1942 – Desperate Journey
Here is another example of a kind of dumb movie with some pretty decent visual effects. The script was terrible, but at least they made the movie look pretty impressive. It was a wartime propaganda film that was about a group of Allied soldiers who go on a mission to bomb a Nazi target and are shot down. The surviving men are captured, but their farcically easy escape allows them to steal important documents, then make a desperate journey across the German countryside, even waltzing through Berlin, and finally into friendly territory, blowing up critical enemy targets along the way.
So we got some flying effects, multiple explosions, some fair compositing, and a lot of rear projection effects. Of all these, I was most impressed with the flying airplane effects. As was common for the time, miniature models were used for the flying aircraft, but there were two things that caught my attention. First, the models were incredibly detailed. The camera was outside the plane, and it was incredibly steady. If it were live footage of a real plane in the air, I doubt they had the technology to make the shot so smooth and even.
But second, the camera was making some pretty awesome sweeping moves around the model, making it appear as though the plane were banking and diving in a really impressive and fluid motion. And again those shots were smooth and steady, almost like a shot in a modern film. It was actually very cool and it is the first time I have seen shots quite like them in a film from the 40s.
And then there were the ground explosions. At one point, they raid a Nazi chemical plant that is a producer of nitroglycerin. To start the fire, they throw burning bottles of the explosive liquid onto crates full of the volatile chemical, and then run. The entire plant then explodes in a gigantic ball of flame. Yes, the building looked like a model, but the towering fireball was pretty spectacular, nonetheless.
Later, the surviving men come upon an Allied Forces aircraft that the Nazis are using to deliver a devastating bombing attack to England. They commandeer the plane and use its guns to mow down the Nazis who were working on the mission. They take off in another impressive sequence. This one was not a model, but utilized some competent stunt flying, instead. The camera was on the ground, but the plane did some low flying shots where men had to dive out of the way of the airplane as it fought to gain altitude. Then, they drop the bomb onto a German base before heading into safe territory.
Compared to other war films of the time, I’d say the effects were few, but the ones they had were pretty well-done. There was even a memorable scene where the men are making a rooftop escape by leaping from one building to another. They used some great camera angles and some excellent composite effects. But it’s just a good thing I’m reviewing the visual effects and not the poor script or the ridiculous portrayal of the Nazi military. They were German Nazis, not morons.