Hello there enthusiasts of old school matte painting and miniature motion picture wizardry. It’s been a while since I posted one of these enormous retrospectives. When I finish one I usually say to myself that’s ‘quite enough’, and I don’t even want to contemplate attacking another one – at least for a while. After a month or two the ole’ matte-shot mind starts to tick over and recall flicks or shots “that would surely make a bloody interesting article some day”, and, give it a few weeks, I generally find my neurons concentrating (against my will it seems, like some sort of vfx demonic possession!) almost 100% on yet another godammned mammoth retrospective, despite what my better judgement might otherwise strongly advise. These things do exhaust moi you know. I know my long suffering wife of 42 years would love it if I found other avenues to explore – like getting out of the house and doing ‘stuff’. Wives…. ya’ can’t live with ’em, ya’ can’t live without ’em. I can state that safely as the last thing she’d ever do would be to actually read one of these things!! 🙁
Anyway, on to business. Man, have I got some great stuff here today. As usual there’s the mix and match of films we know and a hell of a lot of films I can be sure nobody remembers – or cares to remember that I feel obligated in ‘throwing in’ for fun. From the bona-fide big budgeted cinematic classics all the way through to the sub-B grade quickies that, while being as far removed from big Hollywood Boulevard star studded previews, still have some charm and sometimes quite creative technical work on a nickels and dimes budget.
We’ve got a big, sprawling epic western with jaw dropping never before seen Whitlock original painted mattes; not one but a pair of Jules Verne inspired sci-fi archeological adventures; an exciting UK made covert operatives WWII picture; a couple of lush MGM musicals; an excellent and ultimately shocking Japanese wartime drama; some sadistic 50’s film-noir; a saucy British period comedy; a couple of tributes to a pair of artists from vastly different era’s; some more long forgotten Yuricich original matte paintings, and more
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A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX
This blog is intended primarily as a tribute to the inventiveness and ingenuity of the craft of the matte painter during Hollywoods’ Golden Era. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their ‘invisibility’ to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today.