MATTE & EFFECTS FILMS CELEBRATED: Part Ten

 

Greetings fellow matte painting  and traditional special effects fans.  I'm back with yet another mammoth blog post celebrating that wonderful movie magic that was created before the intrusion of the wretched 'computer', 'megabytes' and 'binary code(!)'.  The days when true craftsmen (and crafts-women) and artistes conjured up endless cinematic wonders, more often than not with the most basic and elementary of resourses and heaps of pragmatic inventiveness.

I'm a film buff of near pathological levels.  I watch on average 3 or 4 films per night (never during the day) on my Samsung 55" tv.  Depending upon my mood, I can take on the most bizarre selections of triple or quadruple bill.  First off is generally something my good lady wife of 42 years would enjoy with me - often old B&W pictures.  Next off could be something as diverse as an Ingmar Bergman drama, Nordic Noir, Korean cop thrillers (these are fantastic!) or maybe even a Marx Brothers classic, some John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart... maybe even a schlocky 70's Hong Kong Kung-Fu epic (who knows?)...  Blaxploitation flicks are a firm fave, old Universal horror & sci-fi pictures, not to forget the terrific Hammer catalogue too, Italian Giallo's and zombie flicks too believe it or not, as are so many incredibly good 70's films like THE PARALLAX VIEW;  THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR;  ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN; ENTER THE DRAGON; THE CONVERSATION; DIRTY HARRY; THE HIRED HAND; APOCALYPSE NOW; MARATHON MAN; THE WILD BUNCH; BANANAS; ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE; PRINCE OF THE CITY - all movies I can watch at the mere drop of a hat (and oddly, not a single FX movie among them).  Silent cinema is also firmly on my menu, with so much great stuff hidden away there that most folks don't know ever existed.  I often cover some amazing silent flicks in this very blog site - today being no exception.

So, what have I on the program today?  Well, I've got some pretty amazing material from the usual (very) broad cross-section of genres, era's and studio trick departments, some of which will really fulfill your VFX desires (and I know some readers actually do have "VFX desires"... You really should see someone about that!)

NZ Pete's Matte Shot blog ... your one stop Xanadu of all things matte, model & trickery of old.

We have a big budget vampire re-boot; a fast paced tropical actioner;  a completely obscure yet picturesque Swiss set musical; a rip-snorting Whitlock pirate adventure; a classic Buster Keaton two-reeler; some Tarzan; more Yuricich paintings; even more Butler/Glouner lost mattes; a bit of Mel Brooks madness and not one but two period action-costumers.  We got it all.....

So, sit back with your drink of choice, switch off that godammed phone, send the kids to bed early, and enjoy the cavalcade of cinematic wizardry that follows.  Oh, and if I find anybody viewing these highly labour intensive and insanely comprehensive Matte Shot tomes on a fucking cell phone, I shall have no choice but to personally horsewhip you to within an inch of your life!  Frightened??? Yeah, be afraid... be very afraid!  Remember, in 'cyber-space' nobody can hear you scream!!    

Your feedback and comments are always welcome...

Enjoy

Pete

***This vast and utterly exhaustive post, and all 188 previous blog posts known as 'Matte Shot', were originally created by Peter Cook for nzpetesmatteshot, with all content, layout and text originally published at http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/ 

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THE BLOOD SHIP (1927) - Effective glass work from a silent era fx pioneer.

As mentioned, I watch a lot of silent era films, and while this one was nothing special, THE BLOOD SHIP (1927) had sufficient sea-faring drama and hystrionics as well as a nicely rendered matte shot.

I prefer the 'period' ship flicks of old, the piracy on the high seas variety, of which this was not.  However, don't despair as I have a bona-fide pirate adventure later on in this very blog post.  I aim to please.  You may thank me later.

Worth noting as one of the early pioneers of the glass shot technique, Lewis Physioc, rendered a very effective establishing shot of San Francisco.  Physioc was very active in the matte trade, having started in movies in 1914 as a scenic backing artist on shows like 7 KEYS TO BALDPATE.  Lewis worked a lot with Republic Pictures through the 1940's like THE WAKE OF THE RED WITCH and RAINBOW OVER TEXAS and painted uncredited on scores of westerns and low budget film noir shows.  Lewis also painted at Goldwyn Studios for a time and penned many academic articles on matte and photographic theory.

Before and afters from an ancient industry journal from 1927.

Physioc's matte shot as seen in the beautiful BluRay restoration.

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EAST OF SUMATRA (1953) - Universal's action packed exotic Technicolor adventure.

Universal put out some pretty good audience-pleasers during the fifties, and EAST OF SUMATRA (1953) was a solidly entertaining adventure with much going for it.  Heaps of fun here.

An always reliable leading man was Jeff Chandler (not his real name), and a proven director of mostly memorable westerns.

No special effects credit, but David Stanley Horsley would have helmed all of the trick shots - and excellent they were.

As an aside, the film was quite beautifully photographed by D.o.P Clifford Stine, with imaginative set ups and excellent lighting.  Stine started off as a photographic effects cinematographer back at RKO in 1929 under Lloyd Knechtel and later on Vernon Walker.  Clifford worked on so many major effects showcases such as KING KONG, GUNGA DIN, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, CITIZEN KANE and many others.  Stine would later shift into straight production cinematography and would work mostly for Universal, though would once again move into visual effects in the mid fifties on various sci-fi classics the studio made such as TARANTULA and he did some split screen matte work on Kubrick's SPARTACUS.  The studio tempted Cliff back from retirement in the 1970's to shoot the excellent miniatures for EARTHQUAKE and THE HINDENBURG.

The flick opens (as so many did in that era) with a wonderful matte painted establishing shot by Russell Lawson. The city was painted on a separate glass than that of the clouds and sky, allowing for the clouds to dift from left to right across the screen. See below...

An original 'before' frame from Lawson's 35mm showreel which, thankfully, was kept in safe storage by Albert Whitlock in his Universal matte studio for decades, from whence Bill Taylor cared for the rare reels for posterity.  Note:  Albert and Russ actually worked together in the Uni matte dept. for a while, but not many people knew that.

From Russel's showreel, which, astonishingly has lost none of it's colour whatsoever in the past 70 years.  I assume the footage was the old tried and true Technicolor IB 35mm process, where, unlike modern processing methods, retain the colour saturation as vividly as the day it rolled off the lab printer, though, over so many decades, the film could shrink a little and bugger up the sprocket spacing a bit.... though, I digress (but it's utterly fascinating..... ain't it???)

Now, for a relatively inexpensive, mostly studio bound flick, EAST OF SUMATRA had a few absolutely superb - and in this case illustrated here - highly complex special photographic effects scenes.  Here's Frame #1.

Frame #2.... The plane with Chandler and a whole host of familiar character actors comes in for a jungle landing in remote Sumatra (that's Indonesia for those without an atlas).  VERY complex trick shot indeed.

Frame #3 The multi-component vfx shot comprises a real airplane and sky;  matte painted mountains and jungle; additional matte painted foreground palm tree element; and actual close foreground ground vegetation, probably on the Uni back lot.  Now, it's a fucken' incredible piece of jigsaw-puzzle assembly here, with much very, very meticulous hand drawn rotoscope work to isolate the (real) plane and not just have it 'fly' in front of Russ Lawson's painted mountains, but also (I emphasise...ALSO) passing behind the secondary matted palm trees at the same time!!!!  God-Damn, that is so bloody impressive for a low-ish to mid budget picture.

Frame #4  The shot continues.  I'd never noticed the complexity previously on crappy VHS viewings, but the magnificently mastered BluRay reveals all.  I was extremely impressed!!

I made a close up enlargement of the roto work for your edification (feel free to thank me later).  Veteran Universal rotoscope artist Millie Winebrenner would have done the demanding work on this, with much accuracy for a fairly long-ish shot.  Millie was with Uni for many decades, having worked under the brilliant (but extremely difficult) John P. Fulton on some of the latter INVISIBLE MAN sequels and wacky stuff like Olsen & Johnson's off-the-wall HELLZAPOPPIN, as well as doing a huge amount under David Horsley on all of the Abbott & Costello comedies - many of which had friggen' incredible photographic effects gags that still boggle the mind.  She also provided roto fx on the many sci-fi flicks at Uni such as THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN and would work lastly with Albert Whitlock on major films such as Hitchcock's THE BIRDS, the 007 film DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and the Oscar winning EARTHQUAKE.

Another first rate matte shot by Russ Lawson, with a superbly rendered tropical vista, and married flawlessly by long time Universal matte and optical cameraman Roswell Hoffman.

Frame #1 Carnage on the airstrip as some of tribal chief, Tribal King, Anthony Quinn's(!) renegade natives run amok.  Interestingly, the background is completely different from that in the former Lawson matte shot, with this I suspect being on the studio backlot (long before they started public tours and attractions).

Frame #2  I like the sequence as it's entirely fabricated in Ross Hoffman's photographic effects lab.  'No actual airplanes were harmed during the making of East of Sumatra'.

Frame #3  I reckon this is a ripper of a sequence.  Hoffman and Winebrenner have superbly 'constructed' a fire and massive explosion through outstanding rotoscope, matting and multiple runs through Hoffman's optical printer.  

Frame #4  A couple of years later, Hoffman and Winebrenner did similar 'explosive' optical burn-ins on the sci-fi classic THIS ISLAND EARTH and the Audie Murphy true life war bio-pic TO HELL AND BACK with eye-popping results.

Frame #5  When did well, this sort of optical conflagration can be extremely effective, as Whitlock, Winebrenner and Hoffman did for the helicopter bomb in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and the dramatic luxury launch devastation in the George C. Scott picture DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (a sorely under-appreciated film).  Too often though, optically created explosions generally look just so bloody terrible in unskilled hands.

Frame #6  It's all over for that DC3.  Really very impressive and no doubt time consuming optical photography.  I'd guess that several practical pyro tests were shot elsewhere on the lot, probably by someone like veteran Uni practical fx man Fred Knoth, with Hoffman and Horsley carefully selecting the best takes and likely using up to three or so, soft matted and merged into one another.  I just love examining this sort of fx gag.

I often mention my love of 'character actors', and EAST OF SUMATRA is full of 'em.  Here we have a young Earl Holliman taking a bullet, with his best mate, the great Scatman Crothers taking up arms to reek bloody vengeance.  Scatman was a wonderful actor in so many films, with some five or so with his buddie Jack Nicholson, such as THE SHINING and best of all ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, as well as some highly memorable roles in cool 70's blaxploitation actioners such as a guilty fave of mine, Jim Kelly's funky and exceptionally groovy BLACK BELT JONES and of course the pinnacle of all ultra-cool black actioners, the fucking incredible Isaac Hayes-Yaphet Kotto balls-to-the-wall, spleen-splattering TRUCK TURNER... though, yes you guessed it, I digress.

EAST OF SUMATRA had great art direction as well, which when complimented with Cliff Stine's cinematography, good hard action, a square jawed 'take-no-shit' hero, a seductive native babe and excellent effects work made for first rate night's viewing.  Get's NZ Pete's 'thumbs up'  !!

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NZ PETE'S HALL OF FAME MATTE SHOT: Part Five

Todays' entry in my Matte Hall of Fame is dished out to this scene from the Gregory Peck drama THE GREAT SINNER (1949).  The MGM film was reasonably entertaining, though a bit hokey in places, with Peck seeking redemption for his gambling addiction, but it did have this magnificent matte tilt down scene which blew my socks off.  I'm sure this impressive camera move must have been made on MGM's proprietary 'Dupy Duplicator' - designed expressly for repeatable moves on the matte stand..

The mattes were furnished by uncredited artists in Warren Newcombe's amazing stable of highly talented matte painters, arguably the best department of it's kind in all of Hollywood at the time.  Newcombe had many artists under his protective wing around that time including senior painter Howard Fisher and people like Henry Hillinick, Lou Litchtenfield, Irving Block, Lee LeBlanc, Norman Dawn, Henry Peter McDermott and others.  Newcombe's director of matte photography, Mark Davis, was also a talented matte painter.

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BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992) - Coppola's interpretation of a timeless classic

Sensational poster art for a pretty good incarnation of the old bloody count.

I admire the approach director Francis Ford Coppola took with this film.  The film maker desired to keep the technical aspects as 'low-tech' as possible for 1992, harking back as much as possible to the practical in-camera methods used in the thirties for much of the visual look.  This opening battle sequence for example was done in a highly stylised, yet surprisingly low-tech manner by using a few dozen hand made 'cut-outs' measuring barely 8 inches tall, and manipulated in silhouette like simple Chinese shadow puppets.  

The fx sequence here was carried out by Gene Warren jnr and staff at his Fantasy II.

I've been speaking with Craig Barron in preparation for this blog retrospective, and he has been incredibly helpful and encouraging in my tribute piece on this film.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) was a fantastic matte painting showcase for our company, created just before the transition to the digital age. Although there was one digital morphing shot done by another vendor, we at Matte World, located in Marin County, California, were one of several companies that worked on the film using traditional techniques. Other companies included Colossal Pictures and 4-Ward Productions, Gene Warren's Fantasy II among others".

"Our primary contribution to the film was creating the Dracula Castle shots using either matte paintings or miniatures, and sometimes as a combination of both. I travelled down to Sony Studios with matte painting supervisor Michael Pangrazio and a small second unit crew to photograph our shots, which included Roman Coppola, who was handling much of the second unit VFX work. We photographed our live action plates on Stage 15 at Sony, where the production had built a huge set of the Borgo Road that would lead to Dracula's castle, which we would later enhance with our VFX work".

"Many shots were original negative composites, as we loved the quality achievable using Albert Whitlock's signature technique. For other shots that were designed with camera moves, we shot our plates in VistaVision for use in rear projection composites using our motion control cameras at Matte World. I'm currently working with matte artist Brian Flora on a project for the Sphere in Las Vegas on a presentation of the Wizard of Oz (1939) - Brian just mentioned that the Dracula matte illustrated below was his favourite traditional matte painting".

Brian Flora's phenomenal Borgo road matte shot, with much grisly post-battle mayhem all along the roadsides.  *See below and be in complete awe...

The magnificent painting on glass that Matte World's Brian Flora rendered for the above scene.

Craig Barron elaborated on the set up: "Matte painter Brian Flora and VFX Cameraman Rich McCay on the sunset matte painting for the 'Vlad the Impaler' sequence, depicting Vlad riding past his impaled victims on his journey toward his castle at sunset. Working from a series of charcoal sketches by Mentor Huebner that established the basic composition, Flora brought the shot to life by designing the terrain and mountain details, positioning the impaled bodies, and developing a backlit lighting approach. The impaled bodies appear as stark silhouettes that were immediately recognizable to viewers, while the sun's glow and atmospheric haze created a haunting, romantic quality that added mystery to the scene's brutal subject matter. The live-action footage of Vlad on his horse will be projected behind the painting onto a frosted screen. The motion control camera will then create a post tilt-up to follow the rider. A second pass will then photograph the matte painting. An additional exposure will add the sun with lens flare effects".

There are long time dedicated Matte Shot readers who literally thrive on high quality close up detail (no matter how much you deny it, you know who you are, Stix)... well prepare to be thrilled!

More detail.

Now, that's gotta hurt!  :(

Lots of great detailed images to follow, so a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say...

Brian Flora has always been one of those 'invisible' exponents of the matte artform, with little (or no) information about him out there, so I was happy to chat with Brian yesterday and finally learn more.

Brian Flora:  "I’ve been a fan of matte painting ever since I came across 'The Art of Star Wars' book in the late '70s. That discovery made a lasting impression on me.  While studying at UCSC, I’d scour magazine racks for anything I could find on the subject, which led me to the work of Chris Evans, Michael Pangrazio, and Mark Sullivan. During my freshman year, inspired by those artists and their work on Return of the Jedi, I set out to learn how to paint like a matte artist myself. I spent about a year painting full-time around my class schedule—working out of my dorm room on a sci-fi piece heavily influenced by their style."

"I met Craig after he gave a talk at a Willow screening. He encouraged me to send in my work, which led to an internship at ILM. I assisted Paul Swensen on the opening shot of The 'Burbs, and that eventually turned into a job at Matte World, where I had the chance to work with Mike, Chris Evans, and Craig. It was truly a dream come true. I also became close friends with Mark Sullivan, and we ended up collaborating on several projects—including Toys, Wyatt Earp, and Demolition Man.  In 1996, I joined ILM and transitioned into computer matte painting. I worked on a number of shots for The Phantom Menace."

VFX Supervisor Craig Barron prepares a motion control shot of Dracula's castle. Jonathan Harker's horse and carriage travelling toward the castle will be added using rear projection filmed at Sony, combined with a Brian Flora matte painting and enhanced with a subtle camera move. In speaking with Craig about Brian's work, Craig added: "Brian’s creative journey has taken him from traditional matte painting to digital work with CGI environments, and now into AI-assisted techniques. He’s witnessed and adapted to remarkable shifts in technology, and continues to be an important contributor to the ongoing evolution of visual effects environments."

The carriage approaches the castle in the final rear projected matte comp.

The same shot, though grabbed from a different source where it's not so contrasty as many BluRay discs seem to be.  Craig mentioned to me as well:  "For me, one of the amazing things is that after all these years since Dracula, Brian and I still have the opportunity to work together. It’s really rewarding to have that shared history and a kind of shorthand in how we communicate -we’re completely in sync!"

The vfx workload for DRACULA was shared by several different companies, with this shot of London being one of Robert Skotak's mattes from 4-Ward Productions

Gene Warren jnr's Fantasy II supplied the elements for the monatge sequence, with 24th scale model train and a complex multi-plane series of foreground miniature rock and hilly formations, with each layer moved at different speeds to suggest depth and distance.

Model train journey montage, again, executed in a 1930's style.

Drac's abode, and quite unlike anything depicted in any other Bram Stoker incarnation.

VFX Cameraman Rich McCay and VFX Supervisor Craig Barron setting up the miniature of Dracula's castle. Notice the large scrim that was used to add haze to the upper part of the castle. 

Matte World VFX Supervisor Craig Barron and VFX Cameraman Cameron Noble set up a miniature for Jonathan Harker's POV as he arrives and looks up at Dracula's castle. A painted backing will add drifting clouds, and separate exposures of torch and fire elements will be photographed with a tilting motion control camera. 

There was no two ways about it, Gary Oldman literally blew the screen apart with his extraordinary characterisation of The Count.  An astonishingly talented actor, and one whose work I admire immensley, Oldman embodied Dracula with a degree of subtle malevolence and measured powder-keg intensity that the audience were moved and shaken to the core in equal measure.  Greg Cannom's make up work on old Drac was one of a kind.  Gary Oldman has done soooo much fucking incredible work over the years, with perhaps my favourite being the riveting and very dark cop thriller STATE OF GRACE (1990) alongside Ed Harris (another brilliant actor who can do no wrong) and Sean Penn.  See it today!  Also of very high recommendation is the outstanding British series SLOW HORSES where Oldman heads a band of MI5 'outcasts' to do the shit jobs the suits at MI5 HQ won't dirty their hands with.  Equal parts thrilling and fucken' hilarious, with perhaps more Oldman 'farts' (not to be at all confused with 'old man farts'... quite a different sphere!) than any film since Blazing Saddles(!)  So if that ain't an urgent recommendation, then I don't know what is!

And it sure as hell don't get more unsettling than in this scene where Oldman lustfully licks Keannu Reeves' blood from his straight razor with near orgasmic delight, following a minor shaving mishap.  Jesus H. Christ, this brief bit is the best scene in the entire film says NZ Pete.  Give the man an Oscar for this scene alone I say!  Bravo to Coppola, Oldman and co for this hair-raising moment alone!!!

A very eerie and superbly executed trick shot, courtesy of Robert Skotak's 4-Ward Productions.  To show a quick shot of Dracula crawling down the blockwork of the vertical exterior castle wall.  Gary Oldman crawled across a simple horizontal prop partial wall, with the rest of the castle battlements (miniature), the night sky and the moon introduced into the Oldman footage by way of a partially silvered mirror, or beam splitter - a gag the Skotaks have proven themselves to be experts at over the decades in many varied shows and effects sequences. The flaming torch seen at the top was added in on a subsequent camera pass.

A large scale ten foot tall miniature of the castle wall and deep ravine far below was manufactured by craftsmen at Robert and Dennis Skotak's 4-Ward company.  This sort of shot has always been a staple in the genre.

Craig Barron: "This is our Dracula Castle miniature, photographed on our stage at Matte World. The setup was designed as a dramatic piece that could be relit for both dusk and sunset shots as needed. Francis wanted the castle to suggest the silhouette of a decaying king sitting on his throne. The metalwork was inspired by Gustave Doré's intricate designs, similar to the exposed ironwork of the Eiffel Tower. This ornate metalwork is now revealed as the stonework has fallen away over time, creating the impression of skeletal hands and head or skull emerging from the ruins. The background mountains were constructed using aluminum foil over a frame work, painted blue and sprinkled with baking soda to simulate snow. The clouds were made from fiberfill, a material commonly used to stuff pillows. These cloud formations were attached to a large scrim approximately 20 feet wide, which was slowly moved by a motion control track during photography to create sky movement."

Effects man Gene Warren jnr's company Fantasy II created this miniature of the asylum, within which a rear projected plate of Tom Waits as Renfield can be seen at the barred window howling at the moon.  Gene's father was an old time veteran in the FX biz, having worked a lot with George Pal and the company he formed, Project Unlimited, with associates Wah Chang and Tim Barr.  Gene senior and Wah both got Oscars for Pal's classic, THE TIME MACHINE (1960)

Every Dracula flick needs a seductive 'Bride of Dracula' to keep things moving along, and Coppola's film is no different.  The magnificent Italian actress Monica Bellucci is one of the bevy of brides.  Loved her in MALENA.

Poor Keannu Reeves gets more than his quota of lusty vampire brides and succumbs with surprising ease to the advances of those shameless, fanged hussies.

Hillingham Manor - a fairly small scaled miniature.

Gene Warren jnr's Fantasy II crew shoot the miniature.

The actual miniature as it was auctioned off at a significant sum a while back.

Now, is it just me or is this a strange shot?  The ship arriving in England was a 4-Ward fx scene with a big pullback from the manor on the hilltop to reveal Dracula's sailing ship coming to dock.  A multi-component gag with matte painted background, London city and an additional airbrushed layer of cloud on another glass.  The ship was a model, as were some of the immediate near houses.  The thing I've always had a big problem with is why, oh why, is the bow of the ship seemingly a hundred feet above the village and nearby vessels?  I could never figure out the weird perspective?  So odd.  It never worked as it was supposed to.

The journey across Transylvania, with this being the first of a pair of train matte shots, painted by Bill Mather at Matte World.  Craig told me how he well recalled shooting the live action plates at what was the old MGM studios, though now Sony, on Stage 15, right where they shot THE WIZARD OF OZ.  Mostly painted here, though the signpost was a small miniature prop.

A subsequent matte in the morning as the train departs where much more of the landscape is revealed.  I love this shot and had very much hoped to include a before and after of Bill Mather's painting.  Craig searched high and low but couldn't find one, sadly.  The matte measured 4'x5' and was on glass. Bill used fellow Matte World's Mike Pangrazio's kids toy train as a study for his layout.

A close up look where a great deal is painted and very little was 'real'.

In a later scene of the approach to Dracula's castle, Bill Mather lent his skills in creating a tremendous shot.  A matte that clearly owes much to the mood and romantic flavour of countless 'old' Universal and even Hammer films, and is all the better as a result.

The much earlier similar view was made as a rear projection composite due to a planned camera move, though this later matte was all latent image - on the original negative for maximum quality.  Craig told me how he had always held Albert Whitlock's technique as the benchmark in making matte shots, even more so as when Whitlock was making his shots throughout the 1960's, 70's and beyond, literally nobody else in the field dared to try the method

Dracula's castle is being prepared for photography. Matte painting supervisor Michael Pangrazio sprinkles baking soda for snow while VFX cameraman Wade Childress prepares to shoot the castle element. This miniature will be combined with a matte painting of the valley and cliffs below, and an additional small live action plate. 

 Michael Pangrazio's matte painting shown here will fill in and extend the surrounding areas around the castle miniature (as illustrated above). A final element will include a bonfire with the film's characters at the base of the castle.

The finished composite comprising miniature castle, matte painted valley below and some small live action elements around the campfire.  The shot was impossibly dark in all video formats so I've had to lighten it up quite a lot here, hopefully not to its detriment.

A closer view of Mike's valley, river and towering cliffs.

Craig Barron takes a light-meter reading in preparation for a miniature shot of the castle.

Craig Barron: "The Dracula Castle miniature was re-lit to suggest the sun off-camera, just peeking over the mountains. What was great about this approach is that the setup functioned like a large-scale diorama that allowed for experimentation with different lighting ideas. Sitting at the camera and looking through the viewfinder, we could see the finished shot rather than having to send separate elements to composite later. There was a bit of serendipity in the lighting approach, as we often discovered effects we hadn't necessarily thought of by simply trying different setups. This gave us many lighting variations that Francis could choose from, providing a series of shots to cut to for pauses in the action when needed."

Miniature/live action composite with dramatic change in the miniatures' lighting scheme. I'm not sure, but possibly also augmented with matte art to fill out the left side of the action(?)

A breathtakingly 'classic' hommage to the old Universal pictures with this terrific Bill Mather glass painting of the close approach on the gates of Castle Dracula.  This beautiful piece went to auction recently.  Love it, and would love to own it!

Craig Barron: "The matte painter shown here is Bill Mather working on his painting for the Borgo Road approach to Dracula's castle. This was an original negative shot composite with live action we shot on stage at Sony Pictures." 

Close up photograph of Mather's matte in progress.

Matte World was active from 1988 until 2012, with its last traditional, hand painted matte being for James Cameron's TITANIC (1997) where artist Christopher Evans painted the rescue ship Carpathia on glass, complete with floating icebergs and a dawn sky.  That shot was then composited digitally into a 'rocking' ocean plate to complete the scene.  [* I saw this lovely matte close up at that remarkable film museum in Berlin in 2008, where they also had a ton of Harryhausen puppets and props on display, Pete] 

Lots of eye-popping detailed close ups here... so captions redundant.  Enjoy!

The on screen final composite of Mather's painting, with 'snow' overlay falling for nice atmospheric and dramatic effect.

Matte Painter Bill Mather poses a pair of Matte World crew volunteers as models for his painting of Vlad and Elisabeta ascending to heaven together.

 Bill Mather's painting inside a miniature dome that will simulate a fresco-style ceiling inside the castle's chapel for the climax of the film. 

Bill's beautiful Renaissance style fresco painting as it eventually appears in the closing moments of the film.

Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing.  I'm an enormous devotee of the work of Tony Hopkins, though felt he was completely wrong for this role - possibly as a result of just how Francis Coppola concieved and directed the character which played like an unbalanced, psychotic madman with a bloodlust.  Didn't work for me at all, and I love Hopkins work.  I shudder at the thought of them giving him the Oscar for the hammy, over-rated SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, whereas he absolutely 101% should have been handed the Academy Award for the flawlessly brilliant REMAINS OF THE DAY, and the almost as excellent 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD... both true examples of an absolute master and his craft.... but don't for Christ's sake get me started on bloody Oscar injustices!!!   (*ps: His Capt William Bligh in Roger Donaldson's epic THE BOUNTY was bloody good too, though, I digress...!)

Coppola's DRACULA was pretty good, as far as Bram Stoker cinematic versions go, though to be honest, I think I'd go with some of the Hammer versions as the tone and intensity those British film makers introduced - and on very small budgets - made quite the impact on me as a viewer. I'd especially praise the remarkable, powerhouse scores that James Bernard wrote and conducted on the Hammer's as being the backbone of their success.  Hammer's Van Helsing, by way of the great Peter Cushing, remains my favourite by a long shot.  Just what Hammer were able to achieve on tiny budgets and limited resourses - and a stock of excellent English theatre trained actors who always lent certainty and credibility to the proceedings no matter what may have been written on the script page - is amazing, with the quality right there up on the screen.

I've never been able to find out whether this magnificent shot was a VFX shot or some very lucky 2nd unit work.  I'd sway toward it being a photographic effect.  I quizzed Craig Barron about it and he said it wasn't one of their shots.  It could have been from one of the half dozen other VFX houses who contributed to DRACULA.

Matte World, as with so many other specialist boutique - and even some more formidable - visual effects houses bid farewell to the movie business after some 24 years of operation, from 1988 to 2012, as more and more effects contracts either went offshore, or became almost one man operations based in a room with a computer and a fast internet connection. 

In speaking with Craig Barron recently about the Matte World DRACULA project, his response was:

"I’m just very close to Dracula, as it represents a real high point for our traditional work at Matte World. We were a small, scrappy matte painting and visual effects company - hugely talented, punching far above our weight and often not fully recognized for our contributions. I felt we were recognized on Dracula, it marked a real milestone in the company history. 

I recently attended a screening down here in Los Angeles, and it was a real pleasure to see Dracula as the work still holding up so well after all these years".

I wasn't sure whether to include this, but it's one of a few paintings I did some years ago of the divine Ms Monica Bellucci, arguably one of the most beautiful actresses in world cinema.

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DRACULA (1931) - Seeing as we're on the theme, here's more of Vlad the bloodsucker.

I couldn't resist adding in the original Bela Lugosi version from 1931 - a role that defined the under-rated Hungarian-born thespian.

I'm very fond of the old Universal horror pictures, and it's a true delight to see them remastered in high definition.

DRACULA's photographic effects were supervised by an uncredited Frank Booth, with the British born scenic and glass shot artist Conrad Tritschler doing the numerous mattes and composites.  Conrad painted glass shots on many silent pictures such as the 1924 Douglas Fairbanks adventure DON Q, THE SON OF ZORRO;  some mattes for very early Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Borzage, Ed Carewe and Frank Lloyd silent films as well as miniature work on FLOWING GOLD.  Tritschler painted some evocative glass shots for the low budget cult classic WHITE ZOMBIE, also with Bela Lugosi.  According to historian and personal friend of Albert Whitlock, Rolf Giesen, Whitlock himself was reportedly very fond of Tritschler's work.

Conrad's original nitrate 35mm trims, though in this album they were mounted inverted in error and really should be flopped the other way around.  See below...

The trip along Borgo Pass.  I really liked the mattes in DRACULA.  They possessed that indelible romance that the art form possessed in spades all through the early days.  I've a soft spot for this vintage era of glass shots.

A very rare frame enlargement from a nitrate 35mm film clip showing Tritschler's painting not yet combined with the live action.

Final composite that's as iconic a statement of the genre, and all subsequent cinematic DRACULA versions.

I believe John Fulton was involved with the effects photography, though was not yet the head of Universal's trick shot department. Frank Booth held that post, overseeing effects on shows like ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, though Fulton assumed the role of effects chief by the time FRANKENSTEIN commenced production, pretty much right after this film (both made/released in 1931).

Another very rare frame enlargement from an ancient 35mm nitrate clip, with this wonderfully atmospheric interior set extension by Conrad.

Final shot with minimal live action set combined with the majestic Tritschler glass painting.  Interestingly, Conrad did a very similar matte a year later for another Lugosi picture, WHITE ZOMBIE, which incidentally, he actually received a screen credit for.

A miniature castle by William Davidson.  Davidson was active in the silent era providing hanging miniatures for things like THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE and much else.

More DRACULA shots.  I understand the simultaneously shot Spanish language version (with a different cast) had additional glass shots, though I've never seen it.

Fabulous shots like this are probably what got me hooked on matte paintings to begin with, when viewing old Super 8 digest versions (remember those?... I still have a bunch) or 16mm prints long ago.

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MELODY IN SPRING (1934) - a long forgotten matte filled Paramount musical.

For about 20 years I've had a sizeable stack of wonderful old Paramount before and after matte photographs, courtesy of veteran matte painter Jan Domela's daughter Johanna, though identification has proven quite difficult for so many of the shots.  Recently, a very devoted and knowlegable Paramount backlot historian has been doing some fine detective work and has put titles and dates (and much else) to a great many otherwise mystery shots.  This totally obscure musical, MELODY IN SPRING (1934) is just one such title I can finally 'close the case file on'. Mr Don Bitz, researcher extraordinaire, I thank you kind sir.

At left is Paramount's long time matte painter, Dutch born, Jan Domela, looking as dapper as ever during the filming of MELODY IN SPRING.  At right is an overhead view of the film's set on what Don tells me was 'European street' at the Paramount Ranch.  Domela and matte shot cameraman Irmin Roberts are visible standing on the cobblestones awaiting the cast and director.  The street will ultimately be considerably altered through matte art for several scenes in the film.  *I am most grateful to Jan's daughter, Johanna, for very kindly sharing all of these fantastic artifacts with me, as well as numerous incredibly rare 35mm matte trims and background stories.  I thank you  :)

The locked off matte camera with preliminary masked off glass delineating where the street set will be replaced by majestic Swiss mountains and altered architecture.  The fellow at extreme left is an unknown assistant, but next is Jan Domela, while at right is Irmin Roberts.  Like Domela, Roberts had a massive career, almost exclusively with Paramount, from 1926 through to 1972, mostly as effects cameraman on huge shows like THE TEN COMMANDMENTS; WAR OF THE WORLDS; TORA!, TORA!, TORA! at Fox with L.B Abbott, and later as an in high demand 2nd Unit cinematographer on Oscar winning films like Alan Ladd's SHANE and Paul Newman's SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION.

At left: The matte crew chew the fat while waiting for things to 'kick off'.  At right, the final matte masking is applied to the foreground glass in readiness for the first take, which I assume was original negative, being 1934.  *Note: The matte shot relating to this set up is shown further down in this article.

Another of the numerous MELODY IN SPRING matte shots previously a complete mystery!

A matted off soundstage train station set...

Domela's expansive Swiss painted vista...

The finished scene as married up by Irmin Roberts, and likely an original negative shot.

A later scene with an interior stage dressed as an exterior of the town, pre-matte.

...the set matted off in-camera.

As completed, Jan's matte art combined with the soundstage set.

The unmatted set on the Paramount Ranch, known as either European Street or sometimes 'German Street'.  It appeared in scores of old Paramount pictures.

The street once matted off as shown in photos earlier in this article.

Jan's wonderfully detailed matte painting.

The merging of what I term 'fact & fiction'.  There's much more painted in here than one might first anticipate.

More glorious thirties matte art...

...and now it's rural Switzerland for MELODY IN SPRING.

A different vantage point on 'European Street', prior to a second matte painting.  Incidentally, the film is so damn obscure, none of my reference books have any listing for it.

Once again, the exterior set is matted off in preparedness for Domela's painting.

Jan's extensive matte painting.  Note the excellent work on the building at left.

As it's shown in the final film.

Domela and Roberts set up an in-camera foreground glass shot.

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KING'S PIRATE (1967) - swashbuckling & slave-gals galore on the Universal backlot.

Hell, I enjoy a good old pirate romp, and while KINGS PIRATE (1967) is pretty pedestrian kids matinee fodder, it certainly had it's essential points, such as some excellent Albert Whitlock mattes - some being incredibly intricate in execution.

The whole thing was shot on the Universal backlot, with much use made of the Uni lake and falls, which featured in hundreds of films.  A fair chunk of miniature work was apparently lifted wholesale straight out of old Universal shows, most likely AGAINST ALL FLAGS from 1952.

Just to set the record straight.  **As an aside, I just finished reading a most fascinating and detailed biography on the life and times of infamous 17th Century pirate Bartholomew Roberts, titled "If A Pirate I Must Be..."  Very highly recommended for those wanna-be buccaneers and rogues who roamed the high seas.

First shot in the film was stolen out of the old Universal Errol Flynn costumer AGAINST ALL FLAGS (1952).  Effects work for that by David Horsley, with miniatures by Charlie Baker F.Y.I.

The next sequence begins with a nice matte - but alas, it was also another 'stolen shot', lifted from another long forgotten Uni flick VEILS OF BAGDAD (1953) starring Victor Mature.  Keen eyed FX fans will immediately spot the same matte in Ray Harryhausen's magnificent fantasy THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958).  It also showed up in several other films and tv shows, so this Russell Lawson matte certainly got good mileage.  Bill Taylor once told me that Uni had a particular producer, whom Whitlock referred to as "a dustbin producer", as this guy was always 'building' new movies around as much stock footage, un-used trims, re-cycled mattes, library shots etc as he possibly could to save money.  Ahhhh, Hollywood!!!

The first actual Whitlock matte shot is a beautiful panorama, and what's more, has more than you'd think invested in it's execution.  See below...

Live action footage with minimal set dressing on the lake on the Uni backlot.  Note the gray rectangular object and pole in the middle of the frame.  This is there for a reason.

Whitlock's cameraman, Ross Hoffman and his assistant Mike Moramarco have 'matted off' the unwanted area of the frame with opaque black card.

Here is Albert's painting - or the main painting should I say - on glass.  A secondary painting will add a minor, but important final 'touch' to the finished scene.  *I must extend my gratitude to my friend and Whitlock archivist supreme, Thomas Higgenson for these before & afters.

From Albert's original 35mm full frame aspect showreel (which would eventually be cropped down for theatrical prints) we have the composited scene with not only the vast harbour and ship panorama, but a lovely subtle touch whereby Albert has also included a small single mast boat tied up to the jetty, and with that Whitlock has managed to animate - as a separate small painted element - the very gentle 'rocking motion' of his painted little boat, with the mast ever so slightly swaying left to right and back again.  The aforementioned 'grey rectangle' I spoke of was a deliberate move by Whitlock and Hoffman to cast the appropriate 'reflection' onto the (genuine) rippling waters.  God-damned genius!  *Note:  Matthew Yuricich and cinematographer Clarence Slifer did a similar gag 6 years earlier on Lewis Milestone's MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) where they arranged bits of junk and posts with cloth attached etc along the edge of the MGM tank - just out of camera range - to enable 'reflections' and 'shadows' to be cast upon the rippling waters that would marry up to Matthew's mighty harbour of entirely painted sailing ships. 

We interrupt the VFX coverage for a brief message from our sponsor.....  THE KING'S THIEF may well have been a 'G' rated kiddie show, but it sure as hell didn't shy away from a bevy of luscious, buxom harem gals and assorted gorgeous slaves.  Ah... those were the days, before everything turned so bloody 'PC' and apologetic.  Ya' don't like it?? ... so, sue me.

Back to the mattes... another Albert shot of a steep ravine and crashing waves.  Actually well done, with entirely painted cliffs and sea, with Albert animating the waves by way of some form of 'ripple glass' type effect as best I could work out.

Soundstage hijinks as the motley band of gymnasts shanghai each other up and over the deep ravine.  Mostly an interior set but augmented by Whitlock's painted cliffs and rocks.  Again, the ocean is painted and animated with 'rolling waves'.

Our hero, Doug McClure, is pushed over the edge and held by his heels by the bad guys.  Either a blue screen travelling matte or extensive rotoscope work carried Doug over the painted area as he dangles in mid air.

Doug most likely roto-matted from around his waistline out to his hands and head.  Frame by frame I tended to go with hand roto when examining the scene several times.  Millie Winebrenner, as mentioned earlier, was Al's longtime roto artist.

More miniatures as sea, and again, taken from the fifties swashbuckler AGAINST ALL FLAGS.

Yes, it's an effects shot.  An interior partial ship set with a blue screen TM for the incorrectly scaled 'ocean' (probably the Uni lake as a plate).  * Some good ole' character actors in this flick like Woodrow Parfrey (bet ya' never heard on him)... from important films like PAPILLON; PLANET OF THE APES;  DIRTY HARRY and THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES.  I love old time 'character actors'.

As the saying goes, the captain must go down with his ship... even a recycled stock miniature effects ship, it don't matter.

I saved the best till last (though it was the last fx sequence in the film anyway)... a remarkable trick shot by Whitlock and co.  Here is the original plate for the live action as shot above the Universal lake on the back lot.

The live action as matted off by Hoffman and Moramarco.

The as yet unfinished composite, most likely an as yet unrefined test I'd say.

Frame #1  The final scene with Whitlock's painted ship, ocean, hills and headland.  But wait....there's more!!!

Frame #2  Not only has Al supplied the aforementioned and created a beautiful shot, he went the extra kilometre (or 'mile' to you foreign types) and has introduced some jaw dropping final touches that blew my NZ Pete mind!

Frame #3  In what could easily have been your bog-standard matted in ship moving left to right, Whitlock has devised a most astonishing (yet ever so subtle) 'degrees of passage' for the perspective of the painted ship as it cruises into the bay.  Not only that, Al has added even more animation to two key points - the foaming wake around the bow etc, and even more, the sails are gently 'blowing' in the breeze!!!!!   Jesus H. Christ is this impressive or what???

Frame #4  With a few dozen replays of the BluRay, and much close study, I came to the conclusion that Albert likely utilised a series of acetate overlays with painted 'wake' and 'foam', and maybe the same method - on separate passes - for the gently 'rippling sails'.  Albert did that for the big crack-up of the airship in HINDENBURG, with much delicate frame by frame animated overlays to simulate the envelope of the airship collapsing.  Looking at the above scene - as brief as it is - the sails (isolated from the rest of the painting) might possibly have been 'given movement' by way of some form of ripple glass by Ross Hoffman during photography on the matte stand.  It's so bloody impressive, yet so much work for a few seconds. Try toggling through these frames to see the effect.  In an attempt to demonstrate the effect, I have attempted to load a short video clip below, though whether it will play is anyone's guess.  You can't blame Pete for not at least 'going the full distance' with this matte magic. 

I include this purely out of historic interest.  Not only did the old Errol Flynn flick 'donate' many miniature shots and what have you, the final sequence in 1952 was practically identical in art direction, action, camera angle, Russell Lawson matte extension and moreso, the prop cannons and all of it look like they were dusted off again for the 1967 flick.

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COLUMBIA PICTURES BUTLER/GLOUNER MATTES -  more effects shots from the 1940's

In a number of recent bloggings I've been displaying a number of interesting old mattes and effects shots made at Columbia throughout the 1940's in the old Butler/Glouner Camera Effects Department.  Here are some more rarities to feast your eyes upon...

Camera slate for Donald Glouner's matte camera for an unknown production, circa 1940's.

Matted in mountain range, sky, trees and church steeple.  If anyone knows the film, then let me know.

Another mystery matte from a Columbia film.  The complete sequence shows the cops surround the house and bust on in.  Film unknown.

Full frame matte painted Washington Monument and environs - film unknown.

A beautiful, sprawling western landscape and sky from, yes, you guessed it, a complete mystery title?

Here are some very interesting tests and effects takes from SIGN OF THE RAM (1948) - yes, unbelievably, I recognise the movie!  The FX technician positions the globe in the large scaled lighthouse, which will be subsequently extended broadly via matte art for various sequences in the film.

Lawrence Butler's Camera Effects Unit make a test with Ray Cory on fx camera.

SIGN OF THE RAM matte painting combined with miniature to good atmospheric effect for this wide establishing shot.

Another one I know, the Boris Karloff-Peter Lorre comedy spoof  THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (1942).

The much filmed and re-made SALOME (1953), this one starring Rita Hayworth, and with a very impressive matte shot.  Gee, that's three films in a row I've recognised!

Hell, another film I've seen(!!) - ADAM HAS FOUR SONS (1941) with this full painted shot.

I'm on a roll here..... this one's from ADVENTURE IN SAHARA (1938) - a low budget French Foreign Legion 'epic'.

I know I've seen this film somewhere, years ago, but can't remember the title.  It was directed by King Vidor though.

Final Butler/Glouner Dept. composite.

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MATTHEW YURICICH - More lost mattes dusted off.

Matthew Yuricich posing here with Craig Barron some years ago at a 'live matte art exhibit' somewhere.  Behind we can see Matthew's iconic NORTH BY NORTHWEST painting which he saved when MGM were ripping the walls down of the old matte department.

Matthew's painting, still in the care of his adult children.  And, before you ask, no, I wasn't able to get hold of a high rez image, nor any close ups (sadly), as the various mattes are spread around various family members and on different continents.  I did ask. plead and beg, but nothing came of it.  Some of the others I could only get small images of included SOYLENT GREEN and WESTWORLD, among others.

The on screen composite, printed down for night.  Matt shared the extensive painting duties on NORTH BY NORTHWEST with Lee LeBlanc, who was head of the department at MGM at the time.  The subsequent matte after this bit showing the house as Cary Grant comes close to it was one of LeBlanc's full paintings.

Matthew also painted three or four mattes for the Peter Hyams science fiction film 2010 (1984) - the much belated and probably unneccesary sequel to Kubrick's 2001-A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).  This matte was of the Soviet Red Square and Kremlin.

Close up detail

The final shot as seen in the film.

Another intriguing Yuricich matte from 2010 that probably nobody suspected to be a painting.

Close up detail of Matthew's fine brushwork and composition.

The Yuricich matte as it's seen in the film, via blue screen travelling matte.

One of Matthew's mattes from the film THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987).  The painting was shown practically full frame, with some miniature vegetation in the foreground for depth.

A closer view of the very 30's flavoured Universal-esque castle.

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CIMARRON (1930) - A sprawling epic of the old west... and far better than the later remake!

CIMARRON (1931) was one of the first giant epic westerns, probably alongside the excellent John Wayne picture THE BIG TRAIL made the year before.

The famous RKO logo when it was still known as 'A Radio Picture'.  I've often praised the technical skills of famous miniaturist Donald Jahraus, who won Oscars at MGM for his work on some of the best effects pictures ever made.  There were in fact several Jahraus family members working in various avenues of the movie business, such as props, costumes & fx).  Don was miniature builder at the time at RKO as was his brother Earl.  Earl built this famous 'radio mast transmitter tower' miniature back in 1929.  Earl retired from the movie biz around 1930 but Don carried on with a most illustrious career, latterly with Buddy Gillespie at MGM.  Don was arguably THE finest miniaturist the business ever had.  *(I have had communications with Don's relatives and hope for some images and more info which they say they are willing to share)

After years of substandard VHS or DVD issues of CIMARRON, it's like a shining light to finally see an excellent remastering in high definition, which finally supports the fine b&w cinematography of Edward Cronjager and the many splendid mattes of Mario Larrinaga.

I love westerns, and watch as many as I can find.  There are some really good ones if you look carefully.  My generation always went to the Saturday double features at our local, such as The Crystal Palace or The Mayfair, should any Auckland, New Zealand readers be taking note.  Naturally, we played 'cowboys & indians' much of the time in the local bush which was all up behind our house, when not playing 'war' or 'covert sabotage' games in the dirt and dust.  Try telling this to kids today and they look at you with glazed over eyes and a blank stare (once they take their eyes away from their motherfucken' cell phones that is!)

Radio Pictures (RKO) head of all special effects was Lloyd Knechtel.  Lloyd built up the studio's trick shot unit around 1929 with chief matte painter Paul Detlefsen and optical cinematographer Linwood Dunn.  Knechtel did optical work on films like THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) but left the US for Britain and Europe in the mid thirties to concentrate on process photography for various studios back in Hollywood.  Upon Lloyd's departure Vernon L. Walker assumed headship of the Camera Effects Department until his untimely demise in the late 1940's, whereby Russell Cully was then in charge.

Two important collaborators at RKO during CIMARRON and way beyond were matte painter Mario Larrinaga (left) and optical cameraman Linwood Dunn (right).

This historic incident was dramatised in several other films too.

There were quite a number of mattes in CIMARRON, with this grand opening shot being my favourite. A magnificent Larrinaga painted skyscape and thousands of painted in potential homesteaders, perfectly blended in with actual extras and horses, are geared up for the big free land grab.  What a fab shot!

The foundation of what will eventually become a veritable 'boom-town' in the subsequent years.  I suspect the mattes were mostly made as original negative shots as the quality is very high.  The only ones which suggest duping are as a result of other optical tampering such as title cards superimposed or dissolves, which were often the death knell for even the best intentioned photographic effects shots.

The town grows, as do the population and all that comes with it...!

Real estate values go through the roof as Mario Larrinaga's brush continues to expand the town into what will become a mega-city.

Town hall meeting to sort out the issues.  Partial set with matte painted top up from just above actor Richard Dix's head.

The years roll on by, but not all is calm and kind in the bustling town.

Larrinaga was a premier matte artist, and did amazing work that should go down in history on the monumental KING KONG (1933) among many other films.  Mario's friend Byron Crabbe was also at RKO then, so I assume he might have participated in the extensive matte assignment here.

It's a fully-fledged city now by anyone's account.  The fucken' traffic and shoulder to shoulder overcrowding is really getting folks down!

Guess what was struck??????

The metropolis once oil is the currency of the day.  After some years at RKO, around 1940, Larrinaga took up a post in the Warner Bros. matte department under the control of Byron Haskin, with a trio of former RKO artists Paul Detlefsen, Chesley Bonestell and Mario's brother Juan, together with other painters such as Hans Bartholowsky, Vern Taylor, Lou Litchtenfield and Jack Shaw.

Not sure here, probably the real deal, though may have a few painted enhancements here and there(?)

Classic set extension where Mario has 'topped up' a soundstage set with pillars, archways, ornate ceiling and fixtures, which was so common a use of matte art for so long.

This Mario Larrinaga matte never survived the final cut.

...nor did this one.

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LORNA DOONE (1951) - a much re-made romantic period costumer.

The 1951 Technicolor version of LORNA DOONE is but one of around five versions of the story made over the years, from the silent era through an early British version and later made-for-tv ones.

Special photographic effects work by Lawrence W. Butler.

Not a very good shot, and curiously appears to be a very washed out and lacklustre process projected matte painting rather than a large painted backing as one might expect to be the case.

The LORNA DOONE mattes are quite variable, though this one was a winner.  No idea as to who painted on this film but I'd suggest more than the one artist as the quality and approach seemed to vary from matte to matte.  Juan Larrinaga, the brother of Mario, was matte artist for years at Columbia, so maybe it was his work?

A rare clip from the Butler/Glouner 35mm showreels showing the excellent painting married in with the live action plate as a test.

From the same showreel, it's worth noting just how crisp and sharp those old 35mm before and afters look, as the footage hasn't gone through the mill where mass release prints have been struck from dupe printing negatives etc, where resolution goes down the drain with each successive interpositive/internegative etc is struck.  When you read the back of a disc that states it was 'mastered directly from the original camera negative', don't believe it for a second!  No film is 'mastered' on any platform directly from the so-called 'original camera negative' - it just ain't possible!  Around 4 generations from the original camera shooting neg.

Really nice shot.

A later matte which appears to be the work of a different painter than the castle shown previously.

A well painted and composited tilt-down matte in the steep cave.

The cave matte art.

Another excellent LORNA DOONE matte shot, with nicely controlled light and feeling of distance.

FX cameraman Donald Glouner's matte slate for the shot, casts a shadow across the rather lovely artwork.

I don't know who painted any of these, but I do know that Mario Larrinaga's brother Juan was resident matte artist at Columbia for quite a while.  I do like this shot. Wonderful design and layout. almost has a Whitlock quality.

This has the feel of a different artist's hand.  Practically all painted here with just a tiny 'slot' of live action.

Another virtually full painting.  Not sure if the waterfall was a real element or some manufactured gag added in by Butler?

Split screen matte where 2nd unit waterfall and canyon have been matted together with the actors on a small studio set as they fight to the death.

Split screens from different vantage points of the final duel, until the villain falls to his death via an effective blue screen travelling matte.

...and some vintage shots from the 1922 version

I've not seen the 1935 version so the old silent one is the best I can offer (at no extra cost!!)

No technical credits to speak of, so this big glass shot remains 'artist not known'.

Here is a revealing clipping I took from a very, very old film magazine years ago.  They didn't often let the 'cat out of the bag' with film tricks in the old days, so this is quite forward thinking.

The final shot of the LORNA DOONE 'glass work' as it was termed in 1922.

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Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES (1974) - some subtle trickery afoot!

I must have seen BLAZING SADDLES (1974) two-dozen times over the years, and aside from one optical trick at the end, I never noticed the other subtle camera tricks.  Special effects maestro, Mr Steve Begg and I have had deep and meaningful academic email dissections of this very film from time to time, as to whether any matte or optical gags were in it.  Well Steve, you were right, but I don't think the gag was where you first thought it.

First off, the scene where the townspeople 'rebuild' a completely phoney Rock Ridge to fool arch villain Hedley (not 'Hedy' ... "this is 1876... you can sue her!") Lamarr was in fact a really convincing miniature, possibly set up as a table top affair against a genuine semi-desert background with natural sunlight for complete credibility (and it worked a treat!)

Now, a subsequent and quite fleeting shot has our heroes Bart and The Waco Kid watching on as desperado the great Slim Pickins leads his outlaws into 'town'.  Actually a matte shot, though with decades of only ever seeing it on 35mm, 16mm, VHS, TV and DVD, the high-def BluRay shone a whole new light on the trick.  It's either a painting or most likely the same miniature set very carefully split screen matted into the actual desert location.  It's barely on screen for a couple of seconds so it's easy to miss, but here it is Steve ;)

This shot I've always known as a visual effect.  In what appears to have been a post production after thought, I'd hazard a guess that Mel Brooks decided to have the flashing neon 'Blazing Saddles' signage matted into the pair of Grauman's theatre marquees.  Now what makes it interesting is that the original production footage by Joe Biroc was not a locked off shot and had a slight, loose pan following the taxi.  Whoever was tasked with adding in the neon signage later would have had to have plotted the camera move frame by frame to align the matted signage with the theatre frontage.  Note the tree at left has been painted in as well to line up with the 'cropped off' actual tree on Hollywood Blvd.

Best lines:  While Blazing Saddles is loaded with great lines, my two faves are:

Gene Wilder to Cleavon Little when they first meet:  "My name's Jim .... but most people call me ............... Jim"           (cracks Pete up every single time)

and

Harvey Korman to Slim Pickens:  "While you might be risking your lives..... I, however, will be risking an almost certain Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor".   (I'm giggling like a damned schoolgirl as I type this)

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THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1948) - Warner's king of the swordsman, Errol Flynn.

Errol Flynn was probably Jack Warner's biggest box office drawcard for many years, and he put out some great films like GENTLEMAN JIM; DODGE CITY; THEY DIED WITH THERE BOOTS ON; DESPERATE JOURNEY and my absolute all time fave, the terrific WWII actioner OBJECTIVE BURMA (Flynn's best performance).

THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1948) was a colourful, well mounted costumer, with many a memorable moment.  I love old hand painted titles such as these here - all carefully drawn out and painted on sheets of glass - so much an entirely lost artform, sadly.

Interesting effects credit here.  William McGann was one of several Stage 5 Camera Effects 'directors of photography' (they rotated fairly regularly with many very famous names associated with the 'directorship').  McGann started off - as so many did - as a cameraman on silents in 1915, and went on to shooting the 1923 Buster Keaton feature THE THREE AGES (which had very early stop motion and hanging miniatures... more about Keaton later...) and got a job at Warners in the famous Stage 5 trick dept in the 1940's where he was a key player in some of the most extraordinary photographic effects assignments the studio produced.  Films such as THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT with it's dazzling 'motion fly-over' matte and miniature composites (why isn't that flick on damned BluRay?  I ask you);  THE FOUNTAINHEAD with a mind-blowing number of mattes, miniatures, process, optical often all combined in single jaw-dropping takes!  Warners were the king of the castle with that stuff by a long shot.  Also credited here alongside McGann was John Crouse.  John was a longtime matte cinematographer for Warners, and would be Oscar nominated for his outstanding and highly complex work on one of the studio's biggest trick shot extravaganza's, THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN - a film that I rank as one of the best VFX pictures ever made.  More about Crouse later.

Jack Warner was known by all as a 'tight-ass' when it came to cost saving, and it shows with DON JUAN due to the sheer number of recycled mattes lifted from earlier Warner shows.  This opening full painted matte appeared in other films (see below) as did several others.  *Apparently Jack used to go around the studio woodworking shops after hours and collect up nails and screws dropped by the 'clumsy' prop makers so that they could be re-used!!  True story.

Here's the very same castle matte art as used in another unidentified WB film.  Also, we can take a peek inside the Stage 5 matte camera stand room and see that very same matte being shot.  A very large rendering it was too.  It looks like it was large on purpose so as to be used in wide and slightly cropped in closer views for THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) and later others, including tv.

A subsequent cut in DON JUAN uses another ROBIN HOOD matte, with the castle turrets as well as all under the drawbridge being painted in.

Again, a 'borrowed' Paul Detlefsen matte from the earlier ROBIN HOOD, printed down for night and with the sky repainted.

Paul Detlefsen's original shot as in appeared in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) - and a most glorious matte it is/was too.  In later years, Paul was very complimentary to matte cameraman John Crouse, for his ability in making his paintings always look so good.  For many years Paul was happy to see his mattes 'come alive' when screened at rushes.

Very dark I know (I tried to lighten it a bit).  An almost full painting of the European countrside with just a small 'patch' of live action where the mean on horseback are galloping.

Before and afters of a key establishing shot, though alas, it too was lifted from an earlier Warner film, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (1939), also with Errol Flynn.  The Burbank backlot has been transformed into 16th Century London.  That's what mattes are for.

A very rare surviving Warner's matte which went to auction years ago.  Attributed to Mario Larrinaga, who was one of six artists in the matte department at that time.  It's apparent Larrinaga here used the photo-enlargement method which some studios like 20th Century Fox were frequent users of.  A large, high quality black and white print would be made of the standing partial set, and mounted onto hardboard (masonite to you Yanks).  From this, the artist would not only paint in the required 'set extension' or scenery, but also match those oil painted hues on the black and white print as a guide.  Depending upon the approach, it's likely in such instances that black painted mattes were done on a white duping board, and counter mattes were also made for composite photography.

The final composite with Larrinaga's painted Madrid over the Warner Bros lot.  This shot would show up periodically in other films and tv over the years.  Other artists at the studio included Clyde Hill, Vernon Taylor, Louis Litchtenfield, Jack Shaw, Chesley Bonestell and Hans Batholowsky.

Another DON JUAN matte that perhaps wasn't lifted from any earliuer WB films that I know of, but sure as hell would show up in many subsequent movies, even from other studios!  I think I even saw it in Irwin Allen's 60's series THE TIME TUNNEL (which, in itself had a slew of 'stolen' mattes and shots from countless old movies, though I digress...)  Nice castle but oddly the river reflection doesn't in the least match that of the castle walls.

The matte camera room on Stage 5 at Warner Bros in 1938, with a Paul Detlefsen painting for THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD being composited.  This painting still survives to this day.

Character actor Alan Hale (snr) was a mate of Flynn and as such appeared in scores of Errol films.  He had some rather 'rude' stories to tell about his friend and his relentless and controversial penchant for the 'fairer sex'.

Warner Bros art department behind the scenes in the 1940's, with scenic artist hard at work and designers plotting out set construction.

The art director's team work out what could be some DON JUAN sets via small models.

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THE PLAYHOUSE (1921) - The technical and comic genius of the legendary Buster Keaton.

When it comes to absolute bona-fide genius' of screen comedy, then the great Buster Keaton is 'the guy'.

I watch a lot of old silent films, with a particular devotion to old, old, old comedies.  Buster Keaton was perhaps the most remarkable talent of the silent age, and his films (especially his 2 reelers) still stand the test of time over a century later.  This example, THE PLAYHOUSE was made in 1921, and remains something of a technical marvel still to this day.

The scenario enitirely takes place in a large concert hall and has our sad-sack leading man (and creator), Mr Keaton, assume all of the roles - from conductor, assorted audience members, and entire orchestra and even a multi-piece choreographed minstrel dance troupe!

Through a number of brilliantly rehearsed and plotted out set pieces, Buster is photographed, and re-photographed - sometimes up to ten times or more - on the same original 35mm negative (all hand cranked) for brilliant comic effect. Elgin Lessley was Buster's preferred cinematographer on most of his films, and was tasked with devising all of the many tricks for THE PLAYHOUSE.  More detail later...

Split screen matting had already been experimented with in the early days, though probably not to the sophistication that Keaton employed it in THE PLAYHOUSE some 104 plus years ago!  Here we have no less than nine Buster's all performing as separate figures with each their own mannerisms and gestures. Keaton himself later said that "Envisioning such an ambitious shot was one thing; actually getting it all on film was another."  Keaton well recalled the shoot many years later:  "Making these shots was a tedious process.  Actually, it was hardest for Elgin Lessley at the camera.  He had to roll the film back eight times, then run it through again.  Elgin had to hand-crank at exactly the same speed, both ways, each time.  Try it sometime.  If he were the slightest fraction off, no matter how carefully I had timed my movements, the composite action could not have been synchronised.  But Elgin was outstanding among all the studios.  He was a human metronome".

All of his films relied on incredibly inventive gags, painful pratfalls, life threatening stunts and mind-bogglingly complex mechanical effects, but few ever experimented with 'photographic effects' or 'trick photography' as Buster liked to do everything 'live' and in-camera, no matter the cost, and no matter the risk to his personal survival (and many scenes still today make the viewer grit their teeth and curl their toes in wonder as to how the hell he pulled it off without breaking his neck)

Three Buster's for the price of one!

The 'expensive seats' are not in the least bit amused!  Split screen and drag!

A number of Keaton's various cameramen over the silent era went on to big visual effects careers later on, such as Gordon Jennings and his brother Devereaux at Paramount, as well as the aforementioned William McGann at Warners.

The 'Statler and Waldorf' of the silent era.  Get it?   ;)

The only evidence where the split screen matte becomes apparent is here where 'wealthy and extremely bored Buster' slips his arm into the soft blend.

The program is a one of a kind....

The guy really was a genius in his field, and really did take control of all aspects of his films - until that is he went to MGM much later on and those bastards screwed him over something terrible.  Pricks!

Absolutely classic gag!

Elgin Lessley was tasked with making these shots work.  There were two different accounts of the split screen effects.  One stated that before filming each 'Buster' performing the song and dance, roughly in unison (so as not to look like the same take re-printed 9 times), a special lightproof box was built and fitted over the camera, with it's front being divided into nine equally spaced 'shutters' that could be opened and closed independently of one another, allowing for individual exposures to me photographed onto each of the plotted nine side-by-side narrow vertical areas of 35mm raw negative.  After each take, the film stock would be hand wound back to the start point for the next exposure, and then the next after that etc, until all nine exposures were successful.  Naturally, any mishaps along the way in this tedious process would mean scrubbing the footage and starting back all over again. 

The second account of the split matte work was quite different:  According to silent camera expert Sam Dodge (as discussed in the outstanding book Buster Keaton-A Film Maker's Life, by James Curtis), "The camera used to shoot all of these scenes was a Bell & Howell 2709.  They started in 1912 and were the top of the market, the Rolls Royce camera of their day" [*I understand that was still being used up to 50 years later by people like Disney and the Ellenshaws: NZ Pete].  "The multiple Buster Keatons were all done with mattes behind the lens.  They could be custom cut for these scenes, but Bell & Howell made such a huge variety of mattes that there easily could have been mattes that would work for each scene.  They required a sharp, hard edged vignette.  Keaton put a lot of pressure on the cameraman Elgin Lessley, to get the mattes positioned just right every time.  There were also 'in-front-of-the-lens' mattes in the matte boxes of the time, but they gave a softer edge to the blocked image".

'Get ya' friggen' feet down off-of-them seats, boy'.

To maintain correct exposure balance between each of the (up to ten) separate 'panels' of action, the camera operator was under immense pressure to maintain the exact hand-crank rhythm and rate each pass, otherwise exposures would flicker and flutter all over and give the game away. 

'The Duke and a Duchess' in the exclusive seats...

At one point Buster takes to 'hacksawing' the strings on the cello!

For this and the nine man minstrel troupe, Buster concentrated on his own synchronisation by doing the routines to banjo music, and someone off camera tapping on the stage like a metronome, and memorised the various dance steps and just where the vital 'cut-off' point would be for the in-camera mattes so that none of the 'Buster's' criss-crossed over each other.

Not from THE PLAYHOUSE but, as we're on the topic, another of Buster Keaton's pictures, GO WEST (1925) where a detailed hanging miniature of a Los Angeles street was needed as hundreds of cattle and all manner of mayhem fill the boulevard.

...and from yet another of Buster's early pictures, the feature OUR HOSPITALITY from 1923 had this nice glass shot purporting to be the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street a very long time ago!

...and lastly, a very, very early stop motion fx sequence that opened Buster's THREE AGES full length feature in 1923.  Our star comic enters the story on the back of a prehistoric beast, dismounts and tries to 'take' a wife, as one did.

The comics of old cannot be replaced.  Buster, Groucho and the brothers Marx, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, even Fatty Arbuckle (yeah, the guy was bloody clever and very creative) and many others.

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TARZAN (1931) - Some select before and afters from the Newcombe Department.

To conclude today's epic matte blog post, I stumbled across a few old Warren Newcombe before and afters in my files from the 1930's TARZAN pictures (which are still pretty good).  This wonderful piece was used in at least two films - TRADER HORN (1931) and later in TARZAN ESCAPES (1936), where much other footage was also recycled.

Final shot with African tribe mid journey added in.

A closer look at the classic pastel fine work the Newcombe unit specialised in for many years.

A wonderful before and after from TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939).  Don't you just love that old style of matte work.  The compositions were just so 'classical' and the draftsmanship was something else.

Some lucky collector owns this original matte from TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934).  The divine Maureen O'Sullivan never looked better than in this and the other earlier Tarzan flicks.  Oh, boy!

Another before and after from TARZAN AND HIS MATE

More from the same film...

Also TARZAN AND HIS MATE

Excellent before and afters from TARZAN ESCAPES (1936)

Not sure which TARZAN these are from, but nice work.

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FINAL COMMENT:

Much of the world at the moment is furious - to put it lightly - at the actions of the ultra right wing, fascist State of Israel and their militant extremist illegal destruction and mass murder of the Palestinian people, which those Zionist bastards have been joyfully carrying out for close to eighty years, all the while smug and self assured that no matter the number of United Nations resolutions and international outrage and disgust by every country on the globe, their devoted 'protector', the United States will always automatically veto every U.N attempt to condem Israel nor bring justice to the people of Palestine, or anything that might potentially upset their precious godammned 'molly-coddled' Israel.  They too are complicit in the current holocaust that is being carried out in allowing it to carry on, not to mention happily supplying those zionist sons-of-bitches with endless shipments of weapons and equipment of mass destruction.

After all, Israel is the de-facto 51st State of America, proven by the unlimited, infinite, massive military support, not to mention the 'Orange Trump' authoritarian moves to shut down esteemed institutions of higher academic learning and send his 'Brown Shirts' after anyone daring to speak ill of the fucking State of fucking Israel.  Yeah... Democracy at work and freedom of speech?  Like hell Donald Chump!  Hell, in today's paper here it reports that the Trump Kingdom is now scrolling social media links of every potential foreign visa applicant to the States, searching for any anti-Israel sentiment, whereby such applicants to the USA will be denied a visa, or in the cases of those already there, their visa status to be cancelled outright(!!!!)   Whether those souls will end up with a black hood and wrist restraints while on a 'vacation' to Guantanamo Bay, or similar US off-the-grid shithole is anyone's guess, but nothing would surprise us with this seriously unstable lunatic in the driver's seat.  

Benjamin Netanyahu - a malignant, steaming sack of pig excrement, as are his henchmen of his cancerous war cabinet, have now extended their militant desires to destroy Iran on some whim, with the cocky self assurance that they will wipe Iran off the map (with Trump the Chump's fully fuelled and completely irrational assistance naturally).  Well, a message to Iran (and all neighbouring countries) ... defend yourselves to the hilt and fight those Zio-Nazi bastards with all you've got.

It's so damned ironic that Jews - the most persecuted people of the 20th century have now become the worst of all persecutors themselves, and are now the very Nazi right-wing extremists as those evil German maggots who persecuted them from the 1930's in the first place.  It is clear to most that we now live in the age of the 'Zio-Nazi' as we nightly witness these militant zionist pigs commit relentless, slaughter and wholesale genocide upon the innocent people of Gaza, The West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran on a scale of militant evil not seen since World War II.

Countless targeted assasinations and deliberate murders and extermination of Palestinians by these rabid, pox-ridden zionist bastards have been a standard practice since 1948.  Daily we see innocent families wiped out;  people simply lining up for desperately needed food and water and routinely 'taken out' by these zionist scumbags on the express command of Netanyahu, Gantz, Gvir, Gallant and the rest of the foul sewage. Palestinian Red Cresent ambulances and paramedics are not immune from deliberate, targeted killings, with journalists too a very popular target for bullets from cowardly hidden Jewish snipers operating with complete and utter impunity.

Israeli drones, US donated jets and missiles of the relentless Blitzkrieg of Netanyahu's IDF scum as the zionists pummel Palestinian land, towns to dust with a shrewd 'scorched earth' policy, and blasting their people to a mangled, bloody pulp. It's nothing new.... those zio-nazi rat-cunts have been doing this for 80 years and GETTING AWAY WITH IT.  Everyone knows those Israeli vermin are eagerly eyeing up the Gaza strip as being a great, lucrative potential real estate deal for future illegal zionist expansion - and considerable American investment with profits galore.

Regular Israeli Defence Force targets being the unsanitary and seriously overcrowded ghetto's and tent camps that the Zio-Nazi's' have forced the Palestinian folk into (sound familiar to WWII Warsaw, anyone?)   And not just the vile IDF.... the illegal settlers have no qualms about blatant, out-in-the-open daylight murder of Arab citizens, including the violent armed eviction and bulldozing and destruction of Palestinian homes, in the relaxed, smirking, arrogant knowledge no consequences will ever be faced under that corrupt, extremist, mass murdering, morally corrupt Netanyahu regime.  

I reiterate:  The Zionist-Nazi motherfucker Netanyahu is an extremely dangerous war criminal - a vile, malignant sack of stinking pig excrement... though a very close bud of numerous US Presidents, past and present.  I'd bet that asshole Trump has a personal 'glory hole' in his office for "special, intimate friends" like Netanyahu.  In fact I can clearly hear Netanyahu's 'slurps' from this far away on the other side of the globe as he 'orally satisfies' the ego-centric orange POTUS (again).  Sour-puss VP Vance will need to wait in line for his turn to 'perform' his duty for once.

As I finish this opinion piece, I see Israel's 'handlers' in the White House have conducted massive bombing raids on Iran ... supposedly in the name of World Peace!  Give us a fucking break!  Their foreign policy has resulted in enormous levels of death and destruction in the falsehood of 'regime change' for decades, and this action - a clear violation of all international law - will be no exception.  Trump may just have opened a can of worms of the like he, and his ilk, have never seen before.   It's a wonder that the glow-in-the-dark, orange hued el-Presidente didn't choreograph the Stealth bomber attack to take place on his birthday, such is the ego of the psychopathic narcissist.  Strutting around with his Mussolini swagger, with his frightened sycophants nervously scurrying behind, following his every step in slack-jawed awe of every word uttered as if he were Christ-Almighty!

As of today, over 60'000 Palestinian folk mass murdered in the holocaust of the 21st century - and that's not counting the thousands already killed over the past 80 years - at the blood stained hands of the Zio-Nazi regime.

Am I angry? ..... you bet I'm fucken' angry ... as is much of the world at this time.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE SET FREE.

***This vast and utterly exhaustive post, and all 188 previous blog posts known as 'Matte Shot', were originally created by Peter Cook for nzpetesmatteshot, with all content, layout and text originally published at http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/