Saturday 15 February 2014

The Heroes of Telemark 1965

Another film Starring Kirk Douglas is this British film directed by Anthony Mann with special effects by the legendary John P Fulton, most famous for parting the red sea in Cecil B DeMille's Ten Commandments among other notable effects. For a more detailed look at his career I recommend visiting NZ Pete's excellent MATTE SHOT site.

There are some very convincing miniatures at the climax of the movie.  The shots of the ferry sinking and the train wagons of heavy water sliding into the depths of the fiord are very realistic. It also appears to have been shot on location rather than a studio tank as the background  appears quite genuine. I suspect that very large scale miniatures have been employed. Also notable are the underwater explosions which appear of a substantial size accompanied by an large emission of light.
























2 comments:

  1. In the early 50's and 60's it was perceived that British FX technicians were not of the caliber of the Americans so any big budget production that was American financed would be headed up in the Visual, miniature effects departments by Americans such as the Lydecker bros and Glen Robinson, John P Fulton etc, all genius technicians by the way..
    That changed when Brits like Derek Meddings and Brian Johnson appeared in the late 60s -70s, all from the Gerry Anderson studios, generally doing superior work than anyone at the time...

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  2. The ripples in the hull, and the skillful editing between live shots with the rail cars and the miniatures convinced me this was a real sinking, watching this back in the 70s. Really skillful stuff.

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