While working on a documentary on Nazi propaganda, filmmaker Philippe Mora made an unexpected discovery in the Berlin federal archive: pre-war 3D films made in support of the reigning Nazi party.
The films were made in the 1930’s, well in advance of their introduction to Hollywood in the 1950s. The technique, called “raum film” or “space film,” involved filming through a prism which created two images. Though intended to be a part of the Nazi propaganda machine, the films seem very light in their subject matter. From Variety:
One film, a musical set during a carnival entitled “So Real You Can Touch It” features close up shots of sizzling bratwurst on a barbeque; the other “Six Girls Roll into Weekend” has what may be UFA studio starlets living it up.
Mora believes that there may still be yet more 3D films hidden in the archive, and plans to incorporate them into an upcoming documentary tentatively titled How the Third Reich Was Recorded.
