Archive for the ‘Willis O'Brien’ Category

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 »

Pete Peterson – The Las Vegas Monster

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Pete Peterson’s stop-motion animation is greatly underappreciated today. As Willis O’Brien’s production assistant, he was responsible for memorable scenes in Mighty Joe Young, The Black Scorpion, and Behemoth the Sea Monster. The grace of his animations contrasts with the crippling arthritis he developed at the peak of his career. Peterson valiantly worked through his physical pain on the animation set, even while bound to a wheelchair.

The Las Vegas Monster is a test reel created by Pete Peterson for an unrealized motion picture. You’ll recognize the set and low-key lighting from The Black Scorpion. Peterson designed the monster and built the armature. Years later, the monster’s armature became the backbone for the Great God Porno (sometimes called the Nesuahyrrh) in the 1972 feature Flesh Gordon.

The monster – a mutated baboon – creeps along with a four-limbed simian gait that’s a refreshing change from King Kong’s, and the articulated feelers protruding out the nose are effectively bizarre. (They also sell the concept of the monster’s body reacting physically as it swings its body around, particularly at the end of the clip.) I’m also impressed with the monster’s extended pitch when hurling objects – it’s a motion that can’t be achieved by an actor in costume.

This clip’s pace seems slow to me. In contemporary animation, shots of the monster hurling cars and boulders would be photographed in just a few frames for more energetic actiont. But the pacing works with the long duration of each animation cut. This 2:19 clip is made up of only eight cuts (excluding the actor who briefly sticks his head out a door), and the longest is an astonishing 52 seconds, approximately 1,248 frames. Peterson must have been gifted with intense patience and memory.

The Las Vegas Monster demonstrates Pete Peterson’s innate talent for stop-motion animation, and I want to learn more.

Posted in Independent Cinema, Pete Peterson, Willis O'Brien, stop motion | 2 Comments »