Blake Edwards' THE GREAT RACE - a big, bold and brassy live action cartoon

One of Warner Bros studios big budget shows of the sixties, THE GREAT RACE (1965) was a particularly loud though undeniably fun film with alot going for it.  Star Jack Lemmon, whom I'm very fond of, (especially in THE ODD COUPLE) was really allowed to cut loose hare and personify a hosh-posh of elements from every cartoon villain you've ever seen.

Tony Curtis was his usual dull and utterly forgettable self, with Peter Falk and Natalie Wood shining here.  Blake Edwards knows his stuff when it comes to slapstick comedy and in fact made a couple of the funniest films ever, THE PARTY and RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER  - both with Peter Sellers.

Henry Mancini contributed a sensational comic score that works perfectly, with the wonderful centrepiece musical number by Dorothy Provine being one of those numbers you just can't get out of your mind for days afterwards - in fact I'm playing it right now as I type this ("He shouldn't a had, ought-to-have had a swang on me").

An aspect I liked about THE GREAT RACE was that it won the Oscar for best sound effects editing - by one of the greats of sound effect creation, the legendary Treg Brown.  Now if anyone out there is anything like me, a fan of Chuck Jones Looney Tunes cartoons of the fifties, you'd know that Brown was Warners' chief sound cutter to all of those hundreds of six minute marvels - sound effects that were unlike ANY other animation studio in their sheer lunacy and incongruent hilarity.  Chuck Jones himself credited Brown as one of the great unsung heroes of the Warner Bros cartoon division for 30 years.

Anyway, on with the special photographic effects from THE GREAT RACE.  They are great!  The picture is loaded with matte shots painted by Cliff Silsby, Howard Fisher and Albert Maxwell Simpson, blue screen shots by Linwood Dunn and miniatures photographed by James B.Gordon - not to mention some amazing full scale mechanical effects by Lee Zavitz. The show looks and sounds great, even today.

So, on with the show...........

Special Photographic Effects - Linwood G.Dunn - Film Effects of Hollywood

Special Effects Cinematographer - James B.Gordon

Optical Cinematographer - Don Weed

Matte Painters - Cliff Silsby, Albert Maxwell Simpson, Leon Harris and Howard Fisher.

 Mechanical Special Effects - Lee Zavitz

Sound Effects Editor - Tregoweth Brown

A great title sequence done as a series of old lantern slides, complete with several projectionist jarring gags.

One of the 25 matte shots (I've never been able to spot that many).

The race begins - NYC painted cityscape. One of the key matte painters on this show, and many more for Linwood Dunn was Albert Maxwell Simpson - an artist who's career harked way back to the silent era and who had among thousands of films painted on THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, GONE WITH THE WIND and other Selznick pictures as well as the original KING KONG and many, many more mostly for RKO over the decades.  Simpson had a long association with Linwood Dunn right from the KONG days and they continued a working relationship up until the late sixties.

Another angle with matte painted NYC buildings added to Warners backlot street.

Painted western lanscape with simulated explosion and fire element on horizon.

A large miniature of Lemmon and Falk's evil lair - with typically cartoonish outcome.

The ole' west - probably a backlot set with painted in Arizona scenery.

Alaska - partial soundstage set with substantial matte painted snowy landscape.

Small set with actors matted into ocean plate.

A dazzling Cliff Silsby matte painted newpaper office - with flawless attention to detail and superb compositing.  Silsby was one of Hollywoods old hands at matte art, having worked over the decades for Twentieth Century Fox and Warners.

A beautiful soft blended matte shot as the adventurers reach land at last.  I suspect that possibly former Paramount matte artist Jan Domela may also have been involved with the show as he did do several contract matte jobs for Linwood Dunn around that year.  He did paint on HAWAII at Film Effects of Hollywood the following year.

A very rare original matte painting that still exists from the scene shown below.  The painting is 5 feet wide and is on thin hardboard.  The artist would either be Al Simpson or Cliff Silsby.      *Picture courtesy of Jim Aupperle.

A detailed photograph from the above original matte painting.

One of the mattes that was up for auction many years ago, and was credited to Leon Harris as matte painter.  The 1990 Disney movie DICK TRACY had Harris on the matte team along with six other artists, primarily as draghtsman for laying out the many complex architectural requirements on glass for the other artists to work from.

Another flawless painted matte, and like the others seen in this film very cleanly composited.

Paris!!!  A Linwood Dunn miniature Eiffel Tower perfectly lit and lined up into actual location plate.

The spectacular finale - the Eiffel Tower comes crashing down.  The story behind this wonderful sequence is fascinating.  In an interview effects supervisor Dunn was faced with the prospect of investing considerable sums in contstructing a large sixteen foot miniature, yet came across the notion of employing nothing mre than an over the counter seven dollar plastic model Eiffel Tower, from which an amazingly convincing scene of destruction was achieved which to all concerned was perfectly acceptable.(from an interview with Dunn in the book Special Effects in the Movies by David Everitt)

Cosgrove: Mars, Marseilles, Chaplin, Dali, World Series, Texas Crude, Frankenstein...

Some more mattes and miniatures representative of Jack Cosgroves' long career. Some are small images on purpose as I lifted certain images from vhs sourses and are not particularly good quality.

First up are some old effects shots from Jack's days at Universal in the 30's where under John P.Fulton he painted with Russell Lawson on some gothic horror pictures such as "THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" and several others.

Next up are a collection of matte painted shots from the first "A STAR IS BORN" (1937) upon which both Cosgrove and Slifer teamed. Interestingly, the theatre shot 3rd row on right was subsequently 'borrowed' outright by Warren Newcombe at MGM for "Singin' in the Rain".

Next set, below - prime Cosgrove/Slifer trickery afoot in the superb 1937 version of "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA" with much brilliant in camera use of split screen twin shots which still look amazing. Interestingly the 1950's version replays their effects shots in identical set ups!

above & below - some of the many, many lovely matte paintings featured in 'Zenda'. Cosgrove  had help with many of these -  Byron Crabbe and perhaps Albert Maxwell Simpson.  In fact it was Crabbe who painted the magnificent ornate ceilings in the above grand reception sequence.


A few of Jack's Oscar nominated matte shots from the baseball drama "PRIDE OF THE YANKEES" (1942). Lots of painted in cityscapes and crowds of painted people opened up the scale somewhat. Matte artist Albert Maxwell Simpson. Process photographer Ray O.Binger
below - Cosgrove reteams with Hitchcock, this time for "SPELLBOUND" (1945) - and another Oscar nomination for Jack. Effects cameraman again Clarence W.D Slifer.
*images from 'Spellbound' courtesy of Domingo Lizcano

some of Jacks' uncredited work for Chaplin on "THE GREAT DICTATOR" (1941) involving 'crowds of moving people' and hilarious Fuerher-esque statues.Pioneer effects veteran Ralph Hammeras was miniatures cinematographer on this picture.Below - One of Cosgroves' big Warner Bros effects shows when he headed the effects dept there in the 1940's, "PASSAGE TO MARSEILLES" (1941). The frames here are unfortunately only from a vhs sourse as I can't find it on dvd, but the film is laden with effects shots from start to finish.... so many in fact that my head was spinning trying to take them all in. Aside from the excellent and many matte paintings are heaps of incredible and undoubtedly complex miniature set ups.

The film has the usual model planes, ships and such but stands out of the bunch for it's ingenious and unique use of miniatures in many motorcar sequences which include not just the moving miniature car but also a fully animated landscape surrounding it - tractors, hay making machines chugging along, even COWS moving their heads up and down!! Bloody Hell!! It looks far better than it sounds. Entire French farms were built in miniature here - and with sweeping camera moves taking it all in too. Incredible! Just some of the bomber landings etc let the show down as they really don't work. Other matte artists at Warner at the time were Paul Detlefsen and Chesley Bonestell.   Effects cameramen at that period would have been Byron Haskin, John Crouse, Edwin DuPar and Willard van Enger.

below - Cosgrove goes to Mars.... "FLIGHT TO MARS" (1951) - a bizarre little poverty row sci fi thing with Cameron Mitchell which according to the star made a packet of money too!  It is entirely possible that Cosgrove subcontracted these shots out to colleague Irving Block to paint and his partner Jack Rabin to composite.

Below - Cosgrove returns to Mars!!! This one is "INVADERS FROM MARS" directed by long time colleague and fellow "GWTW" nominee William Cameron Menzies. There is some question as to how much Cosgrove did on this picture even though he recieved screen credit for photographic effects.

According to matte painter Irving Block in Fantascene no.2 Cosgrove farmed out much of the matte painting duties to Block and compatriot Jack Rabin as Cosgrove was experiencing personal problems at the time, quite possibly alcohol related.

Below - three sets of effects shots by Cosgrove and the Warner Bros special effects dept for the 1944 war picture "ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC". Many good miniature sequences - some with roto'd in actors jumping off burning model ships (below) and a great plane crash and tremendous full scale conflagration scenes. I expect Byron Haskin, Edwin DuPar, Roy Davidson and others long time established at Warners to have been heavily involved here too.

below - one of Cosgrove last films was the James Dean-Rock Hudson epic "GIANT" (1955) whereby Jack was required to paint in additional oil derricks and possibly some sky work as well.

Jack Cosgrove - the burning of Atlanta from "Gone With The Wind"

Despite layout issues with my earlier posts I'm slowly getting the hang of this technology.

Here are pretty much the remaining Cosgrove shots from "GONE WITH THE WIND" - at least the ones I've ever been able to find. In the 1982 American Cinematographer article Clarence Slifer stated that there were over 100 mattes in "GWTW", though with many viewings over the years I can't find anywhere near that number. I sometimes wonder if that number refers to individual elements making up the tally of mattes, miniatures, process and opticals.

above - some examples of the somewhat limited set construction at Selznick studios for "GWTW". Selznick was by no means a big studio - quite small in comparison with the other majors of the day Paramount, MGM, Warner and so forth.

above - just a few of the people behind the stunning visual effects. I've never been able to locate any photos of other matte artists Al Simpson or Fitch Fulton. Both went on to careers with RKO and other studios, with Simpson being president of the matte artists and illustrators union for a period. Simpson worked extensively with optical effects legend Linwood Dunn both at RKO and later at Dunn's Film Effects of Hollywood through to the mid 60's.

Matte painter Jack Shaw did glass shots for Willis O'Brien on the Oscar winning "Mighty Joe Young" had a long career with Warner Bros though sadly committed suicide upon completion of Irwin Allens' "Animal World" in 1956.

Painter Byron Crabbe worked closely with O'Brien was largely responsible for the unique conceptual look of the locales and major set pieces in "King Kong" where he and Mario Larrinaga shared glass painting duties along with several other matte artists such as Juan Larrinaga, Zachary Hoag and Henry Hillinick. Regrettably Crabbe died suddenly during production of GWTW and his post was filled by Jack Shaw.

Fitch Fulton was the father of legendary Universal effects head John P.Fulton having started off as a scene painter eventually fell into matte painting and contributed effects shots to many films at RKO, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.

Some of the many wonderful matte composites seen in "Gone With The Wind" (1939)
Above - a much talked about shot that Selznick wasn't entirely happy with. The live action plate takes on a peculiar ghost like superimposition quality as it passes along the roadway. Due to enormous time constraints the shot was okayed as-is and stayed in the final film.

Above - an example of the invisible effect and a shot not being what one percieves it as being.
The house (Tara) and plantation is a miniature, the sky and foreground trees a matte painting.
The horses and wagon were models photographed seperately and matted into the final shot.


The rooftops, sky and most of the tree are added by matte painting. A not uncommon effect throughout the 30s and 40's to achieve the desired pictorial quality desired by the director.
A typical matte shot breakdown for a simple split screen of rider and homestead.
More of the same invisible effect to extend beyond the existing set and give the scene a more full and broad viewpoint based upon the production sketches of William Cameron Menzies dept.


The bazaar sequence with several matte paintings including this street and banner.

Inside at the bazaar - several angles with painted in ceilings, walls and decorations - probably painted by Jack Shaw as it resembles his work in other films after the fact.
The sequence in the town square consisting of two seperate exposures of the same 'crowd' with a split screen running diagonally across behind the bales. The two exposures were combined and a matte painting added to top off the train station in the background."It's war" - a memorable sequence with an almost exclusively painted Atlanta and the only piece of live action being the small strip of dirt road. Matte cameraman Clarence Slifer has written extensively about these shots and that most were held take original negative comps.


Subtle fire effects added to matte painted street and town extensions. Apparently many of these flame effects were rear projected into paintings. The images are beautiful, clean composites.

The money shot - Atlanta burning to the ground. Multi component matte composites with projected fire elements - all first generation and it looks it.  Of note is the recycling of many of the flame elements from Slifers' effects footage to use in matte/miniature combo setups in a subsequent Selznick picture "REBECCA" for the burning of Mandalay.  (more about the effects in that film on a future post).

Simple split screen above very limited indoor set and extensive painted additions and fire elements.Mostly painted scenes of destruction with smoke and ember elements optically added.

Some claim that these shots were split screen mattes, though I don't believe so due to camera moves etc. These were among the first scenes ever shot for GWTW - long before any actors had been engaged on the project. Stunt doubles tackle admittedly dangerous high jinks in front of real fire. The sequence had the added element of danger with Slifer adding burning hot embers and ash falling in the foreground and blowing across the stunt players..... otherwise it's all real.Rare photos of special mechanical effects supervisor Lee Zavitz setting up his fuel system to simulate on a very large and frightening scale the raging inferno that was the buring of Atlanta.

Quite possibly THE quintessential GWTW image - that of the horse drawn buggy passing in front of the inferno. Admittedly a phenomenal image and visual effect. The fire is huge and real - with the old 'Skull Island' wall from the set of "King Kong" being incinerated filmed at high speed with some 9 cameras. The people and horses were optically added later via very simple bi-pack by Clarence Slifer in the matte department. A dazzling, terrifying effect that is worth the price of admission.

Scarlett among the dead and wounded - matte painted set extensions and sun rays to the makeshift hospital.

Inside the hospital - a limited set with extensive painted elements to show ceiling, upper level, bannisters, upper window etc. A wonderful example of the matte artists' expertise.Amid the ruins - more fairly straight forward split screen in camera mattes to allow Cosgroves' crew to extend the damage beyond what was economical and feasible.
The matte paintings themselves were in the large part painted in oils on masonite (hardboard) measuring about 30"x40", though some were painted on glass. Special efforts were made to ensure accuracy of the pin movement on the technicolour cameras and registration of the image to prevent image drift or jitter. Having seen this film many times in all formats I can honestly say that the matte comps are about as steady as I've ever seen with no discernable drift noticable.

Economy at work - mostly paint with just a few extras in battle fatigues.  If you look closely at the above matte shot you can see that the matte extends even as near as the equipment with at least half the cannon and sundries painted in too!

The epic reveal of the dead and injured - practically all painted - people, buildings, sky, trees - with just a limited area of live action extending about a third of the way in.  One of the few shots that has a dupe look about it.

Standard split screen with added hilltops taking on an odd hue for some reason?More totally invisible matted in set alterations - in this case the whole upper two thirds of the frame!!

Post war refugees - possibly painted by Fitch Fulton who seemed to love these spindly looking leafless branches in this and many other pictures.
Possibly a part miniature / part painted scene - or may be real foreground?

According to the exhaustive bible of Selznick films 'David O'Selznicks' Hollywood' this above scene comprised of three seperate shots - the burned out building was a painting as was the sky and some of the foreground; the water and the wagon were real, photographed seperately and added in later
One of the most amazing trick shots featured in the film - again quoting the above book - this comprised of 5 seperate pieces of film, one being the wagon and people as one take, the rising black smoke was another element, the foreground and left side of the frame with the dead soldiers was a Jack Cosgrove painting, the overturned wagon was a miniature and the sky another matte painting again. Upon examination of this hi-rez bluray grab I conclude that many of the soldiers might be toy soldiers as well!!  Click on this and then click again to see incredible detail in the visual effect.    Oh Boy!!

Again quoting the above book - a multi part matte shot; the wagon and occupants shot on the backlot, the surrounding countryside and clouds a matte painting and the rainbow a rear projection element (that supposedly jiggled a bit, though I've never noticed it).The components that make up a matte - arrival back at Tara. Frame at left is actually Selznick Studios' front office which in itself was used in some close ups due to it's distinctly 'southern characteristics'.

Most of the shot is painted with just the door, part of the stairs and Scarlett being real.  The curved soft matte line is visible arching across the frame with a slight colour change between the real and the painted.

above - a great example of the use of forced perspective miniature. The whole staircase is just that - a model suspended in front of the partial indoor set. Totally convincing. Effect devised by Joseph MacMillan Johnson, who himself would go on to become a visual effects supervisor and designer winning an oscar for his effects (with Clarence Slifer) on "PORTRAIT OF JENNIE" IN 1947 -also a David O'Selznick picture.

Probable split screen soft edged matte (as I think most were on this show).
One of the few matte shots to feature in the second half. The show is matte heavy right up until intermission then rather slim on effects for the remaining hour and a half.... maybe they'd blown the effects budget by then?? Incidentally the special photographic effects budget was to blow out at some US$86'000 - that's $55'000 over the allocated budget. Selznick didn't seem to mind as he thought Cosgrove could walk on water with all he could magically achieve on the picture.

The famous closing image - pretty much a repeat of an earlier identical effect just before intermission. An incredible example of optical printer virtuosity and expertise by Slifer and his optical crew as we are treated to an extensive pullback from Tara to the figures on the hilltop... Real skies photographed by Slifer right after a massive rainstorm in LA combined with a painted Tara and landscape, this combined with real figures shot hi contrast against a white backing and finally a tree which some sourses say is painted though I think is a miniature due to very subtle branch movement. All of these elements were combined on Slifer's new aerial image optical printer with the finished effect being sublime.

A hi-rez image from the same pullback, this from a bluray disc showing extensive detail of the painted element.  Colour scheme differs as different re-master for bluray edition.

In one of my earlier Cosgrove "GWTW" posts I reproduced a copy of Cosgroves' own (incomplete) list of matte shots in progress.  There are a great number of shots detailed on this memo which I can't find in the film.  Some I know hit the cutting room floor such as a miniature/painting composite of a riverboat as they just couldn't get the shot to work out convincingly.  The list details far more mattes for the bazaar sequence and the fire sequence with an intriguing 'Dantes Inferno' matte shot which I have yet to discover.  Several shots mentioned are process plates for live action stage process and some for miniature process combined with glass paintings particularly in the fire sequences.

I must also point out that "GWTW" was one of seven pictures nominated in 1939 in the visual effects and sound effects category (combined as one overall 'special effect' category) and as good as the work was the Oscar went (fittingly I feel) to the great Fred Sersen at 20th Century Fox for his phenomenal work in the deluge epic "THE RAINS' CAME" - more about which I will blog extensively later as it remains one of the finest visual effect films of all time.

Cosgrove went on to supervise matte and miniature shots in several more Selznick pictures and eventually moved to Warner Bros to head their effects dept for films such as "PASSAGE TO MARSEILLES"  which has many, many superb matte paintings and some extraordinary wide use of miniatures even extending as far as whole model farms, tractors, speeding cars, mechanised model cows (!) in addition to the usual bombers and ships required by director Michael Curtiz.  Cosgrove contributed effects to numerous other pictures such as "GIANT",  "ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC", "THE GREAT DICTATOR", FLIGHT TO MARS"  and many more.

Slifer had a long and fruitful career mostly at Goldwyn, Fox and MGM as head of the photographic effects camera dept and contributed enormously to the photographic effects in such films as "THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD"  with his aerial image matte composite photography that is simply sublime  (more about the mattes in this film too later).