During the Thirties, Louis Lumière devoted himself to researching the technical aspects of three- dimensional cinema, refining an extremely efficient polarization system in which two vertical images are overlapped on 35mm film, requiring the use of a modified projector. While conducting his research on three-dimensional cinema Louis Lumière reproduced, in a rather symbolic way, the sequences he shot, together with his brother Auguste, at the end of the 19th century, and in particular L’arrivée du train en gare de la Ciotat, as if the appearance of an image in relief constituted a second birth of cinema. «The three-dimensional sensation is perfectly rendered, though it is of course more evident in close ups than in distance shots. Some of the episodes in the films being shown, such as the battle of the falling stars in L’Ami de Monsieur, produce hallucinatory effects. The audience feels the presence of falling stars in the theater as so real that they remove their glasses to make sure they aren’t victims of an illusion. The cinematographer has made important progress with three-dimensional cinema. However, we will be able to fully evaluate the value of that progress only once directors have learned the filming techniques required by this new process. The work of Mr. Louis Lumière is basically finished. Now begins the work of the filmmakers.»

(«L’Illustration», 9/5/1936) Philippe-Alain Michaud