318 Matter of Life and Death, A (1946)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
318 Matter of Life and Death, A (1946)
- For the table tennis scene, 'Kim Hunter' (qv) and 'Roger Livesey' (qv) were
trained by 'Alan Brooke' (qv), the British champion who has played many
games with International champion 'Victor Barna' (qv). During a visit to
Denham Studios the two champions played a couple of games before an admiring
audience of artists and technicians. For luck, Hunter borrowed one of
Brook's tournament bats for her film game.
- The huge escalator linking this World with the Other, called ``Operation
Ethel'' by the firm of engineers who constructed her under the aegis of the
London Passenger Transport Board, took three months to make and cost 3,000
pounds (in 1946). ``Ethel'' had 106 steps each 20 feet wide and was driven
by a 12 h.p. engine. The full shot was completed by hanging minatures.
- The backcloth of the High Court scene, suggesting tiers of seats stretching
into infinity, measured 350 feet long and 40 feet high. Altogether 8
backcloths of similar large dimensions were used in Other World scenes, and
29 elaborate sets were constructed. In all these vast scenes 5,375 crowd
artistes were used, including real R.A.F. crews, Red Cross nurses and
W.A.A.C.s.
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