It’s been a busy six days at the World 3-D Film Expo so far,
leaving very little time to write. If you’re in Los Angeles you have to get
down to Gauman’s Egyptian Theater before Sunday night. There are still a lot of
incredible films to screen. And the guests have been great.
Producer, Walter Mirisch showed up to provide some insight
into his low-budget venture The Maze.
Director Joe Alves, producer Rupert Hitzig and location manager Carl Mazzocone
substituted for the announced stars of Jaws 3-D (the crowd didn’t seem to mind
a bit). Piper Laurie (Carrie) graced the theatre to talk about Dangerous
Mission. Not only did Charlotte
Austin-Antelline show up to provide insight into the making of Gorilla at Large
(it’s exterior carnival sequences were shot in a mere 3 days) but genre
collector and ape-actor extraordinaire, Bob Burns joined her, providing insight
into George Barrows’ performance (he’s the man in the gorilla suit and you’ll
get to see him again in Robot Monster). Kathleen Hughes was on
hand to talk about Jack Arnold’s suspense drama The Glass Web (a real treat and
a newly discovered favorite of mine). She’s coming back for the It Came From
Outer Space screening on Friday and will be joined by Barbara Rush. And my
personal favorite was Julie Adams’ Q&A after The Creature From The Black
Lagoon. I liked it so much I talked to her later in the week. You can read that
interview over at the Rue Morgue website HERE.
She’s also coming back on Friday for the screening of Wings of the Hawk at
3:30. Get down there and she’ll sign her book, Lucky Southern Star: Reflections
From The Black Lagoon. You can also find it on her website; www.julieadams.biz.
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| Julie Adams in Wings of the Hawk |
Some of the stand-out presentations for my deranged mind
have been finally seeing The Maze in three dimensions a fun little B pic that
starts off slow, but really picks up after intermission in the last half. The
animation collection was really incredible. It’s a rare delight to see Donald
Duck, Woody Woodpecker, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Bug Bunny in 3-D, shorts
I’ve seen before, but with the added dimensions they become all the more
interesting and fun. But the real draw of the animation show was being able to
see Norman McLaren’s animated films, produced for the Festival of Britian, in
3-D for the first time. These are films that I’ve sought out before. They were
more impressive then I had expected them to be.
The Stewardesses took on a new life at this screening as
well. It’s hard to believe that the film took in $25 million when it was
release and had people lined up the block. The story is virtually no-existent
and while the 3-D effect is very good the cinematography is poor, yet by the
time the film degenerates into horror film (saved for the last moments of the
film) there is something captivating about the entire exercise. I’ll need to
spend some more time with it.
More to follow…
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