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Gance himself describes to the author the
3D effect:
“The triptych cameras were built for me by
André Debrie. They arrived early in the morn-
ing on the very day we were to shoot - we
had two thousand soldiers for one day only.
So without even waiting for tests, we mount-
ed the Debrie cameras one on top of the
other, and Jules Kruger started shooting with
the synchronized motors. I had another cam-
era, operated by Burel, taking the same
scenes as the triptychs, but in color and 3D.
“To see the rushes, I had to wear those red-and-green spectacles. The 3D effects were very good,
and very pronounced. I remember one scene where soldiers were waving their pistols in the air
with excitement, and the pistols seemed to come right out into the audience. I felt, however, that
if the audience saw this effect they would be seduced by it, and they would be less interested in
the content of the film. And I didn´t want that at all.

“I only had one roll of color - and I felt it was too late in the film to introduce this. Also, the 3D
effect did not encourage the same feeling for rhythm in the audience. I felt that if it fascinated
the eye, it would fail to do the same for the mind and the heart.
“Now, the triptychs. This is a most important point for the history of the cinema. We did not see
the triptychs on the big screen because we only had one projector, and we really needed three.
I could only tell from the rushes whether each individual shot was acceptable or not.

“We had no editing machines. We would cut it by eye. (Night and day for seven months Gance
edited this film. His eyesight was irreparably damaged.) I would hold one scene up to the light,
and put the other ones beside it. I could see that they would match together well enough. After
a while, I got three Pathé projectors, and I set them up side by side and ran the first triptych in
the little room in which I did my cutting.

That was really one of the greatest moments of my life. I cannot describe the pleasure it gave
me. It was magnificent. Afterwards, I ran the color and 3D roll, and decided finally against them.
That was the only time I ever had anything to do with color and 3D. The process was quite
advanced in those days. No one has ever discovered that color roll. I think it was Burel who said
that it must be in existence somewhere, because no one would destroy a thing like that. But
where is it? It could be at the Cinémathèque [Française] without [Archivist Henri] Langlois
knowing about it. He has so much stuff there. In any event, it is most important for the history of
the cinema that somebody finds that roll".

It is great that we are now getting a fully restored Blu-ray of Bwana Devil, with its many tricks
intended to amaze the audience. A restoration in true 3D issued by the reputed company Kino
Lorber, derived from 4K scans of the original 35mm Ansco color camera negatives. Sheer
entertainment!

12 REEL DEALS September 2024