A man is relaxing at home when he gets a frantic phone call. The call is from his Aunt Tilley who, in a panic, asks him to come to the Smith mansion. The man makes the two hour drive to the mansion. The road to the estate is blocked so the man gets out and walks to the house. The mansion is believed to be deserted but when the man reaches the house, the doors open, seemingly by themselves.
Inside the man sees Frankenstein, gets scared, and tries to run away. Soon he is being chased and attacked by several spooky entities. Included in the mix is the statue of a wooden native chief that comes alive, a witch, a masked archer, an empty suit of armor, zombies, a head hunter, skeletons and various other creepy things. All of which throw, toss or drop various weapons at or onto the now frightened man.
“Third Dimensional Murder” AKA “Murder in 3-D” was released in 1941 and was directed by George Sidney. It is a comedy horror short. The film was produced and narrated by Pete Smith and distributed by MGM.
It is an approximately 8 minute experimental film and one of the earliest attempts to produce a 3-D style movie. There were three films done in what was called Audioscopiks 3D. The other two films were “Audioscopiks” 1936 and “The New Audioscopiks” 1938. This film was the third and last of the series. The first two films were produced as ‘documentaries’ using test footage shot by Jacob Leventhal and Jack Norling. The third film was produced using new footage shot specifically for the film.
All three films were created in red-green anaglyph by Technicolor. This requires the viewer to use special glasses to get the proper effect. The beginning of the film has a quick intro and explanation of how to hold the 3-D glasses. The film then goes into the 3-D story.
Of course it’s not much in the way of a horror movie. The main intension of the film is to illustrate the 3-D viewing experience. Outside of historical significance it is not much more than a momentary curiosity but it is important for what it illustrates.
Reportedly, the outfit that the witch wears is the same one that Margaret Hamilton wore in “The Wizard of Oz” 1939.
2-D Version
3-D Version