Earthquake - it really was an event.

This one sheet was on my bedroom ceiling for years!

EARTHQUAKE, a film that back in it's day, 1974 totally blew my  impressionable teenaged mind, especially when exhibited on first release in 70mm six track stereo on the huge curved screen at the now sadly deceased Cinerama theatre in Auckland - and in the new multi-sensation shattering Sensurround. It really was "an event", just as the posters proclaimed.

EARTHQUAKE was the film for me (after KING KONG and maybe JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS) back around the mid seventies, and one of the first that drew me into the netherworld that is (or at least used to be) matte paintings.  I was transfixed by this film - the reliable and square jawed Charlton Heston (whom I was lucky enough to meet in person some years later), cool mo-fo Richard Roundtree - 'Shaft' himself, ample bosomed Victoria Principal before she drove us all crazy doing these damned informercials and everybody's favourite Irish cop, George Kennedy...the dream cast.  Hell, even Walter Matthau fronted up unbilled as a drunk survivor.  I was hooked on Matthau, as the fantastic (original) TAKING OF PELHAM 123 was out around the same time - one of my all time favourites.   I was not disappointed - EARTHQUAKE was BIG.  I saw it on opening day and the queue went around the block.

The film of course grossed many times it's relatively small $7M budget with over $36M in US rentals alone.  Worldwide it did extremely well, which would have pleased Universal no end.  It's actually pretty amazing just how grand things look (and sound) on that small budget.  JAWS came out not long after and that cost $8M.  The similarly themed 1974 epic TOWERING INFERNO cost $14M.

Well looking back at the special effects I can see quite a few cracks in the work, no pun intended, but all things considered it still shapes up pretty darned well.  The picture moves along well (unless you're saddled with the abominable US network TV version with lots of sundry characters and bogus sub plots to pad out an extra 40 minutes.  The patented Sensurround ultra low signal sound system, effectively the 70's forerunner to the present day 'sub woofer' bass channel was brilliant!  The audiences never knew what hit them.  Fillings rattled out, contact lenses shattered, pacemakers shuddered to a halt and many a sphincter released, involunterily.  It really was a grand gimmick - sadly just used in four films - this one, MIDWAY, ROLLERCOASTER and one of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA films - I think it was CYLON ATTACK or CONQUEST OF THE EARTH.  The proposed Universal version of KING KONG that never got made was to have been in Sensurround as well.  How great that would have been,

Whitlock painting at home, in the matte camera room and on the EQ set

Effects wise EARTHQUAKE had a profound effect upon me at the time.  I loved the miniatures, which to me were astoundingly well shot, almost all in natural daylight with real LA scenery purposely lined up beyond the miniature to tie it all together.  Brilliant idea, and they still look great.

I'd been familiar with Albert Whitlock but only by way of his mysterious 'matte supervisor' credit on many sixties Universal films, most common of which happened to be my favourite film as a kid, MUNSTER GO HOME, which I'd seen around 30 times! That name Whitlock (as with Bud Westmore) on that film and others was one I always noticed - much as John Fulton, Ray   Harryhausen, Peter Ellenshaw and L.B Abbott who all fell into that same boat for this writer as utterly recognisable names up front in the credit roll..

Albert Whitlock was the key effects man on this show as we all know, with long time Universal effects cinematographer Clifford Stine handling all miniature photography and special processes such as the front projection sequences.  Whitlock's matte shots had me entranced.  The book on the making of this film made me aware of his work and the praise by the rest of the production on his talents.  The American Cinematographer issue for this show sealed the deal for me, with in depth interviews with, among others, Whitlock, Stine and I think Glen Robinson.

In the late 70's I saw some of these Whitlock glass paintings on the Universal Studios tour at the time, which naturally blew me away.

So, on with the show.... the special photographic and miniature effects of EARTHQUAKE

Special Photographic Effects  Albert Whitlock

Special Effects Cinematographer Clifford Stine, A.S.C

Matte Photography  Roswell A. Hoffman, A.S.C

Matte Camera Operator  Mike Moramarco

Rotoscope Artist  Millie Winebrenner
Key Grip  Larry Schuler

Miniatures Supervisor  Glen Robinson

Special Mechanical Effects  Frank Brendel and Jack McMasters

Special Camera Rigs  Louis Ami

The first matte shot of the film - the invisibly painted gash in the earth with foreground action on backlot set.

I'm 90% sure this is a Whitlock matte with all painted except a small area lower frame where the kid rides his bike.  The same view with destruction appears after the quake and is definitely Whitlock.

One of Albert's best ever matte shots - so perfect is Al's sense of 'light' and hue that this shot slipped by totally unnoticed for the majority of viewers.

The quake hits - with the outstanding Glen Robinson miniatures triggered to collapse by hidden piano wire gags.  What sells this and so many EQ miniature shots is the decision to shoot them out of doors in natural light, with real LA sky and as with this shot actual San Fernando valley scenery deliberately lined up by cinematographer Cliff Stine stretching into the distance.  The foreground right side is a stage set with falling stunt guys split screened by Ross Hoffman to marry up to the miniature shoot.

Yep, there were some dodgy effecys that made me cringe back then and make my toes curl still to this day... the phony optical TM of cartoon blood spatter in the elevator fall is one such effect that, along with the 'bending' skyscraper filmed off twisting mylar.... Oh, the humanity!  These are best forgotten, which is hard as they are both in the film!

Glen Robinson's miniature power pylons twisting.

A wonderful Whitlock photographic effect - matte painted Hollywood Blvd on left side of frame, backlot falling set on right side with painted damage at tops of those real buildings, the guy is exquisitely frame by frame rotoscoped by Millie Winebrenner to run right up to camera.  The one flaw is that some debris on the right falls out from behind some of Whitlock's painted sky and roof edging!!

When I saw this in the trailer I knew I just had to see this film.  Large scale Glen Robinson miniature set shot by Clifford Stine, it was a definite 'wow' back in '74.  I recently discovered veteran Universal model man Charlie Baker who had worked as far back as THE INVISIBLE MAN in the thirties with John Fulton may have been on the miniatures crew for EQ

Flawlessly shot miniature Spanish bell tower collapse that works due to 'real' sunlight and sky.

Another flawless Robinson/Stine model sequence.  Large scale stilt homes, again well cut into the live action with terrific results.  Had the decision been wrongly made to shoot on an effects stage I feel these miniatures would have looked pretty poor.  Incandescent lighting at the time wasn't easy to simulate the correct kelvin of  'daylight' and those sorts of model shots in general always stood out.  Things are better now with improved lighting and colour grading to get things much closer to reality.

Glen Robinson walking toward us, and his elaborate miniature outdoor set.

Although the model shots are quick cuts for the most part, it seemed sufficient for audiences of the day, unlike today where things are at such overkill I can barely get involved in the action.

A good demonstration of the scale and manufacture of the miniatures.

The centrepiece of EQ - the pause after the big shake as seen with this superb Al Whitlock glass painting.

The painting with up to seven layers of fire and smoke elements as it appears in the film.  The curious flare at the extreme right has always puzzled me, as there is such an obvious  straight edged 'cut off' - almost as if what we were seeing was a result of overscan (or stuff thought to be outside of the anamorphic ratio?) - it's always bugged me. However I was lucky enough to see this painting in person 30+ years ago and it blew me away - and still does!!  Curious trivia note - I've stayed at that wrecked main building, the Holiday Inn just off Hollywood Blvd three times and this painting always loomed big in my mind when reading the evacuation procedures on the hotel door!   :(

Close detail from the above glass shot demonstrates Whitlock's consumate skill in interpreting 'phenomena' - that is the haze, backlight, angle of the sun and all matters which so few fellow matte painters could equal.  Whitlock himself called his technique as being more closely alighned with the French Impressionists than that of academic painters.  In the golden era generally the matte artist was an illustrator, and usually an expert draughtsman.  Whitlock was what protege Syd Dutton termed a 'paint pusher' - someone who moved the paint around and eventually the viewpoint would come to the fore, often by accidental means.  Whitlock picked up this method while working under fellow Englishman and master matte painter Peter Ellenshaw while at Disney.  Whitlock acknowledged Ellenshaw as having done much to advance Al's technique and ability in this artform.

Whitlock art with smoke elements.

The infamous post quake backing.  Much has been written about this, and I want to add my two cents worth.  Many books claim it's Whitlock's art but it's not.  The backing was painted by Philippines born scenic artist and trick shot pioneer Benjamin Rosella (seen above at work on it) who from the mid sixties was one of the scenic artists at JC Backings in Hollywood.  Although Whitlock was a backing artist in the thirties and forties in England I'm sure he had little to do with this other than to do preparatory oil painted sketches or maybe highly finished 3'x5' art from which these skilled artists copied and transferred to a huge backing.  Rosella's art is superb  - and has all the hallmarks of Whitlock, but I just don't think Al would have had time to go near it.  Al had 22 paintings to complete within 12 weeks for this show, as well as supervise all photographic effects.  I asked Al's cameraman and long time friend Bill Taylor about this backing and he told me that Al definitely had nothing to do with it, and it was a sore point that it was always attributed to him.

Views of the erected backing in preparation for shooting.  To me the entire backing thing failed miserably.  As skilled as the thing was, the perspective didn't match that of the live action foreground, the incandescant lighting was a write off too.  Maybe if they had built the set and erected this outdoors, or even used forced perspective miniatures as the view the lengthy sequence may have worked far better.  Beautiful scenic art but not well utilised.

Some of Al's dramatic downview matte painted scene enhancements, complimented with the falling stunt people being carried over the matte demarkation by means of frame by frame hand drawn travelling mattes, done by long, long time Universal roto artist Millie Winebrenner.

More extreme painted set additions by Whitlock, with added haze and smoke.

A great behind the scenes view with Whitlock matte art and blackened areas for later insertion of live action elements.  The hanging guy is roto matted against the Whitlock art.

A later view using the same matte painting though with added fire element, which is oddly shot on the wrong perspective.

One of the 22 mattes Whitlock painted which would be used in some 40 odd cuts throughout the picture.

The aftermath - mostly matte art with numerous practical effect elements added.

Wilson Plaza - practically all matte art, again with several leyers of optical fire elements and so forth.  Whitlock was amazingly quick at painting all of these shots, often finishing a complete matte in five hours and turning out as many as three mattes a week when things were going smoothly.

Whitlock used the same painting and as a time saving measure just altered it for a dusk viewpoint.

More devastation, practically all painted with Richard Roundtree driving through.

Original Whitlock glass painting, now on display at Universal Theme Park in Florida.

The dry LA river bed, post the big shake.  All Whitlock glass art with the exception of just a small stretch of ground for Genevieve Bujold to run up to the road.  Fires etc added in optical printer later.

The second shock hits - a curious sequence which suffers from amazingly poor choice of not to roto the falling masonry which all passed behind the split screen near the bottom.  A great set up, well lined up and lit, but why leave that glaryingly obvious matte line that swallowed up the debris as if by magic??  The bottom left shot is of the miniature set minus the split screened addition of extras running away.

Top left, an example of blue screened masonry falling downward onto running extras.  The other two frames demonstrate the use of front screen projection, orchestrated by Clifford Stine.  I believe that former head of effects David Stanley Horsley was interested in running the effects on EQ, but due to his severe falling out with the studio it never came to fruition.

"This used to be a hell of a town" - Whitlock matte art split screened onto backlot street with flames added in the matte department by  matte cameraman Ross Hoffman.

And just when you thought it was safe to put your finger in the dyke...... KA-POW!  Large miniature dam on backlot breaks and floods entire valley in a sequence that benefitted by doing it day for night to conceal the scale of the water, not always an easy thing to do.

Completing and shooting the dam miniature.

Al's final matte - a wonderfully loose and free 'scribble' that once filmed and comped with practical effects looked a million dollars.  Whitlock and Hoffman were especially proud of the device they invented to give a reflective flicker on building facades from a fire burning nearby.  Magnificent, and as with most Whitlock shots, all original negative first generation.

Not from EQ, but one of my favourite photos of Albert Whitlock at work - this being one of the stunning mattes from THE STING, made at Universal the year before.  Photo by Ross Hoffman.

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.