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3D Presentation - November 26, 1952: The first-ever full-length, color 3-D movie “Bwana Devil” is screened for a stunned audience at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood, known today as the El Capitan.

The film was made at a time when studios were trying anything they could think of to compete with the popularity of television, from widening screens to creating new color processes in hopes of luring audiences back into theatres. So, when former screenwriter M.L. Gunzburg and his opthamologist brother Julian invented the “Natural Vision 3D” film process, it seemed like a no-brainer. But, Hollywood being Hollywood, the impressed studio heads dragged their feet, not wanting to be first to take the risk. MGM at least optioned it… but then got nervous and let it lapse.

Enter Arch Oboler, a director and independent producer who got his start in radio, producing the very successful radio drama Lights Out. Oboler loved the technology and quickly signed on to use it on his new film project “Lion of Gulu” (Bwana Devil’s original title), based on the true story of a hunt for man-eating lions preying on railroad workers in Uganda (same story that was the basis for “The Ghost in the Darkness”). The film was shot in the San Fernando Valley, with Paramount Ranch sitting in for an African savanna, using Ansco Color film to save money over the more expensive Technicolor.

When the film was finished, United Artists picked it up for distribution, and the $300K film went on to gross $2.7M in its initial run, which, through studio accounting, UA managed to report as a loss.

Critics hated the film. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said it was “a clumsy try at an African adventure film, photographed in very poor color in what appear to be the California hills”. - Notes by forgottenmadness

Contributed by Greg Lynch -