A Duet of Disney: SUMMER MAGIC and JOHNNY TREMAIN

I've been getting a tad irritable not being able to 'express my inner matte' with the blog lately, so I'm delivering a somewhat smaller article today and may do many more of similar scale for ease of preparation and less hair pulling - (although I must point out that the same blogger tech problems are still occurring and it seems that nothing has changed).

Anyone who frequents these pages will know how much I love classic Disney photographic effects work and today I celebrate a pair of films from the Mouse Factory which beautifully demonstrate the significant matte work carried out in two totally different pictures.

That classic of Americana, the timeless story of the Revolutionary War of 1773, JOHNNY TREMAIN was filmed in 1957, almost entirely on the Burbank studio lot and through the magic of the glass painting a great many vistas of period 18th Century Boston.

The other Disney picture I have selected for this retrospective is a pleasantly warm hearted family musical, SUMMER MAGIC made in 1963. Also a period picture set in Boston, though this time it's supposed to be 1912.  As well as a spirited cast and at least one great song by Burl Ives (The Ugly Bug Ball) SUMMER MAGIC has a number of  beautiful pastoral mattes of rural heartland America that are wonderful.

For no apparent reason other than a tall cold pitcher of Jack Daniels just having been consumed, I'll start off with the latter film....

The maestro, Peter Ellenshaw oversaw the many mattes here, with long time deputy Jim Fetherolf and most likely Constantine 'Deno' Ganakes also assisting with the artwork.

The glorious opening tilt down matte painted composite for Boston in 1912.  Virtually the entire shot is painted with just the first floor or so of the buildings on the left being an actual set, with everything else including all of the right side of the street being manufactured in the Disney matte department under Ellenshaw.

Multi plane moving clouds with sun burst.

Atmosphere according to Ellenshaw.

Disney were always gung ho when it came to bold painting.  Rarely were the mattes under the Ellenshaw regime a simple split screen affair, but more often than not the matte art would be worked around into the  foreground of a shot as well as the more traditional background or top ups such as shown here.  It wasn't unusual for the Ellenshaw unit to completely paint an entire frame leaving just a tiny slot for live action, such as in the DAVY CROCKETT films.

Soft blend, probably using the in house rear projection compositing methods.

If there's any one element that Peter was king at, it was the skies and cloudscapes in so many films.

You just don't find beautiful shots like this much outside of Disney.

Distant town flawlessly added.

Perennial studio favourite, Haley Mills seen here as one part of an Ub Iwerks sodium composite.

C'est Magnifique!   Virtually all painted with minimal live action plate.

I suspect Alan Maley may not yet have joined the Disney matte department.. but would soon do so.

The cloud work strongly suggests the hand of Ellenshaw.

Again, most of the frame appears to be painted, in particular the house and lawn at left.

A dramatic pull back with multi plane elements of foreground trees etc and most likely a process plate rear projected live action shot of the party in progress.

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Now, the other of today's duo of Disney matte shows, JOHNNY TREMAIN (1957).  The matte work is pretty extensive and has always been a source of curiosity to this writer, mainly due to the fact that celebrated matte artist and photographic effects man Peter Ellenshaw has never, to my knowledge, taken credit personally for the many mattes in the show, instead, taking the credit as production designer.  Even the two autobiographical volumes Ellenshaw Under Glass and The Garden Within by Peter himself only mention his designer role.  I'm sure Ellenshaw would have been overseeing the work in the department, with Albert Whitlock having painted some of the mattes along with Jim Fetherolf.  In fact Whitlock would often mention the paintings to his Universal visual effects cameraman Bill Taylor, as to the very small sets augmented with vast matte art.

Both the above and below mattes interestingly utilise the exact same little piece of Disney backlot for the live action to take place - a curious example of rushed schedule would be my guess as it's also the case in other Disney fx shows such as DARBY O'GILL and THE LOVE BUG. 

Everything is painted except the small area with that same rain puddle as seen above.  As with many Disney matte shows the matte art extends all the way up to the immediate foreground as well as the grand background view.

Rooftops and tall ships...

This set appears to be the very same one used in the other matte shot shown below, and possibly the upper frame as well, with a few small alterations and new glass art added.

Incongruous indoor lighting tends to mar the composites.

An unusually brave split screen blend with matte line bisecting midframe through the treeline.  In later years Albert Whitlock would master such a bold shot many times.

I can't recall, but I think that tree has great significance to the events.

Ellenshaw would have been in his element with this show, as a highly skilled gallery artist of tall ships.

I believe JOHNNY TREMAIN was a fairly rushed, low budget affair, with the matte department expanding the director's vision.

I wonder how many, if any, of these vintage Disney mattes still survive?

In Jim Danforth's long awaited just released memoir he describes the time he visited the Disney matte department in 1959 as a young man and watched Peter and Albert and other artists at work on numerous films of the era such as POLLYANNA and the layout of the department.

I'm pretty sure only the bit of road and the small window with the guy are the only pieces of live action here!

As I've said before, I'd bet my left kidney that Whitlock's skies were a direct influence from his years with Ellenshaw.

Ellenshaw had mastered the art of 'only painting what the camera requires', and passed this onto his artists. This of course would become Whitlock's stock in trade for the remainder of his career.

A series of receding silhouettes with very little detail and just a keen sense of backlight and some flame elements laid in.

Walt with what might be the actual matte art, but is probably Peter's conceptual painting for the above final shot

WELL, ONCE AGAIN THIS HAS BEEN A STOP START AFFAIR, WITH THE %$#@ BLOGGER CONSTANTLY 'LOGGING OUT' EVERY FEW MINUTES.  NOT TOO PAINFUL ON A SMALL BLOG LIKE THIS ONE, BUT I'LL CERTAINLY NOT EVEN ATTEMPT MY 'RANK-PINEWOOD TRIBUTE' NOR MY 'MATTES UP CLOSE PART 3' AS THOSE ARE BIG DEALS, AND MY PATIENCE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE.

ENJOY

PETER

Ellenshaw sets sail - Treasure Island, Horatio Hornblower and Swiss Family Robinson matte shots

Blog update:  I've added several new pictures and made some corrections to a few captions from the past.  Of note are some wonderful John P.Fulton effects shots from the totally insane Olson and Johnson 1941 farce HELLZAPOPPIN.  Among the many gags are a unique bit where the boys come across a Russell Lawsen painting (as an actual piece of art), pick it up and gawk at it while the live action element materialises within the painting and helps to explain the plot!!!  The bizarre, indescribable nature of this film - arguably years ahead of it's time - makes such a joke seem quite at home.  Also from HELLZAPOPPIN I've posted a number of terrific Fulton frames from another off the wall set piece whereby our heroes lose the upper and lower halves of their respective bodies and decide to join forces by reforming as 'one' man - though with the lower half being the wrong way around(!!!)  Virtuoso optical work in a lengthy and absolutely brilliant SFX sequence where huge amounts of work would undoubtedly have been required by Universal's resident optical maestros Ross Hoffman and Millie Winebrenner to pull these scenes off.  There are also some new pics of John with miniature airplanes and an amazingly rare original Technicolor lab order requisition for WONDER MAN effects elements signed by Fulton himself.  From all reports Fulton was impossible to work with, but my admiration for his incredible achievements just goes on and on.  To see those shots, click here.

Additionally I've added some rare pics of the actual miniature rowboat complete with puppets of Gregory Peck and crew from MOBY DICK - still a great film with equally great effects work. Click here for this.

My recent Illusion Arts blog has had several 'lost' pictures reinstated too which nicely illustrate the working methods of Robert Stromberg and Syd Dutton.  

My popular War Films Effects blog has a few additions too.  Several wonderful mattes and miniatures from the Pinewood effects unit headed by Bill Warrington and Bryan Langley for the heroic Douglas Bader true story REACH FOR THE SKY (1956).  The multiplane matte of Colditz castle may have been done by either Cliff Culley or perhaps Les Bowie who may possibly have still been on staff.  Click here for this blog article.  Lastly, I have two nice before and after mattes by Leigh Took from the 1991 Disney tv film SPIES and the television series REILLY ACE OF SPIES.  Those are here on Leigh's page.

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ELLENSHAW SETS SAIL -  
The mattes from Treasure Island,  Captain Horatio Hornblower and Swiss Family Robinson.

Anyone familiar with my blog will know how much I admire the cinematic career and fine art of Peter Ellenshaw.  For a good background on Peter I have previously penned several articles on some of his best matte shows, which may be read here, here, here and here with even more in the works which will appear soon.
Today's blog is one with a maritime theme, which is quite befitting a fine artist whose body of gallery work has included several dozen marine paintings of angry seascapes and elegant tall ships on the high seas.

Denham Studios matte department.

I've got three of Peter's matte shows here today - the first being the 1950 Byron Haskin version of TREASURE ISLAND which was Peter's first voyage into the welcoming creative world of master visionary Walt Disney, in a move which would see Ellenshaw establish a comfortable and rewarding career in matte art and art direction for the remainder of his working life.

Peter and daughter Lynda with seascape

Walt with Peter at Denham studios.

TREASURE ISLAND was the opportunity of a lifetime for Peter, for once Walt saw what this formally unknown and quietly unassuming English painter could conjure up with mere brushes and oil paint Disney saw immediate gains that could be made by the art of the glass shot in not only telling classic stories on film, but in opening them up to previously unavailable scale.  I'm pretty sure TREASURE ISLAND was the first Disney picture to include matte art of any sort, though not the first to utilise photographic effects.  Several earlier productions such as SONG OF THE SOUTH were ahead of their time with cartoon-live action combination opticals, supervised by the legendary Ub Iwerks with back up by long time Disney optical men Bob Broughton and Art Cruikshank.  To the best of my knowledge all of the TREASURE ISLAND mattes were painted at the Denham Film Studios outside of London, in what used to be the old Pop Day matte department where Peter had worked alongside his mentor from the late thirties up until WWII.  By the time of this Disney picture Day had relocated to Shepperton Studios with Wally Veevers, Albert Julion, Joseph Natanson and Judy Jordan.  It's quite likely that future DOP Wilkie Cooper may have photographed Peter's mattes as he was at Denham in that capacity around that time.

CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1950) and SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1959) are also great examples of Peter's maritime work and are here for your enjoyment, with some nice on set before photos of Ellenshaw painting SFR glass shots.     HORNBLOWER was a US/UK joint production released by Warner Bros with a mostly British crew and a near half and half effects unit with all of the miniatures and mattes being  shot at Denham Studios, United Kingdom.                                      Enjoy.   :)

Peter Ellenshaw painting on glass directly on the set for a high quality in camera matte effect.

Disney's first live action feature film, and largely a big gamble as animation was their stock in trade.

The opening shot - and one I'm sure is largely Peter's handiwork.

The matte which sold Walt on the magic of the Ellenshaw paintbrush, and one which would start a trend in period adventures - a whole series of which would be made in Britain by the UK arm of Disney over the next five years.

Before and after matte work by Peter which adds significantly to the inner harbour and adds flawlessly many tall ships.

Two Ellenshaw matte shots adding both foreground (a PE specialty) and background detail.

More Ellenshaw than actual setting.

Classic example of before and after shots from TREASURE ISLAND.  In later years Peter cringed when pointing out "that strange looking tree on the left"

Ellenshaw's first love, artistically speaking at that period was the sea and maritime vessels and I personally find his Irish seascapes to be so inspirational.  Above frame is all paint except the water.

I'm not certain whether Peter did this show or QUO VADIS first.  Both films were made around the same time though I suspect the big MGM epic came first, and boy was that a showcase of Peter's talents (see elsewhere on my blog for QV)

Again, a beautiful matte which I think is a full painting, probably photographed by Wilkie Cooper.

Before and after Ellenshaw matte with invisible result.

Three painted skies and some additional land mass from three shots at end of the film. With the completion of TREASURE ISLAND Peter never looked back and was welcomed into the Disney family.

The 1950 British made swashbuckler epic directed by Raoul Walsh again utilised the uncredited services of Ellenshaw.

The glorious opening shot by Peter Ellenshaw.  Interestingly, Byron Haskin who had directed TREASURE ISLAND had been head of special effects at Warner Bros for years prior to taking on prestige jobs, and was uncredited visual effects consultant here, which leads me to presume Haskin was responsible for bringing Ellenshaw on board, so to speak.

The classic 'top up' matte so prevalent throughout the golden era to finish off sets.

If there were ever a single phenomena which sells an Ellenshaw shot and is always identifiable it would have to be Peter's wonderful cloud filled skies in backlight.  So many of his mattes have the 'signature' skies, from DAVY CROCKETT,  SUMMER MAGIC to ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR all of which will be covered here sometime soon.

Again, just one real ship and all the rest pure Ellenshaw.

A curious shot this one, with either all or most of the ship painted in and a clear demarkation on the deck area where the actors have been matted in. It looks like a partial set on a stage with the majority added by Ellenshaw and this in turn matted onto an ocean plate.   Quite a bold trick shot.

What appears to be a full matte painting with the only live action element being the fluttering flag.

Possibly a genuine location, though I'll include it here as there may be some Ellenshaw augmentation to the tower?

The conclusion of the film has this shot with a painted in foreground wharf and possibly two of the ships as well.

As I love old time miniatures I'll include this as well as the film does have excellent model action supervised by Warner fx veteran Harry Barndollar in conjunction with British model specialist George Blackwell.  All of the miniatures were shot in a purpose built 300x200 foot tank constructed at Denham Studios, and according to effects man Cliff Richardson the model ships were around 30 feet in length and motorised each with it's own three man crew below decks and out of camera range.  Excellent work here.

Yep, a screen credit for Peter!

Peter's on location glass shot set up in use as he paints in additional sailing ship to complete a shot.

In addition to subtle matte work Ellenshaw supervised the excellent miniatures for the opening stormy sea voyage.

Very convincing model sequence before the cameras in the effects tank.  British effects veterans Bill Warrington and Les Bowie also worked on SFR in what was a not entirely harmonious Anglo/US blended crew.

Frames from the final sequence.

A close up of Peter carefully painting the pirate ship onto a large sheet of glass for in camera compositing as evident in the first generation final effect seen below.

All of the SWISS FAMILY mattes were executed as in camera glass shots and were painted on location in Jamaica.

A second glass shot of the pirate junk and nice detail of Ellenshaw's handiwork.

The foreground junk is real but the distant British gunship as well as the two islands are Peter's artwork.

The final glass shot with the British ship at anchor off the headland.