''Third Dimensional Murder'' (1941), also known as ''Murder in 3-D'', is a 3D short

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced and narrated by Pete Smith and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the last of the Audioscopiks 3D short film series, after '' Audioscopiks'' (1936) and ''The New Audioscopiks'' (1938).

Synopsis

Pete Smith tells his harrowing story of one evening at midnight being alerted by a telephone call from his Aunt Tilly in distress at the old deserted Smith mansion. The man drove the two hours to the isolated mansion to find that it was haunted by various creatures after him. Smith is attacked by a witch, a skeleton, an Indian warrior, an archer, and

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(Ed Payson). The latter character was specifically modeled after

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

in ''

Son of Frankenstein ''Son of Frankenstein'' is a 1939 American horror film that was directed by Rowland V. Lee and stars Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The film is the third in Universal Pictures' ''Frankenstein'' series and is the follow-up to the ...

''. The question becomes how the man escapes and saves his aunt... if he does indeed.

Background

The third and last in the Pete Smith ''Audioscopiks'' 3D series of shorts, ''Third Dimensional Murder'' used footage shot specifically for it, unlike the previous two shorts which utilized test footage shot by Jacob Leventhal and Jack Norling.Smith, Pete. "Three Dimensionally Speaking" from ''New Screen Techniques'' (Quigley Publishing Company, 1953) Pages 17–20. With the success of the first two shorts, Smith consulted J.M. Nikolaus in the camera department at MGM. Nikolaus went to studio manager E. J. Mannix who gave Nikolaus a budget of "about $3,000" to create a stereoscopic camera rig. After some trial and error, Nickolaus created a camera using two Bell & Howell 35mm cameras with specially matched lenses made by Bauch and Lomb. The lenses were 2¾ inches apart and were shot into prisms. George Sidney directed the short. (Sidney later directed the 3-D feature for MGM, ''

Kiss Me Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-sta ...

''.) As with the two previous Audioscopiks short films, the prints were in red-green anaglyph by

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. This film opens in 2-D color, with a young woman showing how to hold the 3-D viewer. Prints for the two earlier films were also made by Technicolor to achieve the red-green anaglyph prints necessary for 3-D projection.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 34283 1941 films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Films directed by George Sidney Films produced by Pete Smith (film producer) 1941 comedy films 1940s 3D films 3D short films American comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films