1941 – 1979
This movie was a lesson in chaos. It was a fast-paced comedic romp with a well-known cast, all headed by a top-notch director, Stephen Spielberg. Spielberg, who had just finished working on two popular successes, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was given permission to do anything he wanted. Following in the same vein by having a special effects-heavy film, he created some pretty impressive visuals wrapped around a story that was a mix between a Saturday Night Live sketch and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World. The result was, unfortunately, a flop at the theaters.
If you look online there is a page you can find that is specifically about the special effects for 1941, and there is also a documentary included on the DVD about the making of the film, so I had some good resources for research. The movie’s special effects were based mostly on two things: miniature models and stunts, and they certainly did not disappoint. There were plenty of both!
First let me comment on the miniatures. The best special effects are the ones you don’t know are special effects. While I was watching the film, it never once occurred to me that I was watching miniature models. For example, when two fighter planes are speeding down Hollywood Boulevard, I thought they were skilled stunt pilots flying through a fake set, though the set didn’t look at all fake. But no, all the buildings, the signs, and the lights were all done in miniature, and two miniature airplane models were suspended on thin cables to speed down the street.
The scene where a Ferris-wheel is blown from its housing, rolls down a pier, crashes into the Ocean, and sinks was amazing! Never-mind the fact that if the wheel had been disconnected from its power source, its lights would have gone out. But it looked better lit as it sank, so… suspension of disbelief! But I was surprised to learn that the entire visible amusement park and the pier were also miniature models that were rigged for destruction. And there was a tank that was charging down the street, running over cars, or anything else that got in its way. I thought they had a real tank running over disposable cars, but no, the tank itself was also a miniature model, as were the cars and the buildings lining the street.
The stunts came in the form of a dance-hall brawl during a dance contest was a perfectly choreographed chaos. It was a fast-paced, high energy, and very comedic sequence that was really fun to watch. Once the brawl left the hall and became a riot in the streets, things got even more chaotic. There were planes crashing to the street, and a crazy tank crew shooting everything in sight, trying to douse every light on Hollywood Boulevard to enforce a blackout. It was a zany madcap romp that didn’t let up until the end of the film when Ned Beatty obliviously demolishes the remnants of his house. The last effect of the film shows his home rolling off the side of a short cliff. Sure, the film may have been a silly comedy, but the special effects were certainly no joke!