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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.04.17 14:21l 58 Lines 2634 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 10
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Sent: 170410/1215Z 28982@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1953
First color 3-D film opens
On this day in 1953, the horror film The House of Wax, starring
Vincent Price, opens at New York's Paramount Theater. Released by
Warner Brothers, it was the first movie from a major
motion-picture studio to be shot using the three-dimensional, or
stereoscopic, film process and one of the first horror films to
be shot in color.
Directed by Andre De Toth, The House of Wax was a remake of
1933's Mystery in the Wax Museum. The film told the story of
Henry Jarrod (Price), a sculptor who goes insane after his
partner burns their wax museum to the ground in order to collect
the insurance payout. Jarrod survives the fire and later opens
his own wax museum, featuring an exhibit immortalizing crimes
past and present, including the murder of his ex-partner by a
mysterious disfigured killer. The film's heroine, played by
Phyllis Kirk, eventually discovers that Jarrod himself is the
killer, and that the museum's "sculptures" are all the
wax-covered bodies of his victims.
The 3-D filming process involved using two cameras, or a single
twin-lensed camera, to represent both the right and the left eye
of the human viewer. Images from the two cameras were then
projected simultaneously onto the screen. Moviegoers had to view
The House of Wax through special stereoscopic glasses to see its
full 3-D effect. The lenses were specially tinted so that the
viewer would see the right- and left-eye images only with the
eyes for which they were intended. The 3-D process proved
especially effective during the film's climactic chase scene, in
which the cloaked killer pursues Kirk's character through a
series of gas-lit streets and alleyways, with the viewer
following along behind them.
The House of Wax launched Price on his long and successful career
as a star of horror movies. It also jump-started the career of
Charles Buchinsky, who played the supporting role of Jarrod's
mute servant; he would go on to achieve international fame as
Charles Bronson, star of innumerable action movies. Earning an
impressive (by 1953 standards) $4.3 million at the box office,
the movie sparked an explosion of similar 3-D thrillers,
including The Mad Magician (1954), also starring Price. (A
forgettable remake, starring Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael
Murray, was released in 2005.) Apart from a brief resurgence in
the 1970s, the popularity of 3-D lasted only about a year in the
United States; its demise was generally blamed on the poor
quality of the 3-D films produced.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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