User Reviews

The first part of this movie short is an interesting segment explaining, in part, how we see things. How two eyes give us depth; why we see double, focusing and other things. It's all part of a lead-in to show us those goofy cardboard glasses of yesteryear in which people wore them at the theater for 3-D movies. Typical Pete Ímith dialog spruces up the eye lecture with lines like: Here's a nifty dame with a pair of flashy lamps." (translation: "Here's a woman with a pair of pretty eyes.")

The second half of this is a demonstration of 3-D, which would have been great had we the glasses, but there is no effect just looking at this normally on our TV set. This would have been a lot of fun to see in 3-D. But, without them, why would anyone watch short this more than once?

Audioscopkis (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar nominated short with Pete Best is explaining how 3D works in regards to actual life as well as the movies. TCM showed this thing flat but I'd certainly love to see it in 3D since all sorts of things are thrown at the camera. The short remains fun even when viewed flat.

This is available on DVD and also appears on Turner Classic Movies quite a few times a year. Most of Smith's films are still very entertaining and worth checking out. TCM must think so as well as his films are constantly being shown.

Pete Smith was a master of the short films once known as "one-reel" and "two-reel" subjects. Although the bulk of his wrk was humorous in subject and/or tone, he did do more serious work. His best work was very funny, although some of the humor is dated.

This is one of the best shorts he did. These were referred to as "A Pete Smith Specialty" and on the title card, it said that this "was done by a Smith named Pete". The visuals are still quite effective 65+ years later. Turner Classic Movies runs this and a great many other "Pete Smith Specialty" shorts in between movies. This one is highly recommended.

After a spurt of short silent movies in the early 1920s, three dimensional films lay dormant until two tinkerers in the technology piqued the interest of MGM executives in the mid-1930s. The pair produced three shorts, their first, December 1935 "Audioscopiks," which was nominated for Best Short Subject in the Novelty category at the the 8th Academy Awards. Directed by Jacob Leventhal and John Noring, the film was cinema's first 3-D movie to be produced by a major Hollywood studio.

The pair borrowed late 1800s technology using the red-cyan process called 'anaglyph' that split the image into two as well as displayed two colors to be viewed through special glasses. Today's process hasn't diverged much from "Audioscopiks'" split format. The 3-D camera they used contained two lenses, just as a human with two eyes is able to see three dimensional objects and landscapes.

"Audioscopiks" unfolds an overview of the 3-D process as it existed in the mid-1930s. The objects shown on the screen move towards the audience to give its viewers a thrill up the leg as well as a frightening experience. The narration of the short by Pete Smith offers a certain pizzazz and a strong dose of entertainment that both informs and stimulates the viewer. Smith had been employed by MGM since 1925 as a director of publicity. His voice and witty scripts were perfect for the short films MGM was churning out, including sports newsreels. His narrations were so funny that the studio gave him his own seres called 'Pete Smith Specialties.' He produced over 150 of the near-ten minute shorts from the 1930s until 1955 that sprinkled humor with little known yet fascinating subjects.

Leventhal and Noring made two additional 3-D shorts for MGM, 1938's 'The New Audioscopiks' and 1941's 'Third Dimensional Murder.' All three were processed by Technicolor. Viewers, with the special glasses, were fully able to appreciate the full spectrum of the three dimensions.