3-D Screens A-Poppin'

Jivaro and More On Tap From 3-D Film Archive

I wonder if anyone suggested to Rhonda Fleming that she was born to be photographed in 3-D. Would she have been flattered if they had? Was a same observation made to Arlene Dahl? Did they say of Rhonda and Jivaro ... See Her Titian Tresses in Technicolor! Having watched Jivaro and Sangaree, both gloriously available in restored depth, I am put to wondering if Fleming and Dahl were perhaps the same person. They seem to have bathed in a same fountain of youth, being here still to reminisce on Paramount chest-beaters top-billing Fernando Lamas. Lamas was made fun of on Saturday Night Live a generation ago, but manfully bestrides the stereo-screen. People might be forgiven for thinking Jivaro and Sangaree are the same movie. They are very much beats of a same 3-D heart as maintained at Paramount, tailwinds from a fad declared irrelevant before they could even be released. Thing about late 3-D was fact they were technically better than earlier and more famed exemplars of the process. Technicians were learning on the job, their reward unfortunately a kick in the pants when a fickle public tired of their vaunted process. By then, 3-D was declared fittest for kids or dumbbells, when the real dumbbells were showmen who failed to master presentation of the process. 

I would argue that Bob Furmanek and the 3-D Archive team are depth's truest salvation. Their transfers have introduced not a few of us to perfected 3-D. For me at least, there were mostly gremlins before. I had a 16mm red-green print of Revenge Of The Creature that was faded just enough to null the effect. There I sat wearing paper glasses and regarding level I’d sunk to as a collector to have been chivied into a purchase so unwise. I'd largely given up on 3-D until Furmanek’s crew got to work in earnest and dredged titles figured not to see light of depth again. Research says Jivaro never had a 3-D release, so what this Blu-Ray gives is a sixty-five year delayed World Premiere. Worth the wait? I’d say so, if one’s bag is backlot jungles, treasure hunt through same, Brian Keith fighting unfair, Lon Chaney being obnoxious and walloped for it, plenty more. Pine/Thomas produced, like all of theirs Jivaro is pitched to crowd satisfaction, which it still delivers. I had plentiful fun watching. Furmanek and archivists continue digging their own treasure. Their next is one that few knew existed, being made in Mexico, seldom seen stateside, and starring Caesar Romero and Katy Jurado. It is part of 3-D Rarities --- Volume Two, and will be buttressed with shorts, animation, ads, numerous deep screen sensations. 3-D Film Archive has a Kickstarter page, their goal more than met, but noteworthy is fact that the more they get in donations, the more loaded this fresh volume will be, so for even more in 3-D, by all means go over and give.