April 5, 2025

The Creature
and It Came From Outer Space
1972 3D Radio Spots

creature from the black lagoon 3D image — How the scene appeared in single-strip anaglyph 3D in the 1972 re-release. The single strip method eliminated the problems associated with two-strip projection systems where two projectors had to be synchronized precisely or the images were out of alignment. Headaches and eye strain could abound! Grab your old pair of red/blue glasses (red lens over your left eye, blue over your right) and see the miracle of proper 3D!

I was rummaging around in Cousin Estil’s footlocker the other night when I came across a rare find: two pairs of 3D glasses. One pair had one red and one green lens, and the other pair had two gray-colored lenses. I knew exactly what I was holding in my hands and in a sense was a telling history of the use of 3D in the movies.

Ahh…3D. People either hated it or loved it. I remember my first 3D movie when I was a little kid. It was House of Wax with Vincent Price. I remember all the ballyhoo about the 3D effects, especially concerning the paddleball sequence where the fellow was hitting them into the audience. That effect brought ooohs and ahhhhs from the audience members. I was too young to really appreciate the effect and what it meant from a motion picture standpoint, I just enjoyed the movie.
Oddly enough, that is the only 3D movie I recall seeing, well, that and its companion Phantom of the Rue Morgue. I don’t know if my parents weren’t impressed enough to go see any others or what. The next 3D movies I saw were September Storm in 1960, and The Mask in early 1962. …

The Creature
and It Came From Outer Space
1972 3D Radio SpotsRead More »

Betrayed (1944) Pressbook

April 5, 2025 / Pressbooks (Non-Horror) / 2 Comments

Apr 5 2025

Orson Welles had a column in the New York Graphic (sic), called “Orson Welles’ Almanac,” in which he wrote: “Plant things that grow above the ground today, and go immediately to the Strand Theatre in Brooklyn and see a “B” minus picture called When Strangers Marry. It’s A plus entertainment but because it’s a quickie without any names on it, When Strangers Marry hasn’t had much of a play. Making allowances for its bargain-price budget, I think you’ll agree with me that it’s one of the most gripping and effective pictures of the year. It isn’t as slick as Double Indemnity or as glossy as Laura, but it’s better acted and better directed by William Castle than either.” (Wellesnet)

Betrayed (aka When Strangers Marry) is a William Castle revelation. We usually peg Castle as the carnival midway-styled showman and director who gave us memorably classic (albeit cheaply) rendered movies promoted with theater gimmicks. But Castle, who was smart enough to nab film rights to, and desperately yearned to direct, Rosemary’s Baby, and who collaborated with Orson Welles on Lady From Shanghai (a noir that beats other noirs silly), was one hell of a director without the gimmicks too. He also was greatly disappointed to find out he wouldn’t be directing Lady, although he had nabbed the film rights to that one too. Not only was he a good director, he also knew a good movie prospect when he saw one.

In Betrayed, Robert Mitchum, Kim Hunter, and Dean Jagger stretch the noir shadows when the obscenely rich guy wearing the Lion’s head mask and flashing thousands of dollars he hated to go home with winds up dead. Castle keeps the short running time (61 minutes) ticking by with suspense and creative use of the camera as it prowls around the threadbare sets and setups. His foreshadowing nods are a master class; simple but direct. With three (“without any names”) killer actors to help him, and a filmed story that stays razor-focused, and a nice-touch Hitchcockian cameo by Castle, this movie deserves more respect and inspection. Here’s the pressbook from Monogram.

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