Reap the Wild Wind – 1942 (WINNER)
The Special effects of this movie weren’t perfect, but they were pretty darn close. They were consistently good throughout the entire film. Everything from the rear-projection shots to the scale models, the animatronics to the stop action animation, and the matte paintings to the image compositing, was good across the board.
The film had the prerequisite romance story that most movies of the era had, but it also had an element of adventure and intrigue. Aside from the love triangle, the main conflict of the narrative was two murderous brothers who would cause ships to crash against the rocks of the Florida Keys, then appear to rescue their cargo for fifty percent of the profits. As such, much of the action took place on mercantile vessels in the 1840s. Rough seas, wind, and spray, were combined seamlessly with wisely used rear-projected ocean waves.
The shots were perfectly put together. I mean, the backgrounds were clearly artificial, but the lighting and the camera angles were wonderfully thought out and executed to come as close to reality as possible. There was one shot in particular that caught my attention as well done. The projected image was of a ship firing a canon at another vessel. The actors were on a set of the deck of the ship being attacked. We hear the canon and see the smoke, and then there was a small impact in the water behind the actors and the are sprayed with water. So simple, and yet the two images were blended very believably.
There were some great scale models of ships both before and after their sinking that were perfectly believable. The only thing that detracted from those shots was the strange effect that the close-up filming of water always has. Liquid doesn’t move the same in normal and close-up filming. It is always an obvious effect.
But it was the film’s climax that was the real star of the show. First of all, it took place underwater! That alone made it stand out from most other contemporary special effects. But then the two divers encounter a giant squid. Of course, suspension of disbelief was a necessity, but only because realistically, giant squid don’t hang out so close to the surface of the water to take residence in sunken ships. But hey, it made for an interesting monster in an exciting sequence.
The whole mechanical squid was a great and exciting effect that was really cool to watch. But in particular it was the first time I have seen stop-motion animation used in a film that was nominated for Best Special Effects. That isn’t to say such effects had never been done in movies before. Far from it, but it made for a sweet shot as a squid tentacle wrapped itself around a struggling diver.
This was the movie that won the award for Best Special Effects, and comparing it to the other 1942 movies that were nominated, I think it really deserved the honor. The effects were creative, skillfully executed, and really fun to watch, giving audiences some awesome visuals in Technicolor that were fuel for the imagination!