Green Dolphin Street: Oscar winning mattes and miniatures

I've covered many MGM films in this blog over the past couple of years, with this picture one I've been meaning to pay tribute to for some time.   A grand production, based on the best selling novel, MGM's lavish 1947 costume drama of romantic entanglements among 19th Century pioneers in wild New Zealand, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET proved to be a bona fide field day for the Metro visual effects department.

I first saw this film on TV in the seventies - back when NZ Network TV used to always show classic movies uninterrupted on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  Those were the days....long gone sadly.   Even as a budding effects fan then I was very impressed with the visuals on show here, though as this was pre-VCR there was no way to capture those wonders for repeat inspection. It's long overdue arrival on DVD is most welcome.

The scenario provided the MGM boys a great many opportunities to strut their stuff up on screen - from period matte paintings of 19th century townships and a haunting, forboding mountain top convent - through to a spectacular earthquake and tidal wave which wrecks havoc in pioneer era New Zealand.  Interestingly, none of it was actually shot down here, with most of the NZ scenes having a distinctly Californian look - right down to the obviously inaccurate native bush, and the local Maori tribes being clearly played by Hollywood extras in greasepaint - as was the tradition of the day.

Career Metro Goldwyn Mayer special effects chief, A.Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie was in charge of all miniature, process and physical effects, while his counterpart and longtime associate in the matte department, Warren Newcombe, took care of the numerous pictorial demands.  I've outlined both of these key players extensive careers in several previous blogs.  MGM had a vast stable of top shelf matte artists during this period, though the only name I can say for sure painted on this show was the legendary Norman Dawn.  For those not aware, Dawn was the inventor of the painted matte process and contributed hugely to the overall development of the technique.  For a few years in the mid forties Dawn worked under Newcombe in the MGM matte department along side such noted artists as Henry Hillinick, Howard Fisher, Joe Duncan Gleason and Rufus Harrington among others.  In all likelihood these same painters shared matte duties with Norman on GREEN DOLPHIN STREET, though we shall never really know.  Interestingly, in Dawn's own meticulously archived production logs he wrote of being approached by chief art director Cedric Gibbons during the GREEN DOLPHIN assignment to potentially take over the MGM matte department due to ongoing 'issues' - though he declined the offer.

The lengthy narrative is a bit plodding, and the characterisations somewhat stodgy, but it's the visual effects side of the deal that I'm interested in, so let us take a look shall we.

The films stands out in several areas - beautiful matte art and gob smacking miniature work - as was the usual standard from Metro Goldwyn Mayer of the day.  I'd like to also draw attention to the outstanding use of rear screen process projection which is featured throughout GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.  I'd go so far as to say that I feel MGM really cornered the market in this technique for decades, with just Paramount even coming close.  

 

The use of very large screens, cleverly interwoven with sets and decor was a Metro trademark (just look at the 30's TARZAN pictures for sensational process work).  Arnold Gillespie had a lot to do with the development of improved means of producing high quality process shots in later years with astounding results on huge screen Ultra Panavision work on MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) using three projectors. 

So, here's a tribute to the Oscar winning special visual effects from GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.

Special Effects Supervisor:      A.Arnold Gillespie

Miniatures Supervisor:            Donald Jahraus

Matte Painting Supervisor:     Warren Newcombe

Matte Artists:                            Norman Dawn and Howard Fisher

Matte Photography:                 Mark W.Davis and Thomas Tutweiller

Miniature Photography:          Maximilian Fabian

Effects Cameramen:                Walter Lundeen, Jack Smith and Bill Williams

Miniatures:                              Curly Hubbard, Roy Cornish and Henry Greutert

Special Effects Technicians:  Glen Robinson, Robert MacDonald,  A.D Flowers,  Robert Staples, Dario Mortar, Carl Friend, Virgil Beck,  Hal Dumas and Charles Schulthies.

Scenic Art Supervisor:            George Gibson

Meeeow!

That would make it 1847

The opening matte of the hilltop convent in the Channel Islands is an extensive painting with ocean plate.  I've recently been informed by visual effects man Jim Danforth that career Metro matte painter Howard Fisher did in fact paint mattes on GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.  Jim worked with Howard on the 1962  IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and Fisher regaled Jim with interesting stories such as how he and other artists under Newcombe discretely painted a pair of copulating dogs in one of the GDS town paintings for fun!  Who ever said that matte work was dull. 

An artful multi part Newcombe composite of the Gothic looking convent.  Painted mountain, convent and sky with twin live action plates either side of the two nuns of the breakers coming in.

The view from the top.  Small sound stage set foreground action combined with Newcombe matte of painted mountains, town and sky with actual ocean plate.

One of two confirmed Norman Dawn mattes in this production.  This assignment was one of the last effects shots executed by Dawn for Warren Newcombe during Norman's MGM period of employment.

Close up shot breakdown from Norman Dawn's own records demonstrate the painted elements (rooftops) which were added to an existing Metro backlot set.

Throughout his long career, Norman Dawn meticulously catalogued shot by shot breakdowns of every one of his 800 odd trick shots.  These are in the collection of the University of Texas and the transcript of all of those effects makes for fascinating reading indeed.

This sprawling matte shot is possibly a Howard Fisher painted shot .

The convent again, this time with a different sky.  The vantage point is repeated numerous times throughout the film, with fresh sky and cloud effects on each occasion.  Newcombe's unit were top of their game when it came to clouds and beautifully rendered skies.  Possibly painted by MGM stalwart Howard Fisher who would have fame in the mid fifties with his iconic Krell Reactor Chamber matte for FORBIDDEN PLANET.

A full screen matte painting of the upward view of the aforementioned convent.

The shaft through the rock which leads up to the convent.

Donald Jahraus' detailed 2 inch to the foot scale model of the Green Dolphin process projected behind actors.

Top shelf process work here, as was customary with this studio.  Again, the fairly large scale model ship used here.

Miniatures of The Green Dolphin and township, with painted sky backing in the MGM tank.  Arnold Gillespie would oversee all model shots from his custom built camera skow, affectionately known as the S.S Gillespie.

Another excellent example of MGM's rear screen process projection featuring crisp background plate of miniature ship.

A later matte of the shaft in the rock as a character clambers to the opening at the top.

Rear projection scene using a Newcombe painting and ocean matte.

A wonderful flawlessly blended Norman Dawn top up matte shot described in Dawn's own special effects log sheets as: "Effect 671-double exposure matte which created a dock front setting by combining a foreground shot at a coastal town and a pastel sketch background of sea, sky, dock building, pier and sailing ship".

The New Zealand sequences feature a ripper of an earthquake and tidal wave, with several great full scale physical effects such as this shot where the earth opens up and swallows a none too convincing 'NZ Maori' extra.  Effects head Buddy Gillespie did similar wonders with James Basevi on an even grander scale years before on SAN FRANCISCO to fine effect.  Fred Sersen did even bigger variations on this over at Fox for THE RAIN'S CAME which took an Oscar in 1939.  The later 1974 Universal picture EARTHQUAKE floundered in this respect by not being anywhere near as adventurous as these vintage classics.

As mentioned earlier, MGM's rear screen process work was really far and above other practitioners of the day, and is no better demonstrated than in this astonishing set piece where the quake knocks over a vast New Zealand Kauri forest. The considerable Don Jahraus forest set featured exquisite miniature trees constructed by Roy Cornish, who specialised in miniaturised foliage and such.

Frame by frame demonstration of the above sequence, with notably 'even' illumination and contrast of the process plate on a very large translucent screen all tying in perfectly with the foreground action.  Fantastic stuff!

Technicolor was never as kind to process photography as was monochrome.

Flawlessly photographed by Maximilian Fabian, this extensive miniature setting of the approaching tidal wave wiping out the gorge is really only let down by the lack of dense native bush foliage which comprises this sort of NZ landscape. The long shot substitutes gypsum for water coming down the mountainside to ensure good scale between foreground and background.

Terrific scale for the convincing deluge, though again, the trees really aren't what we have here - especially for the era.  Think more 'Skull Island' jungle and you'd be nearer the truth.

The enormous wave heads downstream.   Fabian's outdoor shoot using natural light paid enormous dividends here and on many other MGM effects shows such as 30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO.

A closer look at that most impressive effects sequence.

And if that weren't enough, the giant deluge sweeps on down the Wanganui River, wiping out logging rafts and people along the way.  Excellent scaling of water and destruction with superb deep focus cinematography - something which can be lacking in many films of the period where depth of field problems killed the credibility.

An elaborate Don Jahraus miniature set of the Wanganui River, NZ, with highly detailed 'human' figures on the raft built by specialist Henry Greutert in the Metro model shop and shot in daylight for maximum effect.

Now, the topper... the giant wave ploughs it's way down river and into Van Heflin's raft in what can best be described as a truly virtuoso effects shot.  The river, water and scenery are all rear projected miniatures which, as soon as the wave reaches a certain point, real water erupts all over the actors, washing them overboard.  A great shot that looks sensational in motion.  Effects head Gillespie constructed a special device under the process screen that, when triggered, would blast a large volume of water up from under the screen all over the actors and set.  Alfred Hitchcock used a similar gag to excellent effect a few years earlier for his wonderful FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT where effects men Paul Eagler and Lee Zavitz blasted water straight through a disposable process screen at the actors.

I'm pretty sure this too is a matte shot depicting the rolling hills and sheep of colonial New Zealand. 

The sinking of The Green Dolphin - an elaborate Gillespie miniature effects sequence that was omitted from the final cut and sadly, only verbally referred to in the narrative, which seems such a waste of what was clearly great work.

That Gothic Convent again - this time under atmospheric moonlight.

The art of the MGM matte... a selection of lesser seen mattes from the Newcombe Dept.

*note - before I launch into another blog entry I should mention that I frequently update and add to existing published blogs here, often as new or improved images come to hand, or I just find stuff that my failing memory and lousy filing system may have overlooked.  So if anyone is really keen, I have added alot of matte paintings to Jan Domela's page and some interesting Roy Seawright photos of wonderful stop motion effects from BABES IN TOYLAND, more unseen Russ Lawsen matte paintings and also with the huge pile of Warner Bros mattes I'm sitting on I've added several wonderful shots to that page as well, such as the beautiful painted mattes seen in SAN ANTONIO  and classic images from SERGENT YORK and a few great 1940's behind the scenes glass shot - miniature set ups.

                                                                            Just thought I'd mention it for any die hards out there.

                                                                                                                                Peter

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             MGM's MAGICAL MATTE DEPARTMENT

Among the thousands of exquisite matte shots produced under the watchful eye of the eccentric 'genius' Warren Newcombe at Metro Goldwyn Mayer I've selected, almost randomly, a number of wonderful mattes from some classics and some not so well known MGM pictures, mostly from the 1940's which for my money was THE heyday of the artform.  The sheer audacity and boldness of the matte supervisors of the forties and the glorious results up on screen I find tremendously exciting, and nothing thrills this writer more than to watch a hitherto unknown old DVD title and find such gems combining camera ingenuity with hands on draughtsmanship skills.  The craft is seen at it's best advantage in many of these frames.  Some of today's frames are also old school optical composites, the likes of which are now resigned to history.

Most of today's matte images I've included are from the Newcombe era, with a few other examples post Newcombe, from Lee LeBlanc's management of the matte department.  This is a kind of lucky dip on my part, as I have more or less 'shuffled the deck' and come up with these terrific shots which I hope devotees will enjoy as much as I do.

The 1936 classic SAN FRANCISCO featured some terrific miniatures by James Basevi and alot of great opticals tying extras into the model destruction in addition to the painted mattes.

Aside from the famous locust plague THE GOOD EARTH (1937) has some lovely glass shots.

Greta Garbo's 1935 ANNA KARENINA with beautiful painted train station among other great mattes.

The original 1939 version of GOODBYE MR CHIPS was a US-British co-production and as such I can't be certain that Newcombe was involved.  Some sourses suggest Percy Day as matte artist, though I feel it's probably a Stateside job.

Gene Kelly does amazing acrobatic work in this 1948 variation on the famous Dumas classic, featuring only a few Newcombe shots, with the clifftop castle being a favourite of mine.

COMMAND DECISION, a tense, expertly directed 1948 wartime drama with good miniatures by Arnold Gillespie and Don Jahraus, plus some subtle matte effects such as the airbase and the group flyover visual effects.

The masterfully played American version of GASLIGHT - one of the best Joseph Ruttenberg lit and photographed pictures ever and complimented by several classy painted mattes of Victorian England.

I cannot live without the comedy of THE MARX BROTHERS, and here are some mattes from their films - top: AT THE CIRCUS, GO WEST (both mediocre) bottom: A DAY AT THE RACES (bona fide classic) and AT THE CIRCUS.

Rudyard Kipling's KIM  (1950), starring Errol Flynn - these shots part of a lap dissolve matte shot.

The watered down Spencer Tracy 1941 version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.

Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson's 1940 PRIDE AND THE PREJUDICE

Painted ceiling atrium and seedy Soho from the 1945 Oscar Wilde masterpiece.

George Cukor's comedy of manners, shown here with rare original matte paintings including one at bottom right that didn't appear in the finished film.  Look at the wonderful close up detail on the matte at left.

From the master of subtle social observation, Ernst Lubitsch came the 1939 Greta Garbo picture NINOTCHKA.

Although the comic duo mostly worked for Universal, they did the occasional picture for Metro such as this one, the 1942 RIO RITA.  The big canyon at lower left may be a large painted back drop.

The exciting 1943 WWII war film BATAAN features several dynamite matte shots like this beauty.

I already posted a wonderful 'invisible matte shot' from THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE on another earlier blog entry, so here is another nice moody matte from the same sensual red blooded 1947 film.

My crude cut and paste of a sweeping, vast pan across a fictitious landscape from the fifties incarnation of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.  I can't decide whether this was an on set in camera glass shot or a post production composite?

Ancient Rome in CinemaScope - Newcombe grandeur as seen in THE PRODIGAL with the lower wide image being a broad pan across the painted vista and into the residence of Lana Turner. Lovely work.

Another of the numerous flawless widescreen mattes in THE PRODIGAL (1955)

Although I have a whole 'The World of Charles Dickens in Painted Matte'  blog ready to go, I can't resist an advance preview of a couple of those shots, these being some of the astounding mattes from the Ronald Colman version of THE TALE OF TWO CITIES (1935) - a superb telling of that great Dicken's story.

Another of the many mattes from TALE OF TWO CITIES.

Warners and MGM shared the market in swashbuckling adventure, with this 1952 Technicolour Stewart Granger show being a perfect showcase for this genre.  Filled with spectacular mattes, these represent just a few shots.  The huge opera balconies have lots of 'moving people' courtesy of the scratched away interference gag.

Painted army encampment stretching into the distance from the Van Johnson film GO FOR BROKE (1951)

THE MERRY WIDOW - the 1952 version

Some of the unidentified golden era MGM paintings which were part of a matte exhibition some years ago.

Exquisite draghtsmanship and illustration skills are normally evident in matte work such as these examples up to the late fifties with the ushering in of the new wave of matte artist such as Peter Ellenshaw and Albert Whitlock.

Another marvellous thirties TARZAN glass shot.

Strike me down with lightning but FORBIDDEN PLANET never really did move me as a film, or an effects show, though I'll include this Howard Fisher tilt down shot as it is so reminiscent of Maurice Noble's out of this world background art for Chuck Jones' DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24th 1/2 CENTURY  - (and I love fifties Chuck Jones cartoons).

The 1949 Gregory Peck money spinner THE YEARLING

Another extensive set addition from THE MERRY WIDOW

A good solid 1942 drama of post WWI trauma wisely uses Newcombe shots to advance the storytelling process.

Absolutely one of my all time favourites - the brilliant THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO  which deservedly took home the coveted visual effects Oscar in 1944.  Astounding visual effects throughout, from the multi-part matte comps on board the aircraft carrier deck with painted planes, ocean plate and partial set, through to the marvellous trek through China which features many superb matte paintings.  Of course the biggest effect here was the phenomenal all miniature bombing raid on Tokyo - an effects sequence rarely matched in authenticity and spectacle.  Flawless and huge Donald Jahraus miniatures and Buddy Gillespie-A.D Flowers pyrotechnics with extremely well choreographed overhead shots of the bombers flying through the mayhem along horizontal wires using a variation on the tried and tested Lydecker method - just sensational.  Effects cinematographer Mark Davis deserves a tip of the hat here too.

Among the dozen odd TARZAN epics produced at MGM this shot from TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE (?) is my favourite matte - as evident in the stunning 'before comp' photo here.

Another vintage TARZAN glass shot.

One of the many wartime romances made by MGM - again given a sense of wonder (when all shot in the USA).

The 1947 Oscar winner for special effects, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET has many great mattes, and as it was set here in New Zealand but not shot here, alot of trick work was needed.  Also features an amazing tidal wave and bloody big earthquake that nearly wipes poor ole' NZ off the world map.... and then there'd be no matteshot blog !  :(

Another big WWII romantic drama, the 1944 WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER was set again in Britain, but due to wartime events was shot entirely in LA and supplemented with dozens of great matte shots, some of which are illustrated here.

A few different versions of KISMET were made by MGM, one of which (the 1955 one) I illustrated in my other MGM musicals page, though this delightful matte is from the 1944 Ronald Colman - Marlene Deitrich version

A Lee LeBlanc painted second floor tilt down of David Niven's house from PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES (1962)

Whereas all the preceeding examples of MGM matte artistry are courtesy of the Warren Newcombe era, I feel duty bound to include a film not from his time, one from his successor Lee Le Blanc's period from the late fifties.  This interesting shot is from the 1958 Richard Brooks film THE BROTHERS KARAMOZOV with Yul Brynner.  What intrigues me about this effect is the mobility of the camera.  It starts screen right, with a focus pull and follows a character across the square (with a presumably painted Russian city visible in the distance) and the camera picks up on a young William Shatner as he walks up to the lens all in the one uninterrupted shot  How was it done?  I dunno - maybe a hanging miniature of the distant rooftops, maybe a large glass painting on set, or perhaps one of Clarence Slifer's aerial image composites???  A really impressive effect.  I tend to think of it as a hanging foreground cut out along the lines of what maestro Emilio Ruiz has been doing in Spain for 40 years.

Another pair of matte paintings from THE BROTHERS KARAMOZOV - possibly painted by Matthew Yuricich.