3-D Historiography

Apparently one part of the New York Times film page should talk to the other more. Dave Kehr fact-checks the many wrong facts in Sharon Waxman's industry-trend piece on the resurgeance of 3-D filmmaking. Beyond the gotcha element, though, his rejoinder is definitely required reading - its a far more thorough explanation than any I've happened to read (including Peter Lev's volume on 1950s cinema) on the topic of 3-D's proliferation and demise in 50s Hollywood. Donald Crafton has argued that in no area has the divergence between popular historiography and academic film historiography been greater than on the topic of the coming of sound to Hollywood. 3-D comes in as a respectable also-ran on that count. As 1926-7 recedes rapidly from even popular memory, though, we might look more closely to these other misunderstood periods in the medium's history.