M-3D The Movie / The Playmates Review

Distributor: Asterix Home Video Edition Details: Standard DVD Release Specs: Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Asterix has combined two if Stephen Gibson's Deep Vision 3D movies on this release, M-3D!: The Movie (also known as Lollipop Girls in Hard Candy) and The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D. Asterix has picked an odd combination of Gibson's films to put together on this volume. M-3D!: The Movie was originally released with a hardcore version, although it is not present on this disc, and The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D was never hardcore. While the two films do share a similar style of humor, the construct of M-3D!: The Movie is more like Blonde Emmanuelle, which was released by Asterix on a single release disc. You can jump to the review of M-3D!: The Movie or The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D or just keep reading to read them all.

M-3D!: The Movie is a whimsical adult film from the 70s that is one of those films that could have only come from that time period. It was shot in the Deep Vision 3D process and the film utilizes every chance it can to remind you of that, which actually works in the favor of the film since it adds to its cheesiness.

In M-3D!: The Movie, Mr. Dandy is given seven days to make the Dandy Candy Company a success and pleads to his head researcher Wilber Krebbs (Hal Walker) to come up with a solution. Percy Duckbutter (Tyler Reynolds) will take over the company if Dandy fails. Krebbs comes up with a lollipop, which acts as an aphodesiac, that Duckbutter steals and unleashes on the general public. In addition a trio of Trojan soldiers (Lee J. O'Donnell, William Margold, and Eustace P. Snickerton) wash ashore and prepare to take the area for a forthcoming Trojan army.

M-3D!: The Movie is a skit film that while there is a plot, it frankly doesn't make much sense at all, and most of the set-ups it creates are to either allow for a sex scene or to set up a gag. Despite the lack of sense within the plot and subplots that never really get fully explored, like the trio of Trojan soldiers, M-3D!: The Movie is fun to watch and enough of the jokes work that you don't worry about the nonsensical plot.

The cast looks good, but the sex scenes are hard to gauge since all of the hardcore portions have been stripped from the version contained on this release. Most of the set-ups are rather silly and were obviously put in to allow sex scenes. Since the sex scenes themselves were truncated from this release it is hard to rate how good they would have been and whether they added to or detracted from the feature film.

Director Stephen Gibson did a series of Deep Vision 3D films back in the seventies and early eighties, Blonde Emmanuelle, The Playmates, Hard Candy (M-3D!: The Movie), and Wildcat Women. He recently made another Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick, which has finished the festival circuit and will be going to the theatrical circuit soon.

Gibson explains Deep Vision 3D, “The Deep vision 3D process was patented (4295153) and was the only color anaglyph 3D at the time. It was developed for the theatrical market because it could play in any theatre or drive-in without a special polaroid installation which is commonplace today. 'No installation' made the process very unique at the time.”

“The films were shot with a single 35mm motion picture camera using the Deep Vision lens assembly on the front,” Gibson continues. “The process locked the 3D image on to a single strip of film and virtually eliminated any Left and Right eye sync problems; a serious issue with typical two strip systems.”

According to Gibson, due to how the process works there are only 3D versions of the film and no “flat” versions.

Asterix Home Entertainment hasn't done a great job with this release. Only the unrated director's cut of M-3D!: The Movie is included on this release. There were three versions made of M-3D!: The Movie, the R-rated version, the cable version, and the hardcore X-rated version. The unrated director's cut is the soft-X cable version of the film. Sadly neither of the other two version are included on the disc.

M-3D!: The Movie was shot in DeepVision 3D, which is a form of anaglyphic 3D (the red and blue glasses). Only the DeepVision 3D version of the unrated director's cut is included on the disc. The effect doesn't work very well on the version included and mostly just gives the viewer a terrible headache with very little actual 3D effects. Asterix has included two pairs of paper anaglyphic 3D glasses with the release.

M-3D!: The Movie is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 but for some reason is not anamorphic. The master appears to have been a video with a lack of definition. There is print damage present along with artifacts and grain. There are all sorts of problems with the color with some scenes sporting good color and others looking completely washed out. The video quality is definitely lacking.

M-3D!: The Movie is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track, which works for the material being presented. Dialog is clear and easy to understand throughout and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the audio track.

Asterix Home Entertainment has included several extras for this release. There is an audio commentary track for M-3D!: The Movie by critic Luke Y. Thompson. The commentary is a waste, Thompson knows absolutely nothing about the film and just fills it with useless chatter. Why Asterix didn't get William Margold back for the commentary (He did the commentary for Blonde Emmanuelle.) is unknown. There is a still gallery and a text biography for William Margold also included on the disc. With the exception of the still gallery, none of these extras add to the film at all. A commentary from Margold or from Stephen Gibson, or both, would have been great. A featurette on the Deep Vision 3D process would have been great as well. Asterix really dropped the ball on this release.

According to Gibson, there is a 3D Blu-ray forthcoming for this title, along with his other titles. Whether the Blu-rays will just contain just the soft-X cable cut or both the soft-X cable cuts and the hardcore X-rated versions is currently unknown. As of 2018, Stephen Gibson has confirmed that the Blu-rays are still coming; they have just been delayed due to work on Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick.

The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D is an odd film that never seems to quite know what it is trying to do. The underlying story of the film has Dr. Jane Kinsey (Becky Sharpe) who is making a documentary on swinging who ends up running into Joe Strovack (John Paul Jones) of The Joe Strovack Show and becomes interested in him.

With this narrative, The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D seems to lose its way. Initially the film is put together as if it is the documentary that Kinsey has made, yet this all falls apart after she meets Strovack and it tries to become a love story of sorts. The earlier footage that appeared to be the documentary that Kinsey was making was comical in nature however the film tries to be more serious, or as “serious” as this film could be, with the love story angle.

Portions of the film are included to nothing but show 3D scenes, and have nothing to do with the film at all, for instance in Kinsey's dream there is footage that is included to be nothing more than 3D effects under the guise of being a weird dream. The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D does take every opportunity it can to show off the female form.

The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D also attempts to be a skit film where skits that seem to have nothing to do with the main story are tucked into the film in random intervals. Much of the skits are comical in nature, some that work others that don't. Unlike M-3D!: The Movie, the disjointed nature ends up working against The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D. While M-3D!: The Movie had the same type of disjointed nature, there was a connection with all the oddities within that film, here you don't get a sense of the interconnection of most of the skits and they come across more as filler. Had they been tied together better the film could have worked or if they had been separated from the documentary story the film could have worked much better.

Director Stephen Gibson did a series of Deep Vision 3D films back in the seventies and early eighties, Blonde Emmanuelle, The Playmates, Hard Candy, and Wildcat Women. He recently made another Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick, which has finished the festival circuit and will be going to the theatrical circuit soon.

Gibson explains Deep Vision 3D, “The Deep vision 3D process was patented (4295153) and was the only color anaglyph 3D at the time. It was developed for the theatrical market because it could play in any theatre or drive-in without a special polaroid installation which is commonplace today. 'No installation' made the process very unique at the time.”

“The films were shot with a single 35mm motion picture camera using the Deep Vision lens assembly on the front,” Gibson continues. “The process locked the 3D image on to a single strip of film and virtually eliminated any Left and Right eye sync problems; a serious issue with typical two strip systems.”

According to Gibson, due to how the process works there are only 3D versions of the film and no “flat” versions.

The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D was shot in DeepVision 3D, which is a form of anaglyphic 3D (the red and blue glasses). The effect doesn't work very well on the version included and mostly just gives the viewer a terrible headache with very little actual 3D effects. Asterix has included two pairs of paper anaglyphic 3D glasses with the release.

There were two versions released for The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D, the R-rated cut and the soft-X cable cut. This release contains only the soft-X cable cut also known as the unrated director's cut.

The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The transfer appears to have come from a video master and there are glitches in the video, print damage, artifacts, grain. There is varying print quality throughout the film. There are large portions of the film that aren't in 3D either. Blacks come through horribly in some places.

The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track, which is acceptable for the material being presented. Dialog is clear and can be heard throughout the entire presentation. There is a hiss in the background of the audio throughout the entire film though. But the audio is definitely listenable.

Asterix hasn't included any extras for the feature film at all. A commentary from Stephen Gibson and/or William Margold would have been welcome. Along with a featurette on the Deep Vision 3D process. Asterix did a poor job with this release.

According to Gibson, there is a 3D Blu-ray forthcoming for this title, along with his other titles. Whether the Blu-ray will just contain just the soft-X cable cut or both the soft-X cable cut and the R-rated version is currently unknown. As of 2018, Stephen Gibson has confirmed that the Blu-rays are still coming; they have just been delayed due to work on Hackin' Jack vs. the Chainsaw Chick.

This release from Asterix combines two of Stephen Gibson's Deep Vision 3D movies, one that originally had a hardcore version and one that was only softcore. M-3D!: The Movie is an enjoyable film even though only the soft-X cable cut is available here and The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D wasn't as good. Asterix did a poor job with this release utilizing poor transfers that don't look very good or work well with the 3D. The extras that have been collected for this release are lacking, to say the least. Stephen Gibson has said that 3D Blu-rays are coming for both titles, so it would be wise to wait for them instead of seeking out the old Asterix DVD.

Past Reviews Interviews