Hobbit, the movie

It  hasn't come the Littleton yet.  Internet reviews are equivocal at best.  Most make the observation that there isn't enough material in the single volumn Hobbit story to fuel three movies.  Probably true.  I'm an old Tolkien fan, I'll see the movies anyhow. 
   The Brit papers have been making a big thing of technology.  The flick is in 3 D and 48 frames/sec.  The Guardian quotes viewers claiming that the extra frame rate gives them headaches and makes them dizzy.
Well, 3D can do that.  I suppose.  I find 3D annoying, the glasses never fit well, and the focus isn't very good.
  But the 48 frame/sec is harmless.  In fact, movies have been projected at 48 frames/sec since the 1920's.  The frame rate has to be high enough to prevent flicker, which is quite annoying.  The exact frame rate needed to smooth out flicker is variable, depends upon the circumstances.  Darkness helps, which theaters have.  American TV runs at 60 fields per second in well lighted rooms.  European TV runs at a mere 50 fields per second, and you can see it flicker.  It's bad enough that the Europeans were selling "100 hertz" TV sets to eliminate flicker caused by the 50 fields per second sets.
   Motion illusion is different from flicker.  Good motion illusion requires a far slower frame rate than flicker reduction needs.  In fact, some one back in the depths of time (1920's) discovered that although the projectors had to run at 438 frames per second to suppress flicker, they did not have to change the picture that fast.  A 2:1 savings in expensive 35mm film occured when the projector advanced the film on every other frame.  So the film advances at 24 frame per second, and the projector displays each frame of movie film twice.
   For the Hobbit, they are claiming to use revolutionary technology, and advance the film on every frame.  Newsies, and reviewers have been talking this up, claiming a miraculous improvement in the viewing experience.  Which gives great joy to the Hobbit marketing droids.  But in real life, it won't look any different from standard movies.