CineSavant Column
Hello!
Yep, one review and no apologies … it was a nice break.
CineSavant correspondent Lee Kaplan sent in this photo posted by Tim Mitchell on Facebook. Special effects shots from John Huston’s ’56 Moby Dick aren’t common, and this is one I’ve never seen. (It enlarges.)
The production company tried to shoot a lot of whale effects at sea, which reportedly led to a few disasters. They towed a giant whale mockup out to deep water, where it promptly sank like a rock and couldn’t be retrieved.
Mr. Mitchell identifies this photo as from Elstree studios. I thought the white whale mockup was terrific. Could we also be looking at a dim image on a rear-projection screen?
I’ve always liked the Moby Dick effects. On a big screen they’re as impactful as Spielberg’s shark — and just as believable … and I think the Spielberg shark is just fine, too.
And we have to hand it to Michael McQuarrie for this one: the Something Weird folk have an entire Youtube Channel posted with plenty of short subjects and feature films to rot one’s brain. The instructional and educational pictures are usually a riot, and the exploitative features are often real mystery items.
There is a lot of content here … don’t warp your brain too badly. I see that a lot of it has been up forever … which goes to show how current we are with these things.