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.