William Castle Films

[Michael L.]

Does anyone know where I can score 3D versions of William Castle films or a copy of 13 Ghosts with the faux 3D Illusiono effects intact? Wikipedia, for all that is worth, says there is a DVD release in Illusiono and glasses. I have glasses, though.

I've only seen this on late night TV and the ghost effects weren't colored in... I'm afraid that if I buy a DVD randomly it won't be colored properly.

Also, my big box of 3D glasses was lost in a move. I'm looking to replace my fake Wayfarers with red and blue lenses (I had red and blue and a red and green set). If anyone knows where I can get a pair of those, I would be much obliged.

EDIT: Forget the glasses part; they are on Amazon again... I guess the 3D TV craze is refueling interest!

[tdb]

13 Ghosts in the current William Castle box set has the Illusion-O effect intact, but it's not it's not faux 3D and never was. If you want to duplicate the original effect just buy one red and one blue colored transparencies (or something similar) and use them the way Mr. Castle explains in his prologue to the movie.

[Michael L.]

That is the faux 3D effect; the "ghost viewer" was adapted from 3D glasses at the time and the process used the same filtering as 3D, but only one side of it. The problem is that it barely worked to begin with and if the color isn't reproduced well then it is even less effective.

If you are old enough to remember the spate of red/blue and red/green broadcast 3D movies in the early '80s you may remember that before each film there was an elaborate pre-show segment to allow you to adjust your TV's color for optimal performance with the glasses that were being issued (all cellophane is not created equally). A disc with something like that would be perfect.