3D movies really took off in the early 1950s, from House of Wax to Dial M for Murder to, uh, Cat-Women of the Moon. By the time Gog (1954, **) was released to theaters, though, the craze had subsided quite a bit. So much so, in fact, that although it was filmed in 3D, most theaters had rid themselves of their 3D projectors, and Gog was instead released in 2D to an underwhelmed audience. It apparently was shown in 3D just a small handful of times, mainly in California. And then, after Gog's theatrical run, the 3D prints were damaged. 3D movies, at the time, were put together using a two-camera setup (left side of a scene, right side of a scene); the resulting films were then combined. The left side of the film was deemed beyond repair for decades until new technology came along. When I saw it recently at the American Film Institute's Silver Theater during its inaugural Fantastic Film Showcase, it was apparently the first time the movie had been screened in 3D in Maryland. Cool! In the movie, a military investigator played by Richard Egan arrives at a remote desert base to look into the death of a scientist and his assistant. There are plenty of researchers at the base, and Egan learns that they're all working toward one goal – a space station! This is well before any humans had even made it to space, of course, so to the contemporary audience this must have seemed fantastical. Egan meets the various researchers in turn, including Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall), who's in charge of the whole shebang, and his assistant Joanna (Constance Dowling). But most intriguing aren't the humans at the base, it's these two 600-pound robots, named Gog and Magog. (Don't ask me why they're so named.) Obviously, since the name of the movie is Gog, these two will factor into the plot somehow.
For a 60-year-old movie, the 3D effects are pretty good. Sure, sometimes their use is a bit over the top – that is, there are scenes that appear to exist solely because of the 3D feature – but there's no sense of overuse. The viewer isn't bludgeoned with 3D, and instead 3D sort of assimilated into the movie.
This being a 50s sci-fi movie, don't expect much in the way of scientific accuracy. There's an unintentionally funny scene where one snooty scientist scoffs that man is never meant to be in outer space. Never! Here we are, 62 years later, and we've been to the moon and sent robots to Mars and spacecraft out of the solar system. So there! If you get a chance to watch Gog in 3D, please do. It's not as if it won't make sense in good old 2D, but the threadbare plot and the strained acting will bother you much less if you can enjoy the now-antiquated extra dimension.
For a 60-year-old movie, the 3D effects are pretty good. Sure, sometimes their use is a bit over the top – that is, there are scenes that appear to exist solely because of the 3D feature – but there's no sense of overuse. The viewer isn't bludgeoned with 3D, and instead 3D sort of assimilated into the movie.
This being a 50s sci-fi movie, don't expect much in the way of scientific accuracy. There's an unintentionally funny scene where one snooty scientist scoffs that man is never meant to be in outer space. Never! Here we are, 62 years later, and we've been to the moon and sent robots to Mars and spacecraft out of the solar system. So there! If you get a chance to watch Gog in 3D, please do. It's not as if it won't make sense in good old 2D, but the threadbare plot and the strained acting will bother you much less if you can enjoy the now-antiquated extra dimension.