The Man Who Wasn't There 3-D
There was a 3-D movie boom in the early ‘80s. The year 1983 alone brought audiences Amityville 3-D, Jaws 3-D, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Treasure of the Four Crowns, and Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn. Also released that year was The Man Who Wasn’t There, a 3-D action comedy that has been mostly forgotten. To be honest, the film is pretty bad. What’s awesome, though, is the new Kino Lorber Studio Classics 3-D Blu-ray release. Anyone who is obsessed with cheesy ‘80s 3-D movies – and I absolutely count myself among them – will want to check out this disc.
Steve Guttenberg plays Sam Cooper, a government worker who is about to be married. His nuptials are delayed when he ends up in possession of a metal sphere containing little vials of liquid that, when consumed, make a person invisible. A group of shady people, including Russian agents, come looking for it, so Sam teams up with his fiancée’s sister Cindy (Lisa Langlois) to figure out who’s behind the whole affair.
The story in The Man Who Wasn’t There is paper-thin, and the comedy is even thinner. Officials from third world countries having a food fight at a state dinner is a prime example of what writer Stanford Sherman and director Bruce Malmuth think is funny. Their other big idea is to have an invisible Sam wander through a women’s shower, ogling the naked ladies without their awareness. In fact, there’s a lot of nudity in this picture, as if the sight of bare breasts and rear ends is inherently humorous.
A couple enjoyable elements pop up now and then. It’s fun to see veteran character actor William Forsythe in an early role as a punker helping to track Sam down. You also get Jeffrey Tambour playing Sam’s Russian contact and using a Borat-like voice. The movie’s one genuinely funny moment is a well-executed scene wherein Cindy makes love to the invisible Sam. To her credit, Langlois really goes for it in pantomiming the scenario.
Beyond that, The Man Who Wasn’t There is a dud – unless you view it in 3-D, that is. The extra dimension doesn’t make the story any better, but it does offer quite a few impressive effects. The opening titles come flying off the screen at you. Another invisible character blows smoke rings toward the camera. A man is thrown out of a building, his body appearing to fall on top of the viewer. (Actually, this happens twice.) The restoration by the 3-D Archive is exceptionally well done, as the team restored the movie using 4K scans of the original 35mm negative.
In terms of bonus features, there’s a new audio commentary from Paul Croupe of Canuxploitation.com and film historian Jason Pichonsky, along with 2-D and 3-D trailers for the film. If you don’t have a 3-D TV and Blu-ray player, fear not. The Man Who Wasn’t There is also presented in an anaglyphic version. A pair of red/cyan 3-D glasses are included in the box.
Kino Lorber has been admirably committed to restoring old 3-D movies. Their work in allowing 3-D fans to see The Man Who Wasn’t There as it was intended to be seen is something to be thankful for.
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The Man Who Wasn't There 3-D is rated R for language, violence, and sexual content/nudity. The running time is 1 hour and 51 minutes.
