Archive for the ‘Edward Nassour’ Category

Lost Continent – Dinosaur Scenes

Thursday, May 3rd, 2007

The collected stop-motion animation sequences from Sam Newfield’s 1951 feature Lost Continent. Edward Nassour was the animation supervisor on this film, and may have animated some of the sequences himself – there isn’t much information published about the making of this film. As far as I know, this is one of two stop-motion features with Edward Nassour’s involvement (the other is The Beast from Hollow Mountain, from 1956).

In Lost Continent, a group of scientists and military men voyage to a mysterious plateau in search of a lost rocket, where they discover a lost world teeming with dinosaurs. The plateau scenes are tinted green to emphasize the eerie prehistoric jungle, and perhaps to mask some seams. Lost Continent enjoys a terrific cast, including Cesar Romero, Hugh Beaumont, and Acquanetta.

The dinosaur effects in this 1951 feature are strictly tabletop animation – the stop-motion puppets are shot in front of a painted backdrop with miniature set pieces. I don’t think there’s a single rear-projection setup or matte in the picture. The arthritic inflexibility of the Triceratops in battle (3:00) makes me wonder how the dinosaur models were built. Too much sponge in the body, perhaps? On the tabletop diorama, they look like toys.

The scene of the charging Brontosaurus at 0:41 in the clip echoes the vastly superior Stegosaurus charge in King Kong, as does the hapless explorer stuck in a tree.

There’s nothing impressive about these dinosaur effects, but they’re interesting in context with Ed Nassour’s next stop-motion project, the much more ambitious The Beast from Hollow Mountain.

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The Beast from Hollow Mountain – Final Sequence

Friday, April 27th, 2007

The story: An American in rancher, investigating the disappearance of his cattle, discovers a prehistoric tyrannosaurus — the Beast of Hollow Mountain. Eventually the Beast appears, in an extended (over 10 minutes) dinosaur battle at the end of the film, until it’s dispatched by quicksand. Fortunately the story about the stop-motion dinosaur is much more interesting than the movie plot.

Willis O’Brien sold the story for The Beast from Hollow Mountain to producer/director Edward Nassour, but wasn’t involved with the animation. The similarities between The Beast from Hollow Mountain and another, unfilmed O’Brien project, Gwangi (later adapted by Ray Harryhausen as 1969’s The Valley of Gwangi) are obvious. Both concern American cowboys in Mexico who battle a carnivorous dinosaur that the locals interpret as a curse. I can’t help but think that this would have been a better film with more of Willis O’Brien’s involvement. Compare The Beast from Hollow Mountain to another low-budget O’Brien effort, The Black Scorpion, which conveys his aptitude for deep, detailed miniature sets, moody lighting, and creepy monsters in spite of its budgetary shortcomings. O’Brien’s active hand is apparent in The Black Scorpion, a quality that’s missing in The Beast from Hollow Mountain.

The actual animation on this picture was completed by Jack Rabin and Louis DeWitt, and supervised by Edward Nassour. Nassour’s worked on two stop-motion pictures (Lost Continent is another Nassour production with stop-motion dinosaurs), and he seems to have had a passion for the technique.

Nassour’s patented “Regiscope” process is what gives the film its visual interest. Regiscope doesn’t appear to be anything more than replacement animation – animation with multiple, rigid models instead of one articulated puppet – but Nassour marketed it as some kind of animation revolution, and it’s used extensively in The Beast from Hollow Mountain. Replacement animation is best suited for repetitive motions like walk cycles, and as a result the tyrannosaurus does a lot of walking across the screen. Other actions were animated with a less-convincing stop-motion puppet.

Producing the effects in color and CinemaScope was an ambitious decision. It’s not surprising that many of the process shots suffer from poor focus and color shifts. The Beast from Hollow Mountain is actually the first feature film in color and widescreen to feature stop-motion composites. A superior example of composites on the color stock available in the 1950’s is The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

The most successful shot, and my favorite scene, runs from 6:45 to 6:57 in this clip. It’s a rough but effective sequence that uses both the stop-motion and Regiscope techniques. The tyrannosaurus slides controlled down a steep embankment (stop-motion), falls and rights itself (stop-motion), finally sprinting forward (replacement animation). In spite of the inconsistent motion, I think it’s the most inspired part of the movie.

Edward Nassour doesn’t get much credit for his contributions to stop-motion special effects. This clip may represent his greatest work.

Posted in Edward Nassour, Jack Rabin, Louis DeWitt, Ray Harryhausen, Regiscope, Willis O'Brien, stop motion | 6 Comments »