MOBY DICK - mattes and miniatures from a grand old whale of a tale

Although I have a profound dislike of actor Gregory Peck for reasons I can't exactly pinpoint (he's always been just such a dull performer who seems to blend in with the wallpaper to my mind...or maybe it's that flat monotone voice?) - I'll have to make an exception for the 1956 John Huston film based upon the famous Herman Melville book, MOBY DICK.

The film actually stands up very well some 55 years or so after hitting the cinema screens, and to be honest I enjoyed it far more this time around - some 25 years since I last saw it on television.  What impressed me no end were the visual effects, which naturally is what my blog is all about.  They are tremendous.  While my blog is essentially a tribute to matte painting in film, I occasionally extend that framework to include other old school effects techniques such as cell animated visual effects, model shots and ingenious hand done opticals of days gone by (and I have so many of these I'll never have time to cover all of this stuff in my archives).

Director John Huston giving the cast a drenching.

While MOBY DICK does have matte art,  it's  limited to just three shots that I could count, and they are very nice shots at that, it's the superb miniature work that I wish to cover here today.  These shots really do stand the test of time and look sensational, even more so as they all involve water 'miniaturisation', and anyone familiar with tank effects will know how damned hard it is to produce convincing scaled down water effects, though the crew here have done a most impressive job in this respect - far better than one would anticipate for the era.

The picture was released by Warner Bros, though as far as I know they had nothing to do with the production.  The show was filmed in England by mostly British crew including cinematograper Oswald Morris and production designer Geoffrey Drake - himself a soon to be visual effects designer on many Carl Foreman pictures such as  MacKENNA'S GOLD and the two GUNS OF NAVARONE pictures. 

Unsurprisingly for the era the effects work went uncredited, though I can tell you that several names in special effects work were heavily involved.  British miniatures specialist George Blackwell, often associated with Pinewood productions, who had a long history of supervising model shots on films such as the excellent THE DAMBUSTERS and CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER.  American mechanical effects man Augie Lohman - himself a long time veteran of explosive effects work and mechanical rigs was also involved here.  

The credits published on imdb also make a mention of two other interesting names - make up man Charles Parker is credited for the whale model, along with Robert Clarke who is listed under whale consultant.   Parker was an early exponent of make up prosthetics as I recall, with a nasty little UK Donald Pleasance horror picture called THE MUTATIONS having some terrific creature effects.   Just how the beast was articulated - both in small scale form and for the large scaled sections of whale I have no idea, but it's teriffic. 

The shots are all superb and the matching between the scale footage and the ocean shot footage is terrific.  Whoever looked after the lighting camera duties on the miniatures deserves a pat on the back. I also spotted first assistant cameraman billed as Paul Wilson.  Wilson later became Derek Meddings visual effects cameraman on many films throughout the seventies and eighties.  As far as the three matte painted shots go I'd put money on these being executed in the UK - possibly by Tom Howard's department at MGM-Elstree, where several shows of the decade and beyond were supplied with opticals and matte shots.

A Warner release, not a Warner production.

A lovely painted view of the harbour and township, most probably the work of a UK based matte artist.

The whaling ships and part of the town as added by the matte artist.

The foreground lighthouse and buildings plus the sky are almost certainly represented as a nice glass shot.

One of the numerous travelling matte composites, which despite mismatched lighting and colour are surprisingly free of noticeable matte lines.

One of the excellent miniatures sequences where the whale is hauling the model boat along at great speed.

Another example of travelling matte compositing.  I'm intrigued as to whether the composite photography was blue screen or the yellow sodium backing?  The background plate of miniature whale articulation was exceptionally fluid and organic.

The whale effects are just so impressive - and can stand up against 'Bruce' the shark from JAWS in my opinion.  An astonishing range of movement with the massive tail flexing upward then crashing down onto the sea, or the sailors.

Now look at the scale of the waves and the wash from the model boat (with incredibly lifelike dolls), and the reflective quality of the ocean - I'm hard pressed to think of another film with such superb ocean miniaturisation, especially one from 1956.... and I've seen some shockers when it comes to this sort of thing.

The beast rears it's mighty head - much to the sadomasochistic joy of Captain Ahab I must say.

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Ahab, trapped in the harpoon cables goes to that mythical place called 'Davy Jones Locker'...no, wait a minute...wasn't Davy one of  'The Monkees'?.  The scenes in full motion look much better than mere screen grabs folks.

A rare pic of the actual miniature with meticulously crafted dolls of the principle characters.  I understand the scale to be significant - measuring in some 'feet' as opposed to 'inches'.  When I recall the size I'll edit this caption.

A pretty rare behind the scenes photo taken on the effects shoot of Gregory Peck caught up in the harpoon ropes on the mechanical full sized section of Moby, which, as I've said, really does the trick in this great film.

Disney's THE LOVE BUG - matte painting in top gear!

I've always had a soft spot for this film ever since seeing it on it's first release, which in itself was something of a compromise with my older cousin who didn't want to see such a kiddie film and much preferred to see THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN which happened to be showing just across the street!  What to do?  My Auntie decided that the only outcome which would suit both defiant kids was for the three of us to catch the 11.00am screening of THE LOVE BUG at the magnificent 2200 seater Civic theatre, and afterward to cross the road to see BATTLE OF BRITAIN at the 2.00pm session at the almost as magnificent St James theatre, Auckland.  

Both films were great, though I recall having bad dreams for a week over the bit in the war film where the pilot gets shot and we witness his flying goggles filling up with blood.

 

THE LOVE BUG  (1969) was a huge hit and spawned around four sequels plus a pseudo new millenium re-make featuring a third rate washed up junkie in the lead role!  So, here today we have the first of the series and I've also added a few of the more interesting matte shots from the immediate sequel HERBIE RIDES AGAIN (1975).  The special effects work in THE LOVE BUG has always enchanted me, and every time I see the film (probably over 20 viewings) I'm constantly dazzled with the many beautiful matte paintings, not to mention the many complex mechanical gags that feature throughout and the hundreds (350 to be precise) sodium vapour travelling matte composites - something of an all time record for the studio.

Anyone familiar with my blogs will know how I feel about the work of Peter Ellenshaw.  The master matte painter and production designer was semi-retired for a period from the late sixties and much of the seventies  so that he could pursue his fine art career.  Throughout this period to a large extent  matte painting duties were handled by studio matte department head Alan Maley with long time departmental associates Jim Fetherolf and Constantine Ganakes on staff.  Ellenshaw did come back to work on THE LOVE BUG  as conceptual designer of all of the effects shots and, as matte painter to work through the sheer number of matte effects required.

Bob Broughton with Ub Iwerks

Disney had always been near pathologically gung ho on shooting huge percentages of their sixties and seventies films on soundstages and integrating background action in post production via their refined yellow screen process  -though I've never quite understood why?  Pictures like the later ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974) is nothing but sodium and painted matte shots! THE LOVE BUG, as mentioned above, contained a record number of sodium shots, not only for the auto racing background plates but also practically every scene which takes place outdoors involving dialogue.  This was so common in Disney's comedies and one can just gasp at the volume of shots thrown at Eustace Lycett and Bob Broughton on each production.  In an interview Lycett said "..by using travelling mattes we were able to avoid, almost entirely, taking the principal actors on location.  We had two scenes with Dean Jones in San Francisco and a couple with the principals at the Paramount ranch, otherwise all of the first unit photography was done all right here on the lot".  When asked about the shooting of the plates, Lycett commented ..."There were so many backgrounds required that I personally went along on each location to supervise and record the background data on each shot so that we could correctly match the foreground action when we shot here on the sodium stage. We also set up a closed circuit TV system on the stage so that we could run the backgrounds on monitors and cue the actors and crew while shooting.  This picture ended up with around 350 travelling matte shots and close to 50 painted matte shots, which was a record for us at the time".

 

Matte effects staff at left- top: Constantine 'Deno' Ganakes and Eustace Lycett.  middle:  Alan Maley and Jim Fetherolf  bottom: Peter Ellenshaw

The many mechanical effects were the domain of Robert A. Mattey, Danny Lee and Howard Jensen.  Mattey was a seasoned veteran from 20'000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA whereby his giant squid still stands the test of time in engineering and puppeteering marvels (thankfully re-shot a second time in a simulated studio storm to really sell the effect).  Danny Lee too was a career Disney effects man, having worked on shows with Mattey such as ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR and BLACKBEARDS GHOST right through to THE BLACK HOLE to name just a few.  Howard Jensen was one of A.D Flowers chief mechanical effects men providing fire and explosion effects for THE TOWERING INFERNO.  Finally, before leaping headfirst into these wonderful matte shots, and as a lifelong music score fan,  I have to mention the dizzy, head spinning comedic musical score by George Bruns that will stick in your brain for years after seeing the film......... music really does maketh the matte here!

a mid seventies re-issue quad poster.

The major establishing shot of Herbie's ex firehouse abode as depicted in this fantastic Alan maley matte painting.

Alan Maley's original full frame matte painting.

I'm not sure if this is the same painting printed down for an evening effect or a separate painting altogether?

The central effects showcase:  Dean Jones's frantic moonlit search through the moonlit streets of San Francisco for his beloved 'Herbie'.  This remains my all time favourite Disney effects sequence as it's totally wall to wall glass shots all the way, with an utterly beautiful, dreamlike quality present in every matte painting.  Peter Ellenshaw concieved these mattes and his pre-production art in itself is glorious.

An amazingly romanticised viewpoint of the already very nice city (as I recall it from 30 years ago).

As with most of this sequence, the mattes themselves constitute almost full frame artwork with minimal live action plate.

More from the same sequence that is so palpably 'Ellenshaw' in feel and texture.

A full painting with actor added at right, with even the reflected light in the puddles being Ellenshaw's brushwork.

I'm pretty sure this shot is a full painting with just Dean Jones and nearby trash can added via sodium matte.

I find the work in this sequence absolutely marvellous, and I'm hopeful that the original painted glasses still survive.

Ellenshaw was never afraid to fill an entire frame with artwork, extending right around into the foreground stonework, bushes and even the 'El Dorado' banner across the top.  The only live action being the people, cars and tents.

Herbie takes the wrong turn!  Exterior gold mine painted hills and once inside a number of complex split screens to show many racing cars tearing through the tunnels and across overhead gantries as astonished miners look on.

Herbie's downhill run from the mine - all paint except Herbie.

Herbie near the edge!  The valley floor and distant mountains all painted, with the car's dust trail passing through matte.

Once again, virtually all painted from just above the umbrellas.

One of Eustace Lycett's 350 sodium backing matte composites.

A telling before and after matte shot - with Herbie's escapades achieveing an added sense of danger via matte art.

One of three sequential  frames from the giant pullback conclusion offering a good look at the very loose impressionistic brushwork employed in rendering the city of San Francisico in very agreeably poetic terms.

Further out - the same large full painting with lovely application of sunlight touching the central buildings.

The final frame before 'The End' title card.

Below are a few of the many mattes from HERBIE RIDES AGAIN (1974), many of which appeared to be minor additions to beachside cliffs, bits of mountains and skyscraper additions.  I've just included a few of the shots which appeal to me.

Not a bad little yarn, with Helen hayes and Keenan Wynn stealing the show

Herbie's firehouse facing demolition - an extensive matte painting by Alan Maley.

Some of the trick effects and stunts involving travelling matte techniques and by the look of it, cell animation.

Another wide painting of the SF Bay and most of the Firehouse.