Portrait of Jennie 1948

 This film was suggested by a reader some time ago and I have finally got around to including it in a post. 

For a really in depth article on the visual effects of the film I recommend viewing NZ Pete's Matte Shot blog.  https://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/05/portrait-of-jennie-clarence-slifer.html

The movie concludes with an impressive miniature storm sequence centered around a lighthouse with a miniature sailboat. Oddly, while the rest of the film is in black and white, this sequence is tinted a strange green colour. The closing sequence following the storm gets a sepia tint with a short shot of the portrait painting of the title in technicolor.

The miniature work is quite effectively shot by Paul Eagler under the supervision of Clarence Slifer. There is one shot consisting of a badly composited live action insert into a miniature storm tossed rock background that is not well matched.

Obvious live action insert matted into the miniature background. The shadow density in the live action does not remotely match the dark shadows on the miniature rocks.

One of the many excellent matte paintings seen throughout the film.

The Wackiest Ship in the Army 1960

This comedy has a number of underwater miniature hull shots of the sailing ketch of the title. One sequence is in a mine field trying to raise the centreboard and the other is scraping past a reef.

The movie can be found in its entirety on youtube as well as the internet archive.

Yangtse Incident 1957

 For the most part the HMS Amethyst  of the story is represented by the full size vessel herself and by a sister ship HMS Magpie for all the sailing and shots of the guns firing. There is also a large amount of full size and impressive pyrotechnics going on around and onboard the fullsize ships.

For a couple of scenes however the Amethyst is represented by a model supervised by George Blackwell.

One scene is of the ship passing a floating boom gate surrounded by partly sunk ships, the other depicting the approach of the searchlight encrusted gun batteries at the mouth of the river.

There is also a brief shot of a merchant vessel with festoon lights on fire in silhouette which for most of the scene is a full size vessel but one passing shot appears to me to be a model.