Rob Dunkelberger works in telecommunications and lives in Hopkins, Minnesota with his wife Micky and their dog MayBea. They currently have one child remaining with them in the nest.

With live events mostly dark, Rob has found more time to watch and talk about his first love, movies. He is occasionally a guest on the podcast “The Movie Show with Joel & Ryan.” Rob’s theatre reviews can be read at www.thestagesofmn.com

Greg Carlson: My earliest memory of you is that you were a huge cinephile who loved to talk about and watch movies. Is that a lifelong thing for you?

Rob Dunkelberger: It started very early for me. My dad loved movies and he would always introduce me to new things. Younger generations might claim to have issues with black and white films, but I never did because he showed me those films when I was quite young. I tried to continue that with my own kids as well.

GC: Do you maintain a regular schedule of family movie watching?

RD: Not anymore, now that they’re older. When they were younger and I had some control, anyplace that was showing some Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, we would go. We had it all at home as well! I introduced them early on to silent film, black and white films, all sorts.

As my son Alex has gotten older, he’s gotten very interested in film and for quite some time we did a twice a year event called the Kicked Out of the House Film Festival. Either we would get kicked out of the house or we’d kick the others out of the house. We would program 10 films to watch over a weekend. I would select things he hadn’t seen that I thought he should. I would develop themes some years. We designed programs and everything.

GC: Was there a certain film that left a big impression on Alex?

RD: I took him to see The Seventh Seal at the Trylon Cinema when he was pretty young, maybe 12 or 13. And he always mentions that as a moment that opened his eyes. That screening was a big influence for him.

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GC: Have you collected on all formats since VHS?

RD: Yes. I started with VHS when I was in high school and then in college I got the LaserDisc bug — and that took over my life!

GC: Did you keep all your LaserDiscs?

RD: I didn’t. I still have a few. When DVD came out, I transitioned to the new format. There were some places around Minneapolis that would buy LaserDiscs. For me, it’s always about the best picture quality I can get. So when I could upgrade to a DVD that featured a better image than my LaserDisc, I was fine letting the LaserDisc go. Now that I’m older, I wish I’d held on to a lot more of them. I had the Star Wars trilogy box set, the big black one. Wish I still had that.

GC: Some collectors don’t care about picture quality at all. For me, certain filmmakers will always get the upgrade when a new and improved transfer arrives. Are there movies you have collected on every format?

RD: Absolutely. Anything by Kenneth Branagh. Henry V I’ve owned on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray.

GC: Branagh is not the most frequently-chosen auteur among movie nerds. What is it about him that you like so much?

RD: Henry V was the first Branagh that I saw. I didn’t see it in the theatre — it was on VHS, and it might have been widescreen, but I can’t remember for sure. I had already developed an affinity for Shakespeare, and Branagh’s film really opened up that interest for me.

The way Branagh has of speaking the language so that even if you don’t know what all the words mean, you hear what is being said and it sounds beautiful. Like the best possible way to say anything. The entire last third of the movie, with the St. Crispin’s Day Speech, the battle and the tracking shot after the battle, through the wooing of Kate — there’s not a misstep in that entire section of the film.

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GC: How often do you rewatch Henry V these days?

RD: I rewatch the last third of the film more often than I watch the entire film! It’s one of those movies if I’m feeling down or if I just have a little bit of time or I just want to feel revitalized, I will put on the last section. It is a go-to.

So Branagh is one I upgrade along the way. Others would be Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin — I have bought those films so many times.

GC: With [film professor Ted Larson], we were spoiled [at Minnesota State University Moorhead]. Did we realize at the time how lucky we were to see all that content projected on film with live pipe organ scores for every single one? Pretty special. Pretty rare.

RD: You would not trade that experience for anything.

GC: Do you have a favorite Keaton?

RD: Probably The General or Our Hospitality.

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GC: It’s so hard to choose.

RD: It is. Have you read the book A Thousand Cuts by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph?

GC: No.

RD: It’s about 16mm film collectors and how they save film. It will make you think of Ted with every page. It’s also this cautionary tale. Most of these collectors are dying off. And if there is nobody there to continue on or to care enough about it, what will become of it? I look around my shelves and think, “What have I done to my family?”

GC: How do you organize your movie collection?

RD: A lot of genre sections. But then I like breakout sections. I have all my Criterion Collection titles together and sorted by spine number.

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GC: Spine number instead of alphabetical. Bold.

RD: What’s frustrating is that my second largest single section is 3D films, something I am very passionate about. There’s a 3D Criterion, but I just can’t bring myself to move it from the Criterion section. So it’s a missing gap in one section.

GC: How do you decide what takes precedence?

RD: Criterion is the defining factor for placement. For example, I’ll have all the regularly-issued Alfred Hitchcock films in a section together, but I don’t take out the Criterion Hitchcock titles. It has gotten easier to live with over the last few years, but it used to drive me nuts.

GC: Do you acquire new titles every month?

RD: Yes. I seek out Criterion, 3D and classic cinema. I follow Glenn Erickson’s CineSavant site and frequently get recommendations there.

GC: I want to hear more about your interest in 3D.

RD: It started when I was a kid. I could stare at my View-Masters for hours. I recently acquired some old reels, including Batman ’66.

GC: I had the big orange View-Master canister featuring DC superheroes. The color in the Batcave photography from the ’66 series was without equal.

RD: Yes! I think it was Dynamite or Boys’ Life that would include a poster and a pair of blue and red glasses every now and again. I was just fascinated with the interdimensional effect. When 3D came back to theatres in the 1980s, I saw Starchaser: The Legend of Orin and thought it was really spectacular. I also saw Jaws 3D in the theatre. Novel at the time.

Those showings of Revenge of the Creature and Gorilla at Large on TV, they never worked well at all. I’m not that interested in seeing 3D films in the theatre, but when I saw Hugo, I thought, “Now I have to buy a 3D-equipped television, because I can only watch Hugo in 3D.”

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GC: Wow.

RD: I love that film. It was my favorite title from that year. It hit all my sweet spots: silent film history, Scorsese, 3D — and I was sold on the idea of having 3D at home. Now I would argue that my set at home is way better than what I can see in the theatre. In the theatre, 3D sometimes works pretty good and other times not so much.

GC: What are the good 3D discs for home presentation?

RD: I like House of Wax with Vincent Price. Dial M for Murder is fun. There’s a weird little title called Thunder and the House of Magic that is a beautiful one to show, especially to kids. For me, it isn’t about what’s popping out at you, it’s about the depth going back. That’s what I find impressive.

GC: Does your set require certain glasses?

RD: It’s just the passive glasses. No batteries, no sync. I feel like it’s the format that was perfected, right as they stopped production. Got it down and abandoned it. So I live in dread that my TV will break and my collection of about 300 3D movies will be useless.

GC: Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t want you to become the Henry Bemis of 3D movie collectors.

Greg Carlson (@gcarlson1972) is an associate professor of communication studies and the director of the interdisciplinary film studies minor program at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He is also the film editor of the High Plains Reader, where his writing has appeared since 1997.