Many shots of real Navy dirigibles appear in this film, however the destruction of the a fictional dirigible the "Pensacola" was acheived with a detailed miniature. In a spectacular storm sequence the miniature dirigible is torn in half before crashing into the sea. For 1931 this was a significant high point in miniature aircraft effects. You can see the tearing of the envelope and the lattice like struts bending and breaking apart.
Later in the movie we see another miniature dirigible and miniature aircraft flying over miniature ice and snow landscapes. The aircraft crashes in miniature but cuts to a full size plane on flipping over.
A lot of the model shots suffer from too shallow a depth of field with the foreground very out of focus.
The Cecil B DeMille comedy 'Madam Satan' also has an airship in it's finale.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it has and I have already done a post on Madame Satan. If you click on the index tab Model Aircraft Movies up to 1969 you will find an index link in the 1930s' section that will take you to that Madam Satan post.
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