From Kino Lorber & The 3D Film Archive: THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE 3D. (1983)
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https://kinolorber.com/product/the-man-who-wasn-t-there-3-d
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=361124
The Man Who Wasn’t There (3-D) (Blu-ray)
Available Date : 12/12/2023
Release Year : 1983
Running Time : 111
UPC : 738329265175
Country : U.S.
Language: English
It’s the wildest, funniest, fastest moving adventure comedy you’ve never seen! Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy, Short Circuit) stars as Sam Cooper, a minor State Department functionary in Washington D.C., who becomes the object of a frenetic chase when a dying secret agent hands him a vial containing a top-secret formula that can render a person invisible. Sam immediately drinks the formula to keep one step ahead of Soviet spies, American counterspies, the police (who think Sam murdered the agent), thugs and Sam’s estranged fiancée (who was left standing at the altar when this all began)—until he can find the mysterious “Runkelman” and clear this name. H.G. Wells was never like this! Written by Stanford Sherman (Krull, The Ice Pirates); directed by Bruce Malmuth (Nighthawks, Hard to Kill); and co-starring Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Art Hindle (The Brood), Lisa Langlois (Class of 1984) and William Forsythe (Stone Cold). This special edition of The Man Who Wasn’t There presents the film remastered in 3-D by 3-D Film Archive!
Product Extras :
- Newly Restored in 3-D by 3-D Film Archive – From 4K Scans of the 35mm Original Camera Negative by Paramount Pictures
- NEW Audio Commentary by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky
- Theatrical Trailer (3-D / 2-D)
- Includes the 2D, the BD3D Polarized and Anaglyphic (Red/Cyan) 3-D Versions
- Contains One Pair of Anaglyphic 3-D Glasses
- Optional English Subtitles
Publish Date : 2023-11-14
Roger Ebert wrote, “This is a dead movie. I don’t know exactly when it passed away, but I think it was dead by the time they started filming it, and it may have died even earlier — back when somebody bought the notion of filming a “comic thriller” in 3-D. Since comedy requires our close attention and sympathy, and since 3-D is the most alienating movie gimmick since Smell-O-Vision, they were dead then and there.”
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-man-who-wasnt-there-1983
I don’t share his views on 3D. It is a thrilling medium.
But this movie, as commentators Paul Corupe and Jason Pichonsky state, comes up short.
Mike Ballew, at 3D ON FILM, wrote, “I have waited to see THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE as it was meant to be seen for 40 years. I made a 2-D recording of TMWWT from The Movie Channel way, way back in the distant past, probably a year or so after the film did its hit-and-run on American theatres in August 1983. I must have spun that VHS tape a dozen times or more over the next few years, trying my best to imagine just what stereoscopic 3-D might add to this goofy yarn about good guys vs. bad guys in their quest to lay hands on a mysterious invisibility serum.
Full candor: If you’re looking for an immortal story, deep characters, memorable comedy, or ambitious action set pieces that will burn themselves forever into your imagination, I must soberly report that you will not find those here.”
No, we don’t.
That said much thanks to Kino Lorber for acquiring the rights and the The 3D Film Archive for giving us a wonderful restoration that hits the mark with a bullseye.
Jackie Chan’s MAGNIFICENT BODYGUARDS was filmed in 3D with this process. It would be great to see it restored.
Not all movies are GONE WITH THE WIND but this film has so little wind it’s almost gone before it starts.
Writes Ebert, “Maybe the miracle of the film’s release isn’t that amazing; the film’s producer,
Frank Mancuso Jr., is the son of the president of Paramount’s motion picture division. I know it’s probably a cheap shot to bring that up, and yet, try as I will, I cannot conceive of any other reason why this particular movie could have gotten itself made. It has a subliterate script, paralytic direction and wooden performances by actors who have seemed much better elsewhere. There isn’t even anything in the movie that looks like a good concept that failed; the movie is bankrupt of wit and imagination.”
Yes, it is.
Nonetheless I’m glad to have it.
This being the second day of 2024 let me say I am supremely thankful for the work of THE 3D FILM ARCHIVE.
Love leads them. Love shows in every film they restore.
THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE has not burst my 3D BUBBLE.
It is a welcome addition to my archive.–Reg Hartt
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