The Tale of Two TITANICS: a retrospective look at the VFX from A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and TITANIC

To my knowledge there have been around a dozen films dealing with the tragedy of the luxury cruise liner TITANIC which as we all know struck at iceberg and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic, nearly a century ago in 1912.  The earliest cinematic entry  on this maritime disaster surfaced, so to speak, in 1915 as an Italian made interpretation of the historic event.  The illustrious German film industry produced not one but three versions of the disaster starting in 1927, and again in 1929 and once more, quite elaborately in 1943.  A number of other versions and variations followed, with several made for TV movies in the late 70's and early 80's, culminating in the much hyped and overblown James Cameron audience pleaser of the late 90's. (which once it concentrates on the issues at hand is admittedly pretty darned exciting....finally!)  Todays blog will look at two of the versions made in the 1950's  - one being the 20th Century Fox soaper, TITANIC starring Clifton Webb, and the other film the vastly superior 1958 British drama, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, starring Kenneth More and David McCullum.

I have little background information on the making of either film other than some analysis on the effects shots as per my own observations.  There are a couple of behind the scenes frames here of the miniature ships used in both films and a little bit of on set process set ups.  The Fox film featured four matte paintings and alot of model work amid much Hollywood gloss and tedious subplots whereas the Pinewood film was strictly a gritty and believable no nonsense 'you are there' docu-drama with visual effects kept to a minimum - and the result is all the better for it.

By all accounts Darryl F.Zanuck spent alot of money on the '53 Fox version, though a more lacklustre execution of the events you'd be hard pressed to imagine, what with endless scenes of Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb theatrically pushing and shoving for the best key light and gauzey filters.  Long time Fox visual effects man and former matte painter Ray Kellogg had by this time taken over the effects department from the retired Fred Sersen though Sersen was still engaged as a consultant.

Ray Kellogg (center)

The effects work is generally very good with some nice matte paintings adding ceilings, engine room details and a haunting iceberg laden ocean.  Miniature work is competent and well photographed, presumably by fx cameramen L.B Abbott, James B.Gordon, Walter Castle and Harry Dawes.  Among the matte painters on staff in 1953 were Lee Le Blanc , Matthew Yuricich and Emil Kosa jr.  Insofar as the models go, I don't know whether miniaturist Gael Brown was with Fox as far back as '53.  Process projection would have been the domain of Sol Halprin, while the ingenious use of travelling matte composite photography for placement of actors into a wholly miniature set - a Fox specialty under Sersen's reign - is beautifully done by the optical boys, one of whom was a young Frank Van Der Veer.

Pinewood special effects chief, Bill Warrington.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958) on the other hand is a pitch perfect and frighteningly realistic piece of dramatic recreation of the events that doesn't waste a minute of it's 2 hour plus running time.  Director Roy Ward Baker scores bullseye with this film one of, if not his overall best film. The cast are uniformly excellent, with  many familiar faces from UK cinema headed by the superb Kenneth More - probably Britain's Jimmie Stewart in everyman qualities and consistent credibility.

An excellent no frills script, tight editing and a highly effective documentary style look courtesy of lighting cameraman Geoffrey Unsworth.  Long time head of Pinewood special effects department, Bill Warrington took the bull by the horns by keeping the special effects always at the service of the true life event.  Warrington  (pictured here with models for the QUATERMASS films for Hammer) was a true legend among British effects people having had an extensive career in SFX from the formative years where he specialised in the then state of the art compositing process, the Schufftan Process Shot and gradually showing a flair for model work and mechanical effects, for decades at J.Arthur Rank-Pinewood where he would work with figures such as Albert Whitlock, Les Bowie, Peter Melrose and Cliff Culley on many pictures before striking out on his own.  Miniatures proved to be a skill which would see Warrington recieve the visual effects Oscar in 1961 for THE GUNS OF NAVARONE.  Bill kept active right up until his death in 1981 as special effects consultant for Spielberg on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Although information is hard to come by I'm certain that Pinewood's in house process man Charles Staffell would have had a hand in things here, and possibly George Blackwell with miniature work, which included motorised lifeboats and occupants.  The travelling matte shots at the end would probably have been handled by well honed experts Vic Margutti, Bryan Langley or maybe a new talent, Roy Field.
I vaguely recollect that future Bond optical effects man and cinematographer Robin Browne may too have been involved in the effects photography both here and on SINK THE BISMARK shortly after.

For those interested in all of the myriad TITANIC films, I'd recommend this site for much detailed info on these as well as practically every disaster movie ever made. Well worth a visit.

The 1953 version of event - with more of an accent on hystrionics and endless padding than disaster, with the eventual 'incident' almost appearing to be an afterthought.

Entertaining...just, but a pale comparison with the unforgettable 1958 rendition.

Opening shot of the infamous iceberg surfacing is very effective and menacing fx shot.

Miniature rear projection comp by Sol Halprin.

The left frame is one of the most effective miniature shots in the film, shot in daylight with well scaled waves and wake, though looks as if it's been 'borrowed' from the 1943 version made in Nazi Germany.

One of four matte shots in TITANIC, with this being a painted ceiling set extension.

Misc model shots, probably shot by L.B Abbott, Harry Dawes, Paul Mohn and James B.Gordon who were but four of the numerous effects cinematographers employed by Fox in 1953.

The moment of truth: miniatures and process, plus an effective underwater view of the ripping open of the hull.

The second of four mattes.  Among the artists in Kellogg's matte department in 1953 were Matthew Yuricich,  Lee Le Blanc,  Menrad von Muldofer,  Max de Vega,  Cliff Silsby and Emil Kosa jnr.

Now this is a classic old time Sersen trick, and one in which the department snapped up the effects Oscar for a decade earlier on CRASH DIVE - the skillfully composite whereby actors filmed on a vacant blue screen stage are travelling matted into an entirely convincing miniature set.  The Fox guys did this trick many times over the years in THE RAINS CAME, THE BLACK SWAN and others years before George Lucas decided he could make entire franchises with just a green screen and a couple of actors..

A complex split screen matte shot of the live action lifeboats added to a probable painted ship.  Thanks to Jim at http://www.jimusnr.com/Catastropheinthemovies.html  for this frame which I missed.

Effective process work.

And down she goes with what appears to be a large miniature Titanic and motorised row boats.

The closing shot features a matte painted composite.

A few behind the scenes pictures from TITANIC where we can appreciate the process screen set ups and a partially obscured glimpse of the large (approx 12 foot) model ship in the Fox tank.

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Several miniature shots in A NIGHT TO REMEMBER  were actually re-used scenes originally featured in the 1943 German version, overseen by the Nazi regime.  The shots were often optically flopped to appear new., with this shot appearing in the 1951 Fox version as well!!  Many thanks to my pal Roger Todd for bringing all of these to my attention - the man's a genius when it comes to maritime miniatures in films.

Bill Warrington's model work from A NIGHT TO REMEMBER.  I read that the effects budget amounted to a mere 90'000 pounds on this show.

Unlike the Fox film, the Pinewood production doesn't muck around with subplot and extraneous padding and gets straight to the point, and stays there.  Here is an almost identical model-process shot to the 1953 film where the iceberg shatters across the deck.

Side by side frame comparison of the engine room flooding miniature sequence shows that several effects cuts from the 1943 German version of the tragedy were in fact reused for the 1958 British version, usually flopped in the optical printer.

The effects techniques applied appear to be the same for both films, with what appears to be motorised model lifeboats perfectly integrated with the larger sinking cruise liner.

Miniature Titanic interiors are flooded and then rear screen projected by Rank's resident process expert Charles Staffel.

Rare shots of the miniature tank shoot at Pinewood.  many thanks to my pal Roger Todd for being so helpful with these and other great behind the scenes imagery.

The pictures here would suggest that the model is around 30 feet in length.

More wonderful photographs of the miniature Titanic set up with technicians giving a good sense of scale here.

Miniature tank at Pinewood with what appears to be a completely cut away right hand side of the ship to facilitate electrical wiring and internal lighting requirements.

"The unsinkable Titanic.... well, you see.....um, er"

And down she goes to the icy, pitch blackness some 2 miles below.  The lower left frame is probably a travelling matte composite by either Vic Margutti or Bryan Langley, both key exponents of the blue screen process in Britain.

Although there is a one hour behind the scenes documentary on A NIGHT TO REMEMBER  I've sadly never managed to see it, with this one off frame from some on set fx footage all I have to show the miniatures and technician.

The Epics - BEN HUR matte shots: Part five in an ongoing series

I was tempted to cover THE TEN COMMANDMENTS here but have written extensively about those visual effects on earlier posts, in both the John P.Fulton career retrospective and the Jan Domela tribute, so today I'll upload some amazing matte shots from the 1959 MGM epic BEN HUR - arguably the grand daddy of all big Biblical showcases... and at no additional cost, I'll throw in some choice mattes and hanging foreground miniatures from the old silent version of BEN HUR as well....... but wait, there's more....phone in now and get a free set of steak knives...   ;)

This one was BIG!  An epic novel turned twice into epic films (though I've never seen the 1925 version) and only the biggest of the studios could handle it...MGM, where they had more stars than shone in heaven... or something along those lines.    Shot for the most part on Italian locations and at the Cinecitta Studios in Rome, with post production carried out back in Hollywood.  The film earned some eleven Oscars - I think a record only broken by one of my countryman's recent efforts, a little art house indie not many people have heard of, known as LORD OF THE RINGS - THE RETURN OF THE KING by fellow kiwi Peter Jackson (and that deserved every one of those while I'm on it....go Pete!).

Effects wise, BEN HUR was unique in some respects.  For one it utilised the services of not one but two of the very same special effects men as the earlier silent version - A.Arnold 'Buddy' Gillespie and Cliff Shirpser. Gillespie had had a marathon career at MGM, starting in the art department and then working under special effects head, Englishman James Basevi, Gillespie assumed the mantle of effects departmental head when Basevi moved across to Samuel Goldwyn in the middle thirties.  Gillespie (pictured at right) never looked back.  His career was rewarded with some thirteen Oscar nominations and four Academy Awards. 'Buddy', as Gillespie was known, handled all physical, miniature and rear process shots for MGM,  with Warren Newcombe looking after all matte requirements up until around 1957, with Irving G.Ries and Robert R.Hoag taking control of opticals for many decades. Among the sensational work the team should be proud of were the fantastic THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (set here in  Colonial NZ) and BOOM TOWN -which will appear on this very blog soon.  After a mammoth career Gillespie passed away in 1978.  

Cliff Shirpser was an effects cameraman who's amazingly lengthy career went as far back as the first HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME in 1924 and he carried on as primarily a matte cinematographer right through to THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD in 1967 - which is a pretty incredible run I have to say!

Matte chief Warren Newcombe had departed around 1957 and was replaced by Lee LeBlanc and Clarence Slifer as matte supervisor and senior visual effects cameraman respectively. Slifer replace the long time matte and effects cinematographer Mark Davis who had left to pursue independant work after working in MGM's photographic effects unit since 1930.  I've written often about Slifer and his methodology in shooting mattes using his special, then purpose built printer often in earlier blogs, especially in connection with the great GONE WITH THE WIND matte show - still my all time favourite of the art form.  Lee, who's shown in a delightful oil painting by his artist daughter, Dierdre, is pictured at left.  Process expert Carroll Shepphird was another original KING KONG veteran along with Slifer and would later head the visual effects department at MGM for a time in the late sixties.

 

The matte requirements were substantial on BEN HUR, and while I can't pinpoint all of the other artists on the film I can report that much of the fine matte art was painted by Matthew Yuricich, a seemingly lone, solitary survivor today of that golden era artform.  Matt, shown at right, had begun a visual effects assistant initially, under Fred Sersen at Fox around 1951 where he graduated from basic matte assistant to rotoscope animator and then into fully fledged matte painting under the reining head painter, Emil Kosa jr and alongside painters Lee LeBlanc, Jim Fetherolf and Ray Kellogg to name but a few key people.  Matt and Lee moved across to MGM as they were cutting jobs in the late fifties and as Yuricich was the last on board he figured he'd be the first one asked to go.

Some of the other names on the effects crew are important ones too.  A.D Flowers, who had also been at MGM for twenty years was to become one of the industry's finest physical effects men, with amazing credits as  THE GODFATHER films, TORA, TORA, TORA (bloody amazing full sized effects in that one), THE TOWERING INFERNO, APOCALYPSE NOW and best of the lot, Spielberg's 1941 which is loaded with awe inspiring effects work and should have taken the 1979 Oscar.... but don't get me started.

Glen Robinson is another big name, with Oscars for EARTHQUAKE'S miniatures, THE HINDENBERG and LOGAN'S RUN... together with an inexpicable and highly controversial  win orchestrated by the DeLaurentiis mafia threatening to bust some kneecaps if it didn't get the statue for the for the hyped non functional mechanical ape effects in the 1976 KING KONG.... better leave that one for another day.  :(

Special Effects Supervisor - A.Arnold Gillespie

Special Photographic Effects - Lee LeBlanc and Clarence Slifer

Matte Cameraman - Cliff Shirpser

Optical Effects - Robert R.Hoag and Petro Vlahos

Matte Artist  - Matthew Yuricich

Mechanical Effects - Robert MacDonald, A.D Flowers and Glen Robinson
Process Projection - Carroll L.Shepphird
Second Unit Cinematography - Harold E.Wellman

Gee, I love those old school main title cards.. you just don't see these anymore - with the powerhouse Miklos Rosza overture powers up and the lights dim you know you're in for something great.  Fantastic score - one of the best ever!

The pre-amble to the main story - and that fabulous Rosza orchestral score at it's brilliant best.

The opening sequence is wall to wall matte paintings and animation opticals, which I firmly believe work due to that great deservedly Oscar winning Miklos Rosza musical score which I adore.

A few of the many great matte shots, which to my eternal astonishment weren't rewarded in the visual effects Oscar category... I kid you not.  The Academy has five special effects sub categories: physical fx, models, mattes, opticals and I forget the fifth one.  Only Gillespie and MacDonald received the award for, respectively, the miniatures and process projection and full scale effects  - with matte supervisor and co effects credit LeBlanc not getting so much as a mention.!

I've read reports of the BEN HUR mattes being painted 'squeezed' due to the idiosyncratic CinemaScope process, where severe edge image elongation was prevalent, especially in panning shots. BEN HUR was lensed in the vast Camera 65 extremely wide 2.76:1 ratio, though the examples I've seen of the paintings on the matte stand all appear to have been painted in a ready to shoot widescreen ratio.

The Oscar winning sea battle, which unlike the original was shot entirely in miniature - and fairly obvious ones at that.

One of the better miniature shots, helped immeasurably by that sensational painted backing and overcast light, though the scaled down pyro effects kill the illusion somewhat.

A rare picture of a take during the miniatures tank shoot.

Upper image - a rare matte painting design applied upon a production still  from a frame enlargement of the proposed matte shot, probably prepared by the art director or an artist in the matte department.  The lower frame is the completed matte composite as it appears in the film and is interesting to compare the aspects originally shot to those added by LeBlanc's matte unit.  *upper photo courtesy of Jim Aupperle

A rare colour oil painted sketch for the proposed matte shot shown earlier in this article, and recently put up for auction

Art director Edward Carfagno's pre-production drawing for Matt Yuricich's monumental centrepiece matte shot, also put up for auction recently.

The central matte shot - and a sheer delight it is too.  Painted by Matthew Yuricich and photographed by Clifford Shirpser with compositing by Clarence Slifer, the effect extends way beyond Yuricich's beautiful painting, with the same relatively small group of marching centurians repeatedly matted in consecutive 'blocks' all the way down the thoroughfare.  A masterpiece of the matte process.

Close up detail of Yuricich's impressionistic technique for the cheering masses that would read as 'alive' on film.

Matthew Yuricich seen here painting his majestic, career best centrepiece shot.

Rooftop detail added by the matte artist, and lower frame, a Lee LeBlanc painting extends this angle of the centurian parade - a painting I believe still exists and hangs in the Lee LeBlanc Art Gallery run by Lee's daughter, Dierdre.

Exquisite perspective here in a Matthew Yuricich matte shot shown before and after Matt's art addition.

Before and after wide view of the famous chariot race demonstrates perfectly the craft of the matte artist in creating something essentially from nothing much at all. 

Again, the extent of the matte art can be appreciated with this telling pre comp take revealing the outer suburbs of Rome.

Well, we never really expected a happy ending, now did we.....?  The art of painted skies add so much to a shot.

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BEN HUR - the original 1924 version - special photographic effects

I've not actually seen this but have several great  effects shots that are just crying out to me to include them on my blog somewhere....  The film, directed by Fred Niblo was pretty adventurous for the day, being shot in large part in Italy and finished off in Hollywood.  Technically the film is noteworthy as a fine showcase in it's own right for the ancient art of the hanging miniature, or foreground miniature - not to mention glass paintings.

Just who was in charge of effects I can't say for sure, but I can say that Paul Eagler was a key player in the special effects photography.  Eagler later became photographic effects man on many films including the excellent Alfred Hitchcock film FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) and alot of RKO pictures.

A genuine pioneer in the world of glass shots and a major developmental force in the techniques for painted mattes was Ferdinand Pinney Earle.  A pioneer of silent cinema and very much a man of his time Earle had studied fine art at the Academie Julian in Paris, as did other notable matte artists such as Walter Percy Day and Jan Domela.  Earle was frequently at odds with competitor Norman Dawn in licensing the matte process with court battles and such.  Earle made headlines with his ability to successfully shoot an entire feature (more or less) through the magic of his matte process, THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM in 1923.  Earle was mentor to long time Warner Brothers matte artist Paul Detlefsen with whom he had trained on DANCER ON THE NILE in 1923.  Earle's glass shots for BEN HUR, some of which are illustrated here are marvellous and unlike many of his other productions, are preserved for modern audiences whereas the many silent epics he made are considered 'lost' films.  For more telling observations about Earle, catch the documentary about his son, one of Disney's background artists, on the SLEEPING BEAUTY dvd where Earle senior is almost painted in 'Daddy Dearest' type harsh disciplinarian terms.

A key member of the BEN HUR crew, and an utterly indispensible one at that was optical effects exponent Frank D.Williams - a genuine pioneer in the then largely unknown world of optical processes such as travelling mattes and  multiple printing.  Williams had invented processes for multiple pass compositing onto 35mm film - then a near impossibility, and was owner the only dedicated special effects optical house on the west coast, the Frank Williams Laboratories.  I've written about Williams' revolutionary developments in the field of composite cinematography in my blog on the F.W Murnau silent film SUNRISE, so check that out for his amazing optical work which still stands the test of time.

As discussed at the start of this blog, special effects man A.Arnold Gillespie had the distinction of having worked on both versions, as did matte cameraman Cliff Shirpser.  Gillespie at this time was specialising in the art of the hanging miniature, a flawless and utterly believable in camera composite process  which is nicely demonstrated below.  The method of hanging foreground miniatures was extensively used in the early days of film, though some practitioners, such as the great Emilio Ruiz, continued to trust in the technique throughout his very long career with hundreds of film credits such as THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS  and DUNE.   I'll do a blog some day on this total genius - one of the all time greats in a class all of his own.

Special Effects Cameraman - Paul Eagler

Matte Artist - Ferdinand Pinney Earle

Miniatures Supervisor - A.Arnold Gillespie

Special Photographic Effects and Optical Processes - Frank D. Williams

One of Ferdinand Pinney Earle's painted glass shots

An excellent miniature of the senate collapsing onto terrified extras, and all perfectly composited through the Frank Williams travelling matte technique.

It may be a Gillespie hanging miniature, though I personally tend to favour an Earle glass shot for this view.

A revealing photograph of one of Buddy Gillespie's excellent foreground hanging miniatures - the benefits of which are obvious - immeadiacy of finished visual effect, accuracy in light balance, no matte weave nor duping irregularities.

Another totally believable foreground miniature featuring, if my memory serves me correctly, rows of tiny motorised miniature figures swaying in irregular patterns to suggest a live crowd.   The technique was extensively utilised throughout the silent era and onward through the sound era in a lesser extent.  Spanish visual effects maestro, Emilio Ruiz was a confirmed advocate of the method and continued to utilise it on hundreds of productions right up until his death in 2008 on films as big as DUNE with terrific results.  More about Ruiz later... a true genius in a class of his own.

A brief article from a 1924 publication reveals F.P Earle's magical matte process - the miracle of the age.

An auteur ahead of his time - Ferdinand Pinney Earle at work in his studio on the dozens of matte paintings for his ambitious silent epic THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHYAYYAM (1924)