The Oscar nominated Visual Effects of TOBRUK
Matte Shot – a tribute to Golden Era & Traditional Special Effects
While not one of the memorable war pictures of that decade, the 1967 desert actioner has a fair bit going for it with a ton of action, terrific miniature work by Howard and Darryl Anderson and wonderful matte paintings by Albert Whitlock. Couple this with the fact that the film made a ton of money for Universal, they felt the need to remake it just a few years later, complete with most of the action, stunts and effects shots re-used, the formula obviously worked. I first saw this at a Saturday afternoon double feature with, I think, PT 109 with Cliff Robertson at the lovely Mayfair theatre (R.I.P) in suburban Auckland in the early 70’s and loved it. Hell, anything where the good guys swing past Nazi pillbox slots on ropes while heaving in hand grenades with the inevitable ‘ka-boom’ was crowd pleasing at it’s best.
I love war films, especially dealing with the Second World War. My own grandfather was in both world wars – he was underage for WWI and faked his age (15) to get in and do his bit for King and country, but the man also pulled a fast one again for the next war whereby he was too old (and was married with children!) so that he go back “and get to finish what I started” in The Great War. He was in North Africa in WWII and fought (and survived) the desert campaigns, so this bit of history is of interest to me, as are my memories of this wonderful man.
…Read the Full Article @ Matte Shot
This blog is intended as a tribute to the ingenuity of the traditional matte painter where movie magic was created entirely by hand. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their ‘invisibility’ to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today
I have gone further back into the archives of Matte Shot – A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX to feature even more articles from this great site, so I hope you enjoy this wonderful journey we’re on together.
PJ Max
