THIS ISLAND EARTH - Universal takes to the skies...and beyond

Todays' retrospective is a look back at the various matte paintings, optical composites and bug eyed monster that make up the big Universal sci -fi picture "THIS ISLAND EARTH" made in 1955.

* by the way I forgot to mention that if you want to see the majority of my images in big screen quality, click on it, and then click again to blow them up.  I always try to post as higher quality frames as I can.  Also I often add new and improved images to these blogs so check back sometime, you never know what you might find.

Above - Terrific advertising campaign artwork by the great Reynold Brown

Special Photography - David Stanley Horsley and Clifford Stine

Matte Artist - Russell Lawson

Optical Cinematography - Roswell A.Hoffman

Animation Effects - Frank Tipper
Rotoscope Artist - Millie Winebrenner
Special Effects Cameramen - Jim King and Wes Thompson

Mechanical Effects and Miniatures - Charlie Baker and Fred Knoth

Special Make-up - Bud Westmore,  Jack Kevan, Chris Mueller, Millicent Patrick and Bob Hickman

As you'll discover on this blog I'm a huge fan of old style main title cards and the artful techniques therein - "THIS ISLAND EARTH" regrettably has the dullest of dull title cards and is reproduced here purely out of  a sense of 'completeness'.

Above - One of those many old time 'invisible' matte shots I spoke of in an earlier blog - and a frame I was going to include there.  Only the plane and midground are real with all else added by matte artist Russell Lawson.

A wonderfully inventive explosion visual effect - the likes of which I've not seen elsewhere in what appears to be a carefully manipulated series of explosion practical elements massaged on Ross Hoffmans' optical printer with the aid of colour filtration and soft roto mattes.  Great stuff!

Top shot - one of the convincing and fluid outer space travel shots.

 Middle shot a printed down version of Lawson's matte painted hilltop manor home.  Bottom shot - animation and possibly a painted spacecraft (for reasons of focus and depth of field).

Classic 50's sci-fi stylised matte painting  with matted in live action portion.  The shot reminds me (as did many other 50's mattes) of Chuck Jones classic "DUCK DOGERS IN THE 24 1/2th CENTURY" Daffy Duck cartoon designs by the equally great Maurice Noble.

A terrific series of lap dissolves and artwork supervised by Frank Tipper for this creepy for the day hyperspace sequence.

Large scale Metaluna planetscape miniature with practical effect meteorite crash and optically enhanced explosions. The miniature was some 200 feet across and the meteors travelled down piano wire - and effect Horsley had earlier utilised with mixed results in the 1953 "IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE" where guidewires and devices were clearly visible on camera (which oddly the Universal executives just loved).

Russ Lawsons' matte painted view of Metaluna enhanced with wonderfully 'big scaled' practical explosion elements and animation of the elevator and interactive lighting.  For more wonderful matte paintings from Lawsens' extensive career at Universal, click here.

Another Lawson matte painting - again with optically added explosion effects which in themselves were maniplulated for greater effect and awe.  The bottom frame highlights the frailties of the blue screen travelling matte technique in the 1950's.  Apparently the resulting blue fringe which plagued so many films in the 50's was as much due to shrinkage of film elements as it was to unavaoidable blue spill.  In this incarnation shown above I actually feel it adds to the 'extraterrestrial' feel of the proceedings as much as anything else.

More great miniatures and some of the best explosions of their type.  Apparently George Lucas was so taken with these explosion elements that he obtained the original effects out take footage dailies, still in the vaults at Universal, in 1976 to show to John Dykstra and the infant ILM outfit to show just what he wanted for a little sci-fi flick called "STAR WARS".  Of course NO retro look at "THIS ISLAND EARTH" would be complete without a look at the brilliant make up effects that comprise the Metaluna Mutant (above).  This fellow was the sole reason for the film being 'restricted to 13 years and over' in New Zealand back in the day and I remember trying to 'look old' when sneaking in to it underage back in the early 70's.

Very nicely shot climax with wonderful optical manipulation of the flaming space ship close ups - really very impressive and so authentic as the much later real Apollo re-entries would demonstrate, but Horsley was way ahead of his time with this effect.  Terrific work David.  Sadly, at least as far as the story goes, Horsley was demoted or had his contract terminated as I recall after or during "THIS ISLAND EARTH" due to cost over runs and back stabbing studio politics, and was replaced with Clifford Stine as head of special photographic effects. Recent reports suggest that in fact Universal's head of production, Edward Muhl 'spat the dummy' and fired Horsley on the spot with still a few weeks of effects to be completed.  Horsley was apparently ordered off the lot right then and there, with DOP Stine pulled in to finish the effects shots Horsley had yet to shoot - modtly the spacecraft crashing into the ocean at the climax.   Horsley went on to handle effects in other studio films and did uncredited visual effects work (shooting the titles) on "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS" with John Fulton among them.

Cliff Stine had a long, long career in cinematography and visual effects being one of the original team on the 1933 "KING KONG" with Willis O'Brien and Vernon Walker, Stine ran the Universal effects dept for around 6 years with such films as "THE DEADLY MANTIS", "TARANTULA" (more about this later) and the exceptional "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN" (all with Ross Hoffman) - which should have garnered Universal an effects Oscar.  Stine supervised the split screen work to multiply the scale of the armies on Kubricks' "SPARTACUS" and also I suspect looked after the Russell Lawson matte shots as well, which numbered some dozen shots.  Stine was an expert at shooting miniatures and did alot of work on "PATTON", "EARTHQUAKE and "THE HINDENBERG" - all three of which were Oscar recognised with the latter two winning.

A behind the scenes look at some of the visuals of "THIS ISLAND EARTH".  Top left a miniature sphere as earth with a Russ Lawson painted glass in foreground representing the atmospherics.  Top right - effects cameramen Jim King and Wes Thompson setting up a saucer travel shot, which were very effective in fluid movement and spacial distance of stars etc.  Bottom left - monster suit specialist Jack Kevan and make up head Bud Westmore prepping the Mutant suit.  Bottom right - Westmore and Kevan with suited stuntplayer.  The only drawback in this nightmarish beast were the silly blue trousers that 'he' wore.... crazy stuff.... should have had alien creature make up legs not a pait of Sears and Robuck track pants!  Bloody hell!  Still, the bugger gave me nightmares back in the day!

I've added this sidebar of colour photos which I recently discovered in my files.  These wonderfully demonstrate the terrific miniature set and the novel use of the Universal Globe.  At lower right is former beauty queen and model turned conceptual designer Millicent Patrick, seen here at work on CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.  Apparently the lovely and talented Patrick was a thorn in the side of the ego-centric head of make up Bud Westmore as the top brass sent her on the promotional tour for CFTBL instead of Westmore. Author Tom Weaver states that Westmore never touched foam rubber, let alone making molds from sculpted figures for all those wonderful creature flicks, and it was people like Millicent, Jack Kevan and Chris Meuller who did all the work - yet as the departmental system stood, it was the HOD who should recieve all the glory.  Patrick was quickly demoted after (rightfully) taking the limelight.

Bud Westmore getting up close and personal with the Metaluna Mutant - in fact as the story goes, this was as up close as Westmore ever got....when the press photographers were around!

THE RED SHOES - Powell & Pressburger: a retrospective look at the matte shots and optical composites in this classic British film.

I'd always put off looking at this film as it never seemed to appeal to me, even though I like the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger -  that is until about a month ago when I finally hired it out to 'give it a go'.

What a pleasant surprise it was to find it was a magnificent film!!  I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and was utterly captivated by Moira Shearer - the beautiful 21 year old lead in a wonderful portrayal of the doomed ballet dancer.  Again, a magnificent film in all departments - wonderful dialogue and delivery - and not half as effete as I'd dreaded it to be.

Here are a collection of matte shots and opticals which enchant the viewer and the casual observer and always serve the story of this excellent 1948 picture.

No specific 'photographic effects' credit, just this 'Technicolor Composite Photography' card credited to F.George Gunn and Doug Hague (the Linwood Dunn equivilant of British cinema).  'Special Painting' credited to Ivor Beddoes and Joseph Natanson.  Contrary to popular folklore I have it on good authority that W.Percy Day and Peter Ellenshaw had no involvement in the matte work on this film though two of Days' young matte artists, Les Bowie and Judy Jordan were almost certainly on the payrole as matte artists for "The Red Shoes".  My friend Domingo Lizcano has the ultimate tribute and biographical site dedicated to the life and career of Joseph Natanson (among many, many other great matte painters - highly recommended)  http://galeon.com/mattepainters/natanson/Joseph-Natanson.html

above - two matte painted set extensions that broaden the canvas of art director Hein Heckroth. Anecdotal reminiscences by matte cameraman Leslie Dear mention the embaressment of readying one of the glass mattes for photography when the heat of the many lamps needed to illuminate the painting for the slow technicolour film caused the glass to crack.  The team tried to disguise the crack and carried on with the composite.  The upper frame is supposed to have the crack visible though I personally feel it is the second lower frame which does it appear have a significant crack visible next to the shadow and above the lamp running down from the top.  In all likelyhood no one would have noticed it.

The commencement of the legendary 'Red Shoes' ballet segment where an extensive matte painting(s) is/are seen in numerous shots under different dramatic theatrical lighting.

More frames from the wonderful 'Red Shoes' 20 minute set piece.  Noteworthy for a huge number of blue screen travelling matte composites with Shearer added into a number of elaborate and often multi-plane painted backgrounds and moving foreground painted elements.  Exquisite art direction  and the camerawork of Jack Cardiff who should have won the Oscar here.  I read somewhere that glass tanks of chemical mixtures were utilised to produce the organic backgrounds for some of the shots - something akin to the modern cloud tank method.

Another great shot - though the head of Robert Helpmann momentarily drifts through the painted area and becomes translucent, suggesting either a very soft matte line or a foreground glass painting shot on set?

Pictorially and compositionally first class matte shots.  Matte artist Ivor Beddoes was a former ballet dancer himself and had a long career in film as sketch artist, conceptual artist and occasionally matte painter up until "Superman - the Movie" Judy Jordan trained under Walter Percy Day and painted for him on numerous films such as "Bonnie Prince Charlie", "The Fallen Idol" and "Black Narcissus" before moving on to British MGM under Tom Howard to paint on films such as "tom thumb" and "Knights of the Round Table"

Painted in scenery and drapery which has a subtle lighting dissolve during the dance.

A lovely, subtle transition optical where the male dancer moves toward Shearer and transforms into a different character all in one shot.  This sort of thing isn't new but here it is beautifully done with a soft split screen at the edge of the beam of light.  The match up is perfect and the action fluid and barely noticeable.

A complex transitional effect with a painted in theatre stalls, people and architecture softly wiping into a raging sea enveloping the conductor.  Nicely done.

A new Blu Ray frame of one of THE RED SHOES elegant glass shots

Another new Blu Ray grab of one of the beautiful glass mattes.  Apparently five of these original matte painted glasses survive and are in the collection of the BFI (British Film Institute) as part of Ivor Beddoes' estate bequest.

The last of three Blu Ray matte images

Some of the original art directors' storyboards and explanations for matte and special process shots.

More storyboard sketches pertaining to process and painted glass shots.

The last matte painted shot in the film (taken directly from DVD) - with most of the restaurant building added in above the ground floor level.

"DUEL IN THE SUN" - Jack Cosgrove & Clarence Slifer

As I have a large amount of great matte shot material from many Selznick productions I felt that a look back at "DUEL IN THE SUN" (1946) was in order. Other Selznick trick shots may follow in later posts. Enjoy :)

Another classic Selznick film with wonderful matte paintings supervised by Jack Cosgrove.
Made during the final years of Selznick International Studio (1946).
A trio of fine cameramen shot the picture - Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan and Harold Rosson.


Some of Cosgroves' trademark dramatic painted skies - and some of his best ever work i.m.o.

Again Clarence Slifer was photographic effects director of photography.Nice cell animation lightning effects accentuating mood.

Classic split screen mattes to extend basic settings to a more dramatic composition and mood.Effects cameraman Slifer worked on the camera crew of Willis O'Briens' "KING KONG" and it's sequel among many other films. Early matte heavy productions for Selznick such as "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA" and "THE GARDEN OF ALLAH" benefitted from Slifers' technical acumen and camera savvy.


Another classic washed looking Cosgrove sky seen above - a beautiful effects shot.

I'm pretty sure just about ALL of the western town above is painted in - even the foreground buildings.

Upper right portion all painted by Jack Cosgrove.


The early stage of a vast and elaborate pullback engineered by Clarence Slifer on his aerial image optical printer. The shot starts in very close on an aerial image of Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones faces then pulls out to reveal a totally fabricated mountain ledge, hills, valley and sunset - all manufactured in multi-plane in the Selznick special effects department.

The middle section of the grand pullback where midground and background appropriately shift in perspective during the camera move.

The end stage of the pullback with a subtle push IN to reveal the valley.

above - a paste up of the key frames from the superbly shot sequence that would have tied up Slifers' printer for quite some time I'm guessing.

The original Cosgrove matte painting used for the closing shot, or at least what is purported to be the matte.  I personally feel it's actually an oil sketch by either Cosgrove or the art director from which the final matte painting will be made, as it looks far too sketchy for a matte from that period where great detail was generally applied.

above - the Selznick photographic effects dept around the time "DUEL IN THE SUN" was produced. Left to right: Oscar Jarosch (engineer & machinist), Clarence Slifer (director of photography:special effects), Jack Shaw (matte painter), Harold Grigg (camera operator), Spencer Bagdatopolis (matte painter), Hans Ledeboer (matte painter) and Owen Marsh (camera assistant).

above - matte camera operator: Harold Grigg and director of effects photography Clarence Slifer