Did the Nazis Discover 3D Technology?
So much for James Cameron pioneering the 3D phenomenon. It turns out Hitler was about 70 years ahead of the curve.
While conducting research for an upcoming film project in Berlin’s Federal Archives, Australian director Phillipe Mora discovered two 1936 black and white propaganda films shot in 3D. Born out of pre-war Nazi Germany, they were created by an independent studio for Joseph Goebbel’s Third Reich propaganda ministry.
“The films are shot on 35mm – apparently with a prism in front of two lenses,” the documentary filmmaker told Variety. “The quality of the films is fantastic. The Nazis were obsessed with recording everything and every single image was controlled – it was all part of how they gained control of the country and its people.”
The films, entitled “So Real You Can Touch It” and “Six Girls Roll Into Weekend,” include close-up 3D shots of barbecued bratwurst and dolled-up studio ingénues, according to the magazine.
With this latest revelation, Mora, who unearthed Hitler home movies for his groundbreaking documentary “Swastika”(1973), has landed another scoop. He plans to include the 3D footage in upcoming project, “How the Third Reich was Recorded,” a study of how the Nazi party used images to manipulate reality.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
