There’s no two ways about it – when it came to the musical, MGM were king of the jungle. The sheer size of the studio and the talent pool under contract made sure of that fact. Today I’m going to present a few examples of the work of MGM’s matte and photographic effects unit from the Golden Era of big Hollywood musicals and for those already familiar with some of these films a trip down memory lane and for those of you new to this genre some wonderful samples of matte movie magic as only Metro Goldwyn Mayer could do.
For decades the matte department was under the control of the eccentric and ultra protective yet admittedly shrewd Warren Newcombe who arguably ran the tightest ship in town when it came to producing high class matte painted effects shots. Newcombe ran the MGM matte dept from the late 1920’s up until his early and misguided retirement in the late 1950’s. Key to Newcombes’ success were matte cameraman Mark Davis and his operator Bob Roberts who created many an ingenious method to present what otherwise might have been a run-of-the-mill locked off composite with animated gags and camera moves.
The MGM stable of talented matte painters included Norman O. Dawn in several 40’s pictures such as “GREEN DOLPHIN STREET” and others. Dawn himself was a titan in the world of matte photography and painting and by all accounts the pioneer of the process. Other painters in the Newcombe studio were Rufus Harrington, Joe Duncan Gleason, Oscar Medlock, the father and son team of Anton and Edgar Kiechle, Stanley Poray, Jack Robson, Candelario Rivas, Ted Withers, Emil Kosa snr, Lee LeBlanc and later on Matthew Yuricich and Louis Litchtenfield to name but a few. The Metro matte and overall effects department was a force to be reckoned with and produced so many wonderful special effects for many great films and garnered many Oscars in the process…
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A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX
Please Note: Now that I am all caught up with Matte & Effects Films Celebrated, I am going further back into the archives of Matte Shot – A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX to feature even more great articles from this great site.
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.