Gog

"GOG, in all its 1950's jumpsuit 3-D glory, was like Agatha Christie, Sigmund Freud & Harlan Ellison got high together and made a movie."

The Nitrate Diva at the TCM Festival premiere: May 1, 2016

After 62 years, GOG will finally be shown in 3-D on the big screen in England! Cambridge Film Festival

We were truly honored to premiere GOG on the big screen at the

TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30, 2016!

"GOG was certainly our most challenging project to date. Our usual timeline for a 3-D feature restoration is three months. GOG was on the operating table for five months. The only surviving 35mm left side element was totally faded with no yellow or cyan information whatsoever.

Every single shot in the film required up to seven levels of correction, including color restoration, left/right panel matching, flicker reduction, image stabilization, detail extraction from the superior right side element, stereoscopic vertical alignment and dirt/damage clean-up.

We're very proud of the final result in bringing this lost 3-D classic back to life."

 Greg Kintz, 3-D Film Archive Technical Director

Once Upon a Screen reports on an advance screening of the restoration.

GOG was photographed by Lothrop B. Worth in Natural Vision 3-D, using the same cameras that were previously used on BWANA DEVIL, HOUSE OF WAX, THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, TOP BANANA and several others. In later interviews, Lothrop considered GOG to be his best work.

GOG was the third science-fiction movie composed for widescreen. (The first two were RIDERS TO THE STARS and KILLERS FROM SPACE.) It was filmed on Eastmancolor negative 5248 (25 ASA tungsten) and processed by the Color Corporation of America laboratory - formerly SuperCinecolor/Cinecolor - in Burbank. By time it was edited and ready for theatrical release in May 1954, the lab was in financial trouble and had been sold to Benjamin Smith and Associates, owners of the Houston Fearless Corp. 35mm release prints were made by Pathe Laboratories in Hollywood. 

GOG remained in theatrical release for the next several years and was sold to television in black and white as part of a 39 feature United Artists package in September 1956. At some point, the 35mm left camera negatives were discarded.

For nearly five decades, GOG was lost in 3-D.

In March 1955, Universal utilized the term 3-D Horrorscope to promote their new release:

After GOG was completed, the robot found a home in Ivan Tors' backyard and was photographed with his wife Constance Dowling for publicity purposes.

Here is a recent guest at the Archive screening room in front of a six sheet poster. He's holding one of the 24-inch 3-D projection reels and is sitting next to the film shipper that originally held the left side print. It still has the May 6, 1954 labels from Color Corporation of America in Burbank to United Artists in New York. When that shipper was full with both left reels, it weighed nearly 75 pounds. Double that weight to include the right print and you have some idea how cumbersome 3-D prints were to handle. Thankfully, the new Blu-ray is considerably lighter.

"Of all our restoration projects, GOG is the most rewarding for me personally. When I began my search for lost 3-D elements in the early 1980's, GOG was at the top of my want list. Through my archival work with Jerry Lewis, I got to know director Herbert L. Strock quite well. He was very proud of his work on this film and lamented the fact that it was lost in 3-D. After extensive research, I found the lost left side faded Pathe color 35mm release print in 2001. I tell the full story of this exciting discovery in the commentary track on the Blu-ray.

After suffering through flat, black and white, full-frame 16mm prints for decades, it's a real thrill to finally see GOG restored as the filmmakers intended - in vibrant color, widescreen and 3-D!"

Bob Furmanek - Founder, 3-D Film Archive

The restoration and 3-D Blu-ray release of GOG was very much a team effort. We want to extend

our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the following individuals for their invaluable assistance:

 Thad Komorowski Digital Restoration for his outstanding dirt and damage clean-up work

on the final left/right masters.

Michael Hyatt for providing the 1999/2000 interviews with Director of Photography

Lothrop B. Worth - the unsung genius behind Natural Vision.

Jeff Joseph (producer of the three World 3-D Film Expo's in Hollywood) for the

2003 interview with director Herbert L. Strock.

Tom Weaver and David Schecter at Monstrous Movie Music for their fascinating

and informative commentary tracks.

Richard Lorber and the entire staff at Kino Lorber for their faith in this project.

It simply would not have happened without them.

Scott Grossman at MGM Technical Services for his help with securing

the right side elements for transfer.

David Packard, Cyndi Mortensen, Patrick Loughney, Todd Wiener and the

UCLA Film and Television Archive for providing access to the 35mm left print.

Dr. Robert Kiss for his extensive research into the original theatrical release.

Darren Gross at MGM for his ongoing support and encouragement.

Jack Theakston for his research assistance and valuable input.

Bill DiCicco at Retro Video Inc. for use of his conference room.

Kimberly Kintz for letting her husband disappear for five months

while he worked on this project.

To all of you, thank you very much!