First 3D sound movie

This page was last revised on 2009-06-08.

NB Full references to printed sources may be found at the foot of this page.

First 3D sound movie, and first 3D sound movie of people of both sexes

A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, 1929

This American two-reeler musical comedy, starring Eddie Cantor, was directed by Joseph Santley and released on 4 May 1929 (copyrighted on 3 May).

The production was shot at Paramount’s Astoria studios on Long Island, New York. The film featured a brief sequence in anaglyphic 3D. The stereoscopic footage was shot in dual-strip format and converted to single-strip format for release prints.

Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. Porter-Waddell single-strip anaglyphic stereoscopic process. [?] Western Electric Movietone sound-on-film sound system or Western Electric Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system?

Survival Status: Print exists in a private film collection [16mm reduction positive]. [Silent Era]

First 3D sound feature film

Nozze Vagabonde (Beggar's Wedding), 1936

Shot in black and white in Italy in 1936, with the Gualtierroti stereo camera, for the Societa Italiana Stereocinematografica, and projected in polarised format. Producer: Sante Bonalde; director: Guido Brignone; photography: Anchise Brizzi. [Zone (2007); Hayes (1989)]

Earliest-born person whose voice was recorded in a 3D sound film

Little significant information yet located. Charles Halton (1876-1959) appeared in the 1953 The Moonlighter, and seems to have been the oldest person to appear in any 3D sound film up to that date.

Earliest-born woman whose voice was recorded in a 3D sound film

Little significant information yet located. Helen Wallace (1889-1970), who also appeared in 1953's The Glass Web, seems to have been the oldest woman to appear in any 3D sound film up to that date.

© 2009 Benjamin S. Beck

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