After a spurt of short silent movies in the early 1920s, three dimensional films lay dormant until two tinkerers in the technology piqued the interest of MGM executives in the mid-1930s. The pair produced three shorts, their first, December 1935 "Audioscopiks," which was nominated for Best Short Subject in the Novelty category at the the 8th Academy Awards. Directed by Jacob Leventhal and John Noring, the film was cinema's first 3-D movie to be produced by a major Hollywood studio.
The pair borrowed late 1800s technology using the red-cyan process called 'anaglyph' that split the image into two as well as displayed two colors to be viewed through special glasses. Today's process hasn't diverged much from "Audioscopiks'" split format. The 3-D camera they used contained two lenses, just as a human with two eyes is able to see three dimensional objects and landscapes.
"Audioscopiks" unfolds an overview of the 3-D process as it existed in the mid-1930s. The objects shown on the screen move towards the audience to give its viewers a thrill up the leg as well as a frightening experience. The narration of the short by Pete Smith offers a certain pizzazz and a strong dose of entertainment that both informs and stimulates the viewer. Smith had been employed by MGM since 1925 as a director of publicity. His voice and witty scripts were perfect for the short films MGM was churning out, including sports newsreels. His narrations were so funny that the studio gave him his own seres called 'Pete Smith Specialties.' He produced over 150 of the near-ten minute shorts from the 1930s until 1955 that sprinkled humor with little known yet fascinating subjects.
Leventhal and Noring made two additional 3-D shorts for MGM, 1938's 'The New Audioscopiks' and 1941's 'Third Dimensional Murder.' All three were processed by Technicolor. Viewers, with the special glasses, were fully able to appreciate the full spectrum of the three dimensions.