IR HE Review: ROBOT MONSTER IN 3D - 70TH ANNIVERSARY [Bayview]
The aspect of the history of 3D, specifically that of the cayenne glasses, is perhaps one lost to time because so many other aspects of the motion picture industry had not caught up. That is why it is nice to see a release of a film like "Robot Monster In 3D" [Bayview] through companies involved in the love and restoration of these kinds of films and their respective shorts as a matter of history and conservation. "Robot Monster" is not a great film. In fact, it is a bad film. But its iconography has last until today and yet it was made in 4 days (in March 1953), on the site that is now Dodger Stadium and in Runyon Canyon in the cave that eventually stood in for the Batcave for the 60s show. What this release does is offer both the Blu Ray 3D in a polarized form and offers what can now be seen but it also includes the red/blue glasses with a process that tries to replicate that experience [patent pending] (which is included with the disc).
The key, like Peter Greenaway mentioned in a recent disc release, is that a film is a product of its time in that it can never be made that way again. However, the way it was made and it being able for it to be seen is crucial in informing later years and generations. The 3D Archive went through painstaking elements to show different angles of this from the pre-show comedian which would have been integrated to make the movie long enough to be a feature to an interview with the young boy Johnny in the film (now aged in his late 70s) who never expected it to be remembered. Many aspects of the discs are corny and shipshod (the recording of the commentary is not quite good). But the people involved have a real love for this.
The discovery of the left and right reels buried in Fort Lee by the CEO of the Achive (before he became the CEO) more than maybe 15 or 20 years ago shows the tenacity and love again for the process. The man had worked for Jerry Lewis in the 90s. Lewis (and this would have been indicative of the man) had him track down old films of his that might eventually be lost to time. Lewis was ahead of the game before the game of archiving really took hold. But that love and respect for the industry and a specific genre fed this love respectively. And he allowed someone, on his dime, to look for the 3D they loved. That is a great story and one that can only be told here.
The disc also includes a couple 3D shorts as well as some elements of Bela Legosi in a short for TV which would habve ushered him towards 3D (but never quite got there). There are many stories that never resulted in productions but it is important to keep these stories alive and told. Peter Biskind knew this well. (See "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls"). "Robot Monster" as a film is nothing special itself but because of how it was made, when it was made and the zeitgeist of it, it becomes something more here, especially within the context of its story and the 3D element of it all. Because of that, and the fun ancillary material (despite some of its messiness) this journey just adds to the lore of it all. B+
By Tim Wassberg
