There was a miniature version of a full size pirate vessel used for a sinking and subsequent raising scene. It was attached with cables to concrete blocks on the sea bed off the Spanish coast, so it could be pulled under in a controlled way.
Pirate vessel miniature outside the Spanish Studio[/caption]
There is also a version of the Nautilus designed in a similar vein to that from that from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but without infringing copyright. This model is only seen moored inside a miniature cave set. In Ray Harryhausen's "Film Fantasy Scrapbook" he states the Nautilus miniature at being 10 foot (3m) in length whereas in a later book "Ray Harryhausen An Animated Life" it is said to be 5-6 feet long.
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| Pirate vessel miniature outside the Spanish Studio. |
Other miniatures of note were the entire town square and balloon used in the opening sequence (live actors were added to the scene with the use of traveling mattes), a sunken ancient temple, miniature version of the rocky cliff cave and a volcano that erupts . The volcano smoke was shot at 96 frames a second as was the miniature Nautilus in the cave.
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| Ray Harryhausen on the miniature town square set with the miniature balloon. |
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| Ray Harryhausen (right) with technicians prepping the miniature volcano set. |
There are a few shots of lava flows in a miniature landscape that I am sure I have seen elsewhere so I suspect they are stock footage from a previous production.
Note: See reader comment below for details on where that footage has been lifted.
There are also a number of fairly colourful matte paintings that are somewhat less successful.
