Green Dolphin Street: Oscar winning mattes and miniatures

I've covered many MGM films in this blog over the past couple of years, with this picture one I've been meaning to pay tribute to for some time.   A grand production, based on the best selling novel, MGM's lavish 1947 costume drama of romantic entanglements among 19th Century pioneers in wild New Zealand, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET proved to be a bona fide field day for the Metro visual effects department.

I first saw this film on TV in the seventies - back when NZ Network TV used to always show classic movies uninterrupted on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  Those were the days....long gone sadly.   Even as a budding effects fan then I was very impressed with the visuals on show here, though as this was pre-VCR there was no way to capture those wonders for repeat inspection. It's long overdue arrival on DVD is most welcome.

The scenario provided the MGM boys a great many opportunities to strut their stuff up on screen - from period matte paintings of 19th century townships and a haunting, forboding mountain top convent - through to a spectacular earthquake and tidal wave which wrecks havoc in pioneer era New Zealand.  Interestingly, none of it was actually shot down here, with most of the NZ scenes having a distinctly Californian look - right down to the obviously inaccurate native bush, and the local Maori tribes being clearly played by Hollywood extras in greasepaint - as was the tradition of the day.

Career Metro Goldwyn Mayer special effects chief, A.Arnold (Buddy) Gillespie was in charge of all miniature, process and physical effects, while his counterpart and longtime associate in the matte department, Warren Newcombe, took care of the numerous pictorial demands.  I've outlined both of these key players extensive careers in several previous blogs.  MGM had a vast stable of top shelf matte artists during this period, though the only name I can say for sure painted on this show was the legendary Norman Dawn.  For those not aware, Dawn was the inventor of the painted matte process and contributed hugely to the overall development of the technique.  For a few years in the mid forties Dawn worked under Newcombe in the MGM matte department along side such noted artists as Henry Hillinick, Howard Fisher, Joe Duncan Gleason and Rufus Harrington among others.  In all likelihood these same painters shared matte duties with Norman on GREEN DOLPHIN STREET, though we shall never really know.  Interestingly, in Dawn's own meticulously archived production logs he wrote of being approached by chief art director Cedric Gibbons during the GREEN DOLPHIN assignment to potentially take over the MGM matte department due to ongoing 'issues' - though he declined the offer.

The lengthy narrative is a bit plodding, and the characterisations somewhat stodgy, but it's the visual effects side of the deal that I'm interested in, so let us take a look shall we.

The films stands out in several areas - beautiful matte art and gob smacking miniature work - as was the usual standard from Metro Goldwyn Mayer of the day.  I'd like to also draw attention to the outstanding use of rear screen process projection which is featured throughout GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.  I'd go so far as to say that I feel MGM really cornered the market in this technique for decades, with just Paramount even coming close.  

 

The use of very large screens, cleverly interwoven with sets and decor was a Metro trademark (just look at the 30's TARZAN pictures for sensational process work).  Arnold Gillespie had a lot to do with the development of improved means of producing high quality process shots in later years with astounding results on huge screen Ultra Panavision work on MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) using three projectors. 

So, here's a tribute to the Oscar winning special visual effects from GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.

Special Effects Supervisor:      A.Arnold Gillespie

Miniatures Supervisor:            Donald Jahraus

Matte Painting Supervisor:     Warren Newcombe

Matte Artists:                            Norman Dawn and Howard Fisher

Matte Photography:                 Mark W.Davis and Thomas Tutweiller

Miniature Photography:          Maximilian Fabian

Effects Cameramen:                Walter Lundeen, Jack Smith and Bill Williams

Miniatures:                              Curly Hubbard, Roy Cornish and Henry Greutert

Special Effects Technicians:  Glen Robinson, Robert MacDonald,  A.D Flowers,  Robert Staples, Dario Mortar, Carl Friend, Virgil Beck,  Hal Dumas and Charles Schulthies.

Scenic Art Supervisor:            George Gibson

Meeeow!

That would make it 1847

The opening matte of the hilltop convent in the Channel Islands is an extensive painting with ocean plate.  I've recently been informed by visual effects man Jim Danforth that career Metro matte painter Howard Fisher did in fact paint mattes on GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.  Jim worked with Howard on the 1962  IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and Fisher regaled Jim with interesting stories such as how he and other artists under Newcombe discretely painted a pair of copulating dogs in one of the GDS town paintings for fun!  Who ever said that matte work was dull. 

An artful multi part Newcombe composite of the Gothic looking convent.  Painted mountain, convent and sky with twin live action plates either side of the two nuns of the breakers coming in.

The view from the top.  Small sound stage set foreground action combined with Newcombe matte of painted mountains, town and sky with actual ocean plate.

One of two confirmed Norman Dawn mattes in this production.  This assignment was one of the last effects shots executed by Dawn for Warren Newcombe during Norman's MGM period of employment.

Close up shot breakdown from Norman Dawn's own records demonstrate the painted elements (rooftops) which were added to an existing Metro backlot set.

Throughout his long career, Norman Dawn meticulously catalogued shot by shot breakdowns of every one of his 800 odd trick shots.  These are in the collection of the University of Texas and the transcript of all of those effects makes for fascinating reading indeed.

This sprawling matte shot is possibly a Howard Fisher painted shot .

The convent again, this time with a different sky.  The vantage point is repeated numerous times throughout the film, with fresh sky and cloud effects on each occasion.  Newcombe's unit were top of their game when it came to clouds and beautifully rendered skies.  Possibly painted by MGM stalwart Howard Fisher who would have fame in the mid fifties with his iconic Krell Reactor Chamber matte for FORBIDDEN PLANET.

A full screen matte painting of the upward view of the aforementioned convent.

The shaft through the rock which leads up to the convent.

Donald Jahraus' detailed 2 inch to the foot scale model of the Green Dolphin process projected behind actors.

Top shelf process work here, as was customary with this studio.  Again, the fairly large scale model ship used here.

Miniatures of The Green Dolphin and township, with painted sky backing in the MGM tank.  Arnold Gillespie would oversee all model shots from his custom built camera skow, affectionately known as the S.S Gillespie.

Another excellent example of MGM's rear screen process projection featuring crisp background plate of miniature ship.

A later matte of the shaft in the rock as a character clambers to the opening at the top.

Rear projection scene using a Newcombe painting and ocean matte.

A wonderful flawlessly blended Norman Dawn top up matte shot described in Dawn's own special effects log sheets as: "Effect 671-double exposure matte which created a dock front setting by combining a foreground shot at a coastal town and a pastel sketch background of sea, sky, dock building, pier and sailing ship".

The New Zealand sequences feature a ripper of an earthquake and tidal wave, with several great full scale physical effects such as this shot where the earth opens up and swallows a none too convincing 'NZ Maori' extra.  Effects head Buddy Gillespie did similar wonders with James Basevi on an even grander scale years before on SAN FRANCISCO to fine effect.  Fred Sersen did even bigger variations on this over at Fox for THE RAIN'S CAME which took an Oscar in 1939.  The later 1974 Universal picture EARTHQUAKE floundered in this respect by not being anywhere near as adventurous as these vintage classics.

As mentioned earlier, MGM's rear screen process work was really far and above other practitioners of the day, and is no better demonstrated than in this astonishing set piece where the quake knocks over a vast New Zealand Kauri forest. The considerable Don Jahraus forest set featured exquisite miniature trees constructed by Roy Cornish, who specialised in miniaturised foliage and such.

Frame by frame demonstration of the above sequence, with notably 'even' illumination and contrast of the process plate on a very large translucent screen all tying in perfectly with the foreground action.  Fantastic stuff!

Technicolor was never as kind to process photography as was monochrome.

Flawlessly photographed by Maximilian Fabian, this extensive miniature setting of the approaching tidal wave wiping out the gorge is really only let down by the lack of dense native bush foliage which comprises this sort of NZ landscape. The long shot substitutes gypsum for water coming down the mountainside to ensure good scale between foreground and background.

Terrific scale for the convincing deluge, though again, the trees really aren't what we have here - especially for the era.  Think more 'Skull Island' jungle and you'd be nearer the truth.

The enormous wave heads downstream.   Fabian's outdoor shoot using natural light paid enormous dividends here and on many other MGM effects shows such as 30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO.

A closer look at that most impressive effects sequence.

And if that weren't enough, the giant deluge sweeps on down the Wanganui River, wiping out logging rafts and people along the way.  Excellent scaling of water and destruction with superb deep focus cinematography - something which can be lacking in many films of the period where depth of field problems killed the credibility.

An elaborate Don Jahraus miniature set of the Wanganui River, NZ, with highly detailed 'human' figures on the raft built by specialist Henry Greutert in the Metro model shop and shot in daylight for maximum effect.

Now, the topper... the giant wave ploughs it's way down river and into Van Heflin's raft in what can best be described as a truly virtuoso effects shot.  The river, water and scenery are all rear projected miniatures which, as soon as the wave reaches a certain point, real water erupts all over the actors, washing them overboard.  A great shot that looks sensational in motion.  Effects head Gillespie constructed a special device under the process screen that, when triggered, would blast a large volume of water up from under the screen all over the actors and set.  Alfred Hitchcock used a similar gag to excellent effect a few years earlier for his wonderful FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT where effects men Paul Eagler and Lee Zavitz blasted water straight through a disposable process screen at the actors.

I'm pretty sure this too is a matte shot depicting the rolling hills and sheep of colonial New Zealand. 

The sinking of The Green Dolphin - an elaborate Gillespie miniature effects sequence that was omitted from the final cut and sadly, only verbally referred to in the narrative, which seems such a waste of what was clearly great work.

That Gothic Convent again - this time under atmospheric moonlight.

"Me Tarzan...You Jane": Mattes and Effects from the MGM series

Johnny and Maureen - the Serengeti  'A-List'.

Today's blog is a retrospective look at the mattes and visual effects used in the six Johnny Weissmuller-Maureen O'Sullivan original TARZAN series of films made at Metro Goldwyn Mayer from the early thirties, from TARZAN - THE APE MAN made in 1932 through to the 1942 TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE.

The Edgar Rice Burroughs' characters and adventures were solid box office, with dozens of sequels, ripoffs and remakes - from the early silent era Elmo Lincoln incarnation of the loinclothed tree dweller through to nineties Disney animated super hits.  

Seriously though, there was really just one TARZAN - and that was Johnny Weissmuller (though in saying that, I'd give a serious 'thumbs up' to Christopher Lambert in the excellent 1984 version GREYSTOKE).  While Weissmuller was born for the lead role, no one (I repeat, no one) could hold a candle to the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan in the role of Jane - especially before the dreaded Hay's Code got into the act and diluted so much sensuality from her portrayal after the astonishingly bold - and arguably the best of the series - TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934). 

These pictures were produced economically, for the most part on the three huge MGM back lots with occasional day trips and second unit work at Lake Sherwood and other spots around Los Angeles.  A great deal of movie fakery was utilised to bring the films to life, with extensive stock footage - largely taken from the studios' earlier TRADER HORN - and a sizable amount of generally excellent rear screen process projection, most of which stands up remarkably well still today.  Of course, any adventure purporting to take place in the wilds of the uncharted and mysterious Dark Continent would necessitate the services of the studios' illustrious matte department, or, scenic art department as it was then known.

In order of release:

TARZAN, THE APE MAN (1932)

TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934)

TARZAN ESCAPES (1935-unreleased.  Revised version 1936)

TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939))

TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE (1941)

TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (1942)

How come Mia Farrow never looked this good?

The first two films were particularly good, with number two, TARZAN AND HIS MATE being my top pick.  The later films in this MGM bunch were more for laughs and cute animal antics - although in saying that the on screen charm of Cheeta the Chimp and his antics were guaranteed crowd pleasers and highly amusing. 

The earlier pictures were amazingly sadistic - with many a scene of native spears in heads and carnage with an eye opening degree of graphic torture and elephant stomping mayhem which would have had audiences (and censors) spinning in their seats in the early thirties.  The same can be said of the jaw dropping (and most agreeable) overt eroticism - especially in the aforementioned TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934).  The utterly gratuitous two minute (count 'em) underwater nude swimming sequence (Jane was body doubled by Josephine McKim) would even put Roger Corman or Joe D'Amato to shame! No screen 'Jane' has ever looked as fetching as Maureen O'Sullivan in this film - and in a post new millennium era in which the Angelina Jolie's and Julia Roberts's and their ilk of this world are erroneously touted as the last word in screen sexuality, I'm afraid my vote stays with the O'Sullivan, Dorothy Lamour, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Wray screen presence of old (and I'm a 60's child, believe it or not).

I've written much about MGM's effects personalities and working methods in previous blogs so I won't retrace old ground, other than to list the key SFX team members.  The MGM effects department were at the time all under the rule of chief art director Cedric Gibbons, who wielded enormous, God-like powers.

James Basevi was in charge of overall special effects for the first three pictures, with his assistant A. Arnold Gillespie taking over the reigns for the reshoot of the third film, TARZAN ESCAPES (1936) and remaining in charge of the studio's effects department until the 1960's.  Gillespie handled all miniatures, physical effects and process work.  Max Fabian was Gillespie's visual effects cameraman and shot all miniatures and special work along with Tom Tutwiler and Jack Smith.  The matte art was all carried out under the supervision of Warren Newcombe with Mark Davis as principle matte cinematographer.  

The Metro optical department under Irving G.Ries was kept busy with alot of ingenious split screen effects to introduce wild animals and the cast into the same shot.  Many of Ries' innovations would include moving split screen mattes which would follow hot on the heels of the actor (or sometimes Cheeta the chimp) as a rampaging Rhino or Lion followed on in hot pursuit.  In addition to Ries' optical work, especially in the first two films, a great deal of special photographic effects work was outsourced to the two non-studio optical houses in town as the specialised work fell outside of the usual technology at hand in studio - the Frank Williams Composite Laboratory who were pioneers in density travelling matte processes of the day.  Certain difficult bi-pack trick shots were handed over to Williams' opposition, the Dunning Process Company run by father and son team Carroll Dunning and C.Dodge Dunning - names which would prove essential a year later with RKO's KING KONG effects shoot.  I should add that the many rear screen process shots are by and large extremely good, especially those with large process screen set ups carefully melded into the stage set where some stunning results may be seen.

An excellent behind the scenes look at the early process set up at MGM.   Later developments would expand to double or triple head projection on large single screens or strategically arranged multi screen set ups by Buddy Gillespie.

 The one thing which tended to ruin this series was the penny pinching of Louis B.Mayer, where not only are stock shots re-used in subsequent films but entire sequences are lifted, largely from the first two movies, and repeatedly 'spliced in' to pad out the running time of the other films.  As previously mentioned, even some of those shots of charging animals and such originate from the 1931 jungle show TRADER HORN.

The first in the MGM series - from 1932

One of the numerous 'top up' mattes from the Newcombe department.

The luminous Maureen O'Sullivan.

Newcombe painted shot with Dunning Process travelling matte composites of falling men and a rescue.

A running theme in many jungle adventures being the mythical Elephant's Graveyard - realised here in matte art.

More TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) matte additions.

Two of the mattes which would crop up again and again in the series.

The 1934 sequel, and to my mind the best of the lot for a number of reasons.... mattes, mayhem and Maureen!

One of the finest visual effects ever produced... Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane of the Jungle.

Probably Hollywood simian performer Charlie Gemora in the ape suit.

The top left matte is an unbelievably shoddy affair with mismatch issues a-plenty.

TARZAN AND HIS MATE mattes

The same stock painting modified for re-use six years later.

Bottom two frames demonstrate the re-use of the same painting for different scenes by optically flopping.

Grand vistas created on the MGM backlot substantially augmented with Newcombe pastel paintings.

TARZAN AND HIS MATE is the most extensive visual effects showcase of the series.

Weissmuller, Cheetah and Newcombe.

One of the glorious still surviving Newcombe pastel matte paintings and the final composite.

Magnificent Golden Era matte art of the elephant's graveyard:  TARZAN AND HIS MATE  (1934)

An example of the Williams Composite Process at work where the lioness attacks and is later killed by the elephant by means of Frank Williams' double matting technique put together outside of MGM's own facilities.

Frames from the monumental crocodile attack which still stands up today as a powerhouse effects showcase.  The left frame is a very effective travelling matte composite while the right is a  brilliantly choreographed dummy croc.

More croc effects- all of which would show up again in a subsequent TARZAN and a few other pictures.  Tremendous physical effects work by James Basevi and a young Buddy Gillespie that is superbly shot and edited.  The beast is a giant mechanical puppet made from steel and rubber.  This ancient 1934 FX sequence makes all later dummy croc sequences pale in comparison.  Terrific and terrifying stuff.

Filmed twice, with this being the only 'official' version (1936)

Comparatively light of effects shots, aside from alot of process projection and undercranked animal footage.

Mattes from TARZAN ESCAPES (1936 version)

Recycled matte shots seen in at least three of the TARZAN epics.

Fairly ordinary aside from some great monkey antics.

Buddy Gillespie miniature airplane in front of process screen.

More from TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939) with miniature plane comp at left and quite possibly a matte addition right.

Composite photography with vine swinging Tarzan optically doubled into possible real setting.  Incidentally, the amazing 'actual' tree acrobatic work featured throughout the series was the work of a circus troupe known as The Flying Cordonas, who doubled for all of the vine swinging principals to excellent, nailbiting effect.

Nicely evocative Newcombe matte shots from TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939).

How to set a film in Africa and never even leave the backlot...

A so-so 1941 jungle picture.

A great matte very similar to one reused in other TARZAN films but slightly different in detail.

The best matte in the series, seen here with figure clambering across ravine added by Irving Ries optical unit.

Several of the mattes which make up the escarpment set piece, though the top right has serious perspective problems.

A superb and beautifully blended matte which concludes TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE (1941).

Aside from Cheeta, this 1941, and final entry is pretty forgettable.

Very few effects shots in this show, with this being a salvaged matte from a former film.

I'm unsure as to what this matte is from, but it does have a certain TARZAN look about it?

A composite, though whether the background is a genuine view process projected or a trick shot, I can't decide.

Matte shot with everything below the top of the ledge being added by Newcombe's department to excellent effect.

Well, that's it.  I may do a similar retrospective on the RKO TARZAN series as there are a good number of interesting matte shots to be found in some of those.  I'll not bother with the penny dreadful matte shots found in the later British made TARZAN films