Bwana Devil, released in 1952, was the first feature-length 3D film. It was a critical failure but a commercial success. Audiences wore polarized 3D glasses. Interest in 3D films grew but the technology had issues keeping the two reels perfectly synchronized, causing eye strain. 3D fell out of popularity by the mid-1950s. Later developers found ways to eliminate dual-reel issues and 3D had a resurgence, though it attracted criticism for adding little value and sometimes causing nausea.

1. History of 3D Film.

2. Bwana Devil
 Known as the first feature-length
3D film. Released in 1952. It
had the slogan “A lion in your
lap! A lover in your arms!
 The movie earned $2.7 million
in rentals in North America in
1953. The film was a critical
failure, but a runaway success
with audiences.
 The audience wore 3-D glasses
with grey Polaroid filters.

3. Bwana Devil
 You can see from the picture on
the right that it was a massive
thing to go see a 3D film, people
are dressed in suits and
dresses, now everyone goes to
the cinema dressed casually.
 Bwana Devil’s ‘Natural Vision’
sparked interest in other
directors such as Alfred
Hitchcock who created his own
3D Film ‘Dial M For Murder’ in
1954. More 3D films were made
during this boom period.
 For the most part, studios
seemed to gravitate towards
horror movies when it came to
3D.

4. Decline in popularity
 Despite these advances, 3D
movies fell out of popularity
by the middle of the decade.
The reasons for the decline
were mostly technical.
 3D projectors required two
reels to be displayed in
perfect synchronization.
Small errors in
synchronization could easily
lead to eye strain and
headaches among viewers.
 Keeping reels in good repair
was also an ongoing
concern.

5. New ideas
 3D's second renaissance came
 A company called Stereovision
some time later when producer
Arch Gobler found a way to
eliminate the need for dual-reel
movies.
developed another new
technology in 1970.
Stereovision's 3D format
displayed reels side-by-side on
a single, anamorphic film strip.
 His new technique, Space-
Vision 3D, worked by overlaying
two stereoscopic images on a
single reel. As long as reels
were spliced properly during
printing, viewers no longer
needed to worry about syncing
issues.
 Many of these films in the '70s
and '80s were marketed
squarely at older viewers and
fans of violent horror films.

6. Criticisms
 Late film critic Late film
critic Roger Ebert
repeatedly criticized 3D
film as being "too
dim", sometimes
distracting or even
nausea-inducing, and
argued that it is an
expensive technology that
adds nothing of value to
the movie-going
experience (since 2-D
movies already provide a
sufficient illusion of 3D).
 A Film critic argued that
3D adds "not that much"
value to a film, and said
that, while he liked Avatar,
the many impressive
things he saw in the
movie had nothing to do
with 3D.