Into The 3rd Dimension (Meta)

I've not heard of this title before, but the meta was a fun solve anyway. Thanks, Ben.

Clever mechanism! I think obstacles will include the nontrivial googling, the semi-unusual left-right ordering, and the non-US meaning of "third floor."

Oy. That was all kinds of difficult. Maybe needs to be upgraded to Level 5. Got step 1 right away, but then tried about a bajillion different ways to apply the clue at 31D (and at 9A) before finally hitting on the right thing. More like work than fun (I jest). Thanks for the puzzle, Ben!

Loved this even though I’ve never heard of the movie. Figured out I was on the wrong floor by thinking about 20A (SPAT is the same in US .. why would he…?)

Google skills are weak. Very clever though.

Duh! The fourth best British movie of 1936! Love the 3-D concept.

Very tricksy! I thought of Nella Larsen's excellent novel "Passing" which I believe has been made into (multiple?) film(s?). But that of course didn't fit the prompt. Not familiar with this film, do you recommend it?

I was so close! I started writing down G-N-I-S and thought “what nonsense is this!?” And then when nudged back down that path I could only find the 2021 film - gah! Will have to remember this title for charades (put it alongside Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines!!) - thanks Ben!

Finally found PASSING and then went to IMDB. The nudge about floors in Australia was helpful. Was there a different path?

I had it all except for the ground floor thing, I can't believe I missed that... But yay Jerome K. Jerome! I'm not sure that Three Men in a Boat makes it into my top ten favorite books (there's a lot of competition) but I enjoyed it a lot when I read it several years ago, after reading Connie Willis' sci-fi/time-travel classic To Say Nothing of the Dog (also recommend!).

Found the mechanism about a quarter of the way through the grid (when I tried to enter CLEAN UP for 53D). But executing it gave me gibberish so I figured I was doing something wrong. Even when I anagramed to PASSING I couldn't turn that into the answer via google. Eventually got told that was the right track and went back to google and eventually found it. Very cool and original mechanism. :)

I went too far. Step 1 was I took the circle letters and solved the Up clues in the 3rd dimension. Step 2 was I found the matching words elsewhere in the grid. Step 3 was I took the CLUES for those matching words and tried to do something with them... Rabbit holes included noticing TADA, A-ONE, ADO, OF in the leftover letters of the entries, as well as OTEMO is METOO anagrammed.

LOL fourth time is the charm: PASSING UP PASSING (both of those because googling movies made from plays wasn't giving me anything) PASSING OF THE THIRD FLOOR BACK THE PASSING OF THE THIRD FLOOR BACK

Very creative metanism, Ben! I kind of knew what to do but was not aware of the difference in floor-countings. Thanks!