Tonight's Movies: Sword of Granada (1953) and 3-D Rarities, Volume II - A Flicker Alley Blu-ray Review

Over the last few years, some of my favorite Blu-ray releases have come from Flicker Alley.

Flicker Alley releases a limited number of titles each year, but each one is quite special, featuring beautiful prints, plentiful extras, and attractive cases and booklets. Favorite Flicker Alley titles have included TOO LATE FOR TEARS (1949) and TRAPPED (1949), to name just two.

Flicker Alley's newest release, out last month, is 3-D Rarities, Volume II. It's a sequel to 3-D Rarities, which came out in 2015; I missed that one at the time but recently purchased my own copy so I could watch it in conjunction with a screener of the new volume.

Viewers with 3-D Blu-ray players can watch everything in that format, or they can also be enjoyed in 2-D. Although I have a 3-D player, the glasses needed fresh batteries so I watched everything in the traditional way, and that was fine; I'll plan to go back at some point and watch some things, especially the photographs, in 3-D.

3-D Rarities, Volume II is divided into three sections comprised of shorts, a feature-length film, and stereoscopic photographs.

The shorts encompass quite a variety of things. The black and white A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (1941) is an early example of 3-D filming, and based on the number of things a pair of little boys hurl at the screen, the filmmakers had a good time with it. Storywise, there wasn't much to it, just some kids up to slapstick antics in, you guessed it, the country.

Much more interesting to me was THE BLACK SWAN (1952), with some excellent ballet dancing. The use of 3-D was much more subtle here, giving the viewer the feeling of watching the ballet in a theater.

There are several other odds and ends in this section of the disc, including a trailer and a movie prologue. I especially enjoyed "Mid-Century Memories in Kodachrome Stereo," a collection of random 3-D '50s photographs which were quite fun to peruse. Although it's included in the shorts section of the menu, it's simply a narrated group of photos.

The second set of photographs on the disc, under its own menu heading, is a series of stereoscopic photos taken by the great silent star Harold Lloyd, who was an avid 3-D enthusiast. The photos are narrated by his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd.

I previously saw Harold Lloyd's 3-D 1955 Disneyland photos at the 2015 D23 Expo. No Disney photos were included here, but we're treated to family members, celebrities, European travels, and one naughty beach pinup. The pictures were quite interesting, even seen "flat."

The centerpiece of the set is the first 3-D film made in Mexico, SWORD OF GRANADA (1953). The film, alternately known by the titles THE HEART AND THE SWORD or the original Spanish-language title EL CORAZON Y LA ESPADA, stars Cesar Romero and Katy Jurado.

SWORD OF GRANADA is presented in its original Spanish, with English subtitles, or in a dubbed English version. I watched about half the film dubbed, curious to see if Romero and Jurado did their own English tracks -- I'm not sure, but I don't think it was Romero's voice -- and then switched to Spanish, which I found more pleasing.

The movie itself is nothing at all special, but it's entertaining in a kiddie matinee type way; the attractive Jurado, in particular, seems to be having a grand time as an adventurous, sword-wielding young lady. Jurado fans will thus especially enjoy the film.

The plot of this 80-minute movie concerns a sort of "three musketeers" who reluctantly unite to accomplish individual goals: Don Pedro (Romero) wants his castle back from a caliph (Victor Alocer) who's taken it over; Ponce de Leon (Tito Junco) is looking for gold; and Lolita (Jurado) is looking for a gold-making formula she believes is known to the caliph's alchemist (Manuel Casaneva).

There's also a helpful Moorish princess (Rebeca Iturbide) on hand to give Lolita competition for Don Pedro, and a Padre (Miguel Angel Ferriz) who's been held prisoner by the caliph.

It's only mildly entertaining, but I like Romero and Jurado so it was fun to see them play the leads in this unusual little film, which I also appreciated from an historical perspective. The print is excellent.

The movie was directed by Edward Dein (SHACK OUT ON 101) and Carlos Vejar hijo. The screenplay was by Dein, his wife Mildred, and Rafael Garcia Travesi. Photography was by Enrique Wallace.

SWORD OF GRANADA has a commentary track by David Witt and Robert J. Kiss which I hope to listen to in the near future. There's also a commentary by Mike Ballew on the short THE BLACK SWAN. Ballew also wrote the attractive illustrated booklet which comes with the set.

A trailer for this set is on YouTube.

The feature-length movie may not be top drawer, but it's amusing and beautifully presented, and the set as a whole is a "must" for those interested in '50s 3-D; it's an entertaining and historically valuable collection. I learned some new things thanks to this set, and I'm looking forward to delving into Volume I soon!

Thanks to Flicker Alley for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray/DVD set.

3-D Rarities, Volume II may be purchased at the Flicker Alley website as well as through retailers such as Amazon.