Radio-Mania

Originally released as "The Man From M.A.R.S.", on December 27, 1922 at the Selwyn Theatre in New York City. It was the first feature film to use the alternate-frame sequencing form of film projection to achieve a true stereoscopic 3D image,(somewhat similar to today's field sequential 3-D). This early 3D system was called, the Teleview system, and it was invented by William Cassidy and Laurens Hammond, the man who would later invent the Hammond organ. The film met with critical success, but the technology was so far ahead of its time and the expense of installing two interlocked projectors was such, that the system met with a premature end. The film was later re-cut and re-released in regular 2D as "Radio-Mania".

After his experimental radio opens communications with Mars, Arthur Wyman (Grant Mitchell), a down-and-out inventor uses Martian technology, such as methods to synthetise diamonds and gold, to become fabulously wealthy. The film was produced and displayed in 'Teleview', an early experiment in 3D that used paired out-of-sync cameras to combine images from two different perspectives. The projected film was then watched through special viewer that used rapidly opening and closing irises such that each eye would only see the image from one perspective allowing 'persistence of vision' to create an illusion of depth. Apparently the system was quite good at generating a 3D effect but the viewers were complex and cumbersome and 'Teleview' was never used again after the initial showing of 'The Man from M. A. R. S' at the Selwyn Theater in New York City in 1923. As of this writing, no copy of the 3D version exists but a 2D version, entitled 'Radiomania' is held by the BFI and currently is included on the Blu-ray disc '100 years of 3D Movies'. The film itself is a lightweight romantic fantasy as the poor inventor with big dreams needs to make good before marrying his landlady's pretty daughter Mary (Margaret Irving). Needless-to-say, the best parts take place on Mars and are both imaginative and comic. This may be the first film to portray the classic 'big-headed' alien (we are told that the Martian cranial capacity is about a gallon and that an Earthling brain is about the same size as that of a Martian chipmunk). There is also an amusing scene in which Arthur orders Martian women's fashions. Mary is nonplussed by the small box that contains the top half of the outfit and later outraged at the interest that Arthur takes in the girls modeling the voluminous Martian skirts and skimpy Martian tops. While probably viewed more for historical interest that entertainment, 'The Man from M. A. R. S' is an imaginative example of an early science fiction film and given the prevalence of big-headed aliens (especially on the covers of the pulps) should be better known.