The technique of miniature ship visual effects.
Some interesting early submarine miniature work in this film with the underwater shots being reasonably well shot. The surface shots are less successful as the scale is probably too small, the water being a bit glassy. Also suffers from some foreground soft focus.
Almost all of the ship action in the movie was shot on a real freighter but there is a cutaway to a tanker on fire and exploding at night which is a miniature. Another exploding ship miniature can be seen as a rear screen projection from the bridge in daylight and as a cutaway. A still of a tanker model attributed to Morituri can be found in an old studio auction catalog as lot 855.
There are a couple of stock miniature shots (lifted from older movies) of a submarine and a close up of a torpedo being fired. There is also one stock shot of a convoy in miniature covered in a layer of added fog.
 |
| Stock submarine shot. |
 |
| Stock convoy miniature shot with added fog. |
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. |
