those photographs look more like scenes from a freaky science fiction movie than pictures of a movie audience. But it turned out to be a nothing more than a tacky gimmick - returning recently, for instance, as a marketing ruse for the lacklustre Spy Kids 3. But in the early 50s it was regarded as more than a passing fad.

As a recent series at New York's Film Forum showed, all kinds of movies were shot in 3-D, from westerns to dramas, comedies and thrillers. Indeed, some misguided producers believed 3-D would be the saviour of the movie industry. In fact, its popularity was quickly superseded by the widescreen format, to the relief of most critics.

3-D, or 'stereoscopic cinema' as it was originally known, has been around since the 20s. The technique originated in three-dimensional still photography, which brought depth-of-field to landscapes. Three-dimensional photographs were a staple form of entertainment in fairgrounds and parlour rooms around the globe in the 1890s, and entrepreneurs where quick to translate the idea to moving pictures. As many as 200 patents for 3-D cinema systems existed in the 20s. Many were tested in front of audiences, but none proved commercially viable. Most were abandoned when public interest in the format waned.

Twenty years later, the television boom in America caused a sharp decline in cinema attendance. The studios started looking for bigger, more spectacular ways to show their films - and suddenly 3-D was back in fashion. Bwana Devil, an African adventure about two lions who halt the building of a railroad, was the first to hit the screens in 1952. Produced by United Artists and released in 'Natural Vision 3-D', it was far from a critical success.

'The much ballyhooed point of a lion leaping out of the screen into the auditorium comes off very lightly,' wrote Variety's critic, although a spear thrown by a native was judged more effective as it had 'the illusion of coming right into the audience'.

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