# Your favorite pre-CGI special effects scenes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 6, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137 "2019-04-06T18:07:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mako88sb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mako88sb)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/1 "2019-04-06T18:07:39Z")
A few of mine are related to naval scenes. First off is “Sink The Bismarck”(1960) with some clips from the Bismarck’s first and last battle. Very impressive model work and the explosions seem pretty realistic, especially when the HMS Hood blows up. Not that I’ve ever seen a naval battle so just my opinion of course:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx40FoRocHA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx40FoRocHA)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obe-eS-etMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obe-eS-etMg)
Next is the 1962 version of “Mutiny on the Bounty” and the attempt of the HMS Bounty and crew to battle it’s way around Cape Horn. Just a brilliant job with the model work and affects of heavy weather to really give you a great appreciation of the conditions those men had to endure. “Iron men” indeed. Much better effects than the 1984 version or “The Caine Mutiny” storm scene. Unfortunately there’s no full clip I could find for the whole sequence that I think lasted about 10 mins in the movie. Here is a short clip that does show you some of it however:
[http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/322366/Mutiny-On-The-Bounty-Movie-Clip-You-d-Best-Join-My-War.html](http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/322366/Mutiny-On-The-Bounty-Movie-Clip-You-d-Best-Join-My-War.html)
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/2 "2019-04-06T18:12:15Z")
[Battle of Endor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZigWFyK2o) from the Return of the Jedi. Really for me, the peak of the use of models for big effects sequences. Ten years later, we’d get Jurassic Park and its initial use of CG(though a lot of it was practical as well).
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/3 "2019-04-06T19:32:38Z")
The giant squid attack from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/4 "2019-04-06T20:13:57Z")
[This one.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfLyMAHrQE&t=1m50s)
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/5 "2019-04-06T20:17:56Z")
> [@ExTank](#):
>
> [This one.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfLyMAHrQE&t=1m50s)
The opening of Star Wars for those that can not access Youtube or just want to know.
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### Author:  [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/6 "2019-04-06T20:36:46Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> The opening of Star Wars for those that can not access Youtube or just want to know.
While it was indeed a spectacular opening - and I speak as one fortunate and old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1977 - is it really pre-CGI? I say that because I remember hearing after the movie came about about all the great special effects in it from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/7 "2019-04-06T20:42:47Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#):
>
> While it was indeed a spectacular opening - and I speak as one fortunate and old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1977 - is it really pre-CGI? I say that because I remember hearing after the movie came about about all the great special effects in it from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
Yup, all of the ship effects in the original trilogy were all done with practical effects (models, actual explosions, etc.) ILM did a lot of pioneering work for the first Star Wars film, but that pioneering was mostly in the realm of developing computerized motion control for the cameras, to allow a camera to exactly repeat a tracking shot. They revolutionized what could be done with SFX, but it was still all practical effects at that time.
The first fully CGI sequence which ILM did was the film of the “Genesis Effect” in _Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan_.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/8 "2019-04-06T20:52:04Z")
Drank from the wrong grail.
“He chose …poorly.”
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/9 "2019-04-06T20:58:04Z")
[Jason and Argonauts v skeletons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfedvthepRs)
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/10 "2019-04-06T21:00:10Z")
Anything by Ray Harryhausen. I especially love [Pegasus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-4TpwbrMY).
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/11 "2019-04-06T21:02:09Z")
My favorites from the pre-CGI era:
\*
Star Wars\*: the battle over the Death Star
_Raiders of the Lost Ark_: the opening of the Ark, with the melting / exploding Nazis.
_Star Trek II_: both battles between the Enterprise and Khan on the Reliant
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### Author:  [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/12 "2019-04-06T21:03:27Z")
The hang-glider part of Escape From New York. It looks like Kurt Russell is flying referencing a wire frame model of New York on a display. Actually it was an actual model of New York filmed in the dark with the outlines of the building made to glow (I forget how. Black light I think, but would that work?) Perfect hidden surface removal, real time rendering, 24 fps.
And of course, the amazing latex masks in Mission Impossible. Not the masks obviously, but the way you just have one actor play another and then cut to having the original actor peeling off latex, showing it was him all the time.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/13 "2019-04-06T21:10:00Z")
The dragon in [The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056700/). This impressed me as a child when it was first released. The animation was done by George Pal and his son.
Following that, tons of stuff in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/14 "2019-04-06T21:10:35Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#):
>
> While it was indeed a spectacular opening - and I speak as one fortunate and old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1977 - is it really pre-CGI? I say that because I remember hearing after the movie came about about all the great special effects in it from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
Just for reference, the two films which were seen as really pioneering CGI for use in special effects were _Tron_ (1982) and _The Last Starfighter_ (1984). Both were revolutionary for their times, but both of them, even back then, clearly looked computer-generated.
_Tron_ example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcyCWEsbsPU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcyCWEsbsPU)
_The Last Starfighter_ example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPGuMGs8cg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPGuMGs8cg)
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/15 "2019-04-06T21:14:42Z")
Yeah, I love me some sword-fightin’ Skeletons. Evil little bastards!
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### Author:  [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/16 "2019-04-06T21:21:57Z")
Everything Ray Harryhausen has done should also count in my favorites.
And Buster Keaton, does that count? He did a lot by simply filming it. He would be swept over a waterfall by jumping into a river and getting swept over a waterfall. The General shows a train passing about 1000 men and later falling off a railroad bridge, done by filming it as it passes about 1000 men and then having it fall off a railroad bridge. If that isn’t a special effect, Sherlock Jr. has scenes where Keaton plays the entire cast of a music hall show and all of the orchestra, done by re-shooting onto the same bit of film with different bits of the frame masked off. (A trick which I think Kubrick used in 2001 as well.)
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/17 "2019-04-06T21:32:31Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#):
>
> While it was indeed a spectacular opening - and I speak as one fortunate and old enough to have seen it in the theater in 1977 - is it really pre-CGI? I say that because I remember hearing after the movie came about about all the great special effects in it from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
Computer animation was incredibly primitive at the time. A [top-of-the-line supercomputer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1) at the time was capable of 160 MegaFLOPS, had 8 MB of RAM, and cost 5 million dollars. (A [top-of-the-line video card today](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/titan/titan-v/) can do over 100,000,000 MegaFLOPS, has 32,000 MB of RAM, and costs 3 thousand dollars.)
(But there was some CGI in ANH–[here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeSw00n3Ac) is a video on how it was made.)
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/18 "2019-04-06T21:37:18Z")
Frederick March, transforming from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. In the beginning of the transformation, he wore makeup that looked different depending on the color of light shining on it. By changing the color of the key-light, the black-and-white camera saw him change shape.
Lon Chaney, Jr., transforming from Larry Talbot to the Wolf Man. As time passed, the sequels got worse and worse, but the transformation sequences got better.
Two from Ray Harryhousen: the homonculus from _The Golden Voyage of Sinbad_, and the baboon and the troglodyte from _Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger_.
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### Author:  [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/19 "2019-04-06T22:23:11Z")
_The Bat Whispers_ (1930)
Mind-boggling opening shot; they didn’t really pull it off, but it is nonetheless audacious - [https://youtu.be/m6vRzyM2wxM?t=138](https://youtu.be/m6vRzyM2wxM?t=138)
_King Kong_ (1933)
_The Big Clock_ (1948) - The opening shot starts on a pan of real skyscrapers at night, transitions to a miniature building, then pushes in to the live-action interior. Alas, there is no clip of it on YT.
_The Ten Commandments_ (1956)
Pillar of fire - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo0JMs-evQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo0JMs-evQU)
The finger of God - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoFSpoAbXLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoFSpoAbXLc)
_Forbidden Planet_ (1956)
Krell lab tour - [https://youtu.be/HHXfMjp2zqI?t=30](https://youtu.be/HHXfMjp2zqI?t=30)
Id Monster - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S8j7tlV2EM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S8j7tlV2EM)
> [@pmwgreen](#):
>
> If that isn’t a special effect, Sherlock Jr. has scenes where Keaton plays the entire cast of a music hall show and all of the orchestra, done by re-shooting onto the same bit of film with different bits of the frame masked off. (A trick which I think Kubrick used in 2001 as well.)
I think you are referring to _The Play House_ (1921), not _Sherlock Jr._
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-pre-cgi-special-effects-scenes/832137/20 "2019-04-06T22:24:29Z")
If ‘not really before CGI, but not using CGI’ counts, I’ll add the Lord of The Rings hobbit with Wizard and Dwarf with Human shots, which use forced perspective and other tricks to make the hobbits and Dwarves look small, but no CGI that I’m aware of.
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