Saturday 26 January 2013

Deep waters 1948

Nominated for an Academy award for special effects, supervised by Fred Sersen. Has a storm sequence at sea with some dangerous rocks, a lobster boat and an overturned dingy, clinging to which is a small boy played by Dean Stockwell. A largely forgotten film which had been very difficult to find.

The miniature stormy ocean is extremely well realised by Fred Sersen and crew. Particularly noteworthy is the camera which has the point of view of being mounted on  the fishing boat with the realistic motion of being tossed about by the chaotic waves. This imparts a visceral sense of realism to the miniature shots.

I have recently found a better copy on youtube and have replaced the original pictures which were from a NTSC VHS to DVD dub from an Ebay vendor with the better resolution frame grabs.




















































3 comments:

  1. just found your website through a search.....great site!

    wasn't this footage of the boat used in the opener of "Gilligan's Island" TV series, the pilot and season one? It looks very familiar. Might have been used in the "Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries" in the late 70s also, or something VERY similar.

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  2. Too bad about this movie being so overlooked. The storm sequence is truly incredible. I'd put it on par with the storms from Plymouth Adventure and Guns of Navarone. I thought it was really impressive how they floated the camera raft while producing such massive waves. As in those other films, it really adds to the sense that this was shot on location.

    I'd love to know the scale of that model, it looks huge. I'd guess 1:5 or maybe even 1:3. Really, the only way I'm certain it's a miniature is that there's no way in hell they could've shot it for real and survived lol

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    1. El responsable de los efectos especiales era Fred Senser, un magnífico especialista con varios oscars y que hizo construir un estanque de rodaje en los estudios de la 20t century Fox en los Ángeles que en su honor se llamó Lago Senser

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