# What did people think of movie f/x in the 40s and 50s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000 "2017-10-05T04:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/21 "2017-10-05T14:48:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > This is not an effect from the 40’s and 50’s, but it still baffles me on how this shot was constructed from the Wizard of Oz. I couldn’t find a video of Dorothy and crew running along the castle parapet but did manage to find an image [here](https://www.google.com/search?q=wicked+witch+of+the+west+castle&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR567lxNnWAhUL4yYKHYTeCVAQ_AUICigB&biw=1745&bih=863&dpr=1.1#imgrc=isBgJJcqs8nPBM:). > [@GuanoLad](#): > > [Like this](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/51/c1/bf/51c1bfed7bacb1ab037e3a6d19af83be--tv-sets-matte-painting.jpg). The black area is a live action set on stage, the rest is a matte painting. > [@DesertDog](#): > > More on [matte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_painting) painting. Given the era, the [Dawn process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_(filmmaking)#In-camera_matte_shot) (named after [Norman Dawn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Dawn)) was undoubtedly used. I know it was a matte painting, but how did they make the stream (lower left corner of the frame) sparkle like it was flowing? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/22 "2017-10-05T15:09:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I know it was a matte painting, but how did they make the stream (lower left corner of the frame) sparkle like it was flowing? There are various ways – they could’ve had openings in the painting (places not painted over) and had lights , or, more likely, a spangled band reflecting light moving behind it. They could’ve matted in motion picture film of moving water, as they did in King Kong [http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/pcote/clips/king-kong-matte-work.mov/view](http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/pcote/clips/king-kong-matte-work.mov/view) ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/23 "2017-10-05T19:15:42Z")
One thing to keep in mind is things looks different on the big screen than on TV. When I was a kid, I used to watch King Kong every year and loved it but it was obvious what I was watching was almost “life-sized” in the sense that Kong was a puppet about the same size as he appeared on my TV. You could even see the fingerprints of the animators rippling his fur. Eventually, I saw it on the big screen and it was revelatory. Kong was a giant! His fur rippled in the wind. He commanded respect. He was now “Life-sized” in the character sense. He was a 25-50 foot ape! Same goes for the dinosaurs. It was much easier to imagine how audiences had felt back then. It even had the side effect of making me fall in love with Fay Wray. She does the cutest expressions in the first act, on the boat. She also must have been cold, as her sheer outfits made apparent. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/24 "2017-10-05T22:06:45Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/25 "2017-10-05T23:17:20Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I know it was a matte painting, but how did they make the stream (lower left corner of the frame) sparkle like it was flowing? If DesertDog is right, and they used the Dawn Process, film of a real stream will be projected on top of the painted stream, giving realistic movement. I once did a similar thing digitally, where I layered footage of trees blowing in the wind on top of a still photograph, to give subtle life to it and make it look less static. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/26 "2017-10-06T00:10:24Z")
Yup, the special effects you’re noticing in old movies are pretty bad. But that’s not because they’re old; it’s because you’re noticing them. A good special effect is precisely one which you don’t notice. For a recent point of comparison: Consider the Lord of the Rings movies. They didn’t keep on winning Visual Effects Oscars for the Balrog and the Eye of Sauron: They won them for the hobbits. So too for old movies. The really great special effects are the ones you don’t notice. For another famous example, the Kansas scenes in _The Wizard of Oz_. You see a farmhouse, with a tornado off in the distance. Of course, that’s not _actually_ what you see… but you don’t notice. The tornado looks real enough that you never stop to think and realize that it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/27 "2017-10-06T00:12:44Z")
I’m so tired of pointing out that there’s so much more to selling an effect than means to make them. So I’m not going to bother preaching to deaf ears. Instead, I’m going to link to one of most impactful scenes of this relevant era or any era. [Night of the Demon](https://youtu.be/QaElzJjy_xU) (You may want to experience to shebang first, though) Bonus: [The Invisible Man Unravels](https://youtu.be/KXMOURHEMpY) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/28 "2017-10-06T00:19:59Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Nah. I way prefer the 1958 version. “Heeeelp…me…” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/29 "2017-10-06T01:16:07Z")
I’ve seen “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” a hundred times, but until I got the DVD a few years back, I didn’t know that one of the best scenes [(jumping off the cliff–“Ohhhhhh, SHIT!”) was all kinds of SFX](https://youtu.be/F3S49u86KaE?t=1088). (18:08–20:00) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000/30 "2017-10-06T01:30:27Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > “Heeeelp…me…” Creepy as hell to a little kid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-people-think-of-movie-f-x-in-the-40s-and-50s/798000.md?page=1)