MovieChat Forums > Virginia City (1940) Discussion > What did the two sidekicks see in the ba...

What did the two sidekicks see in the bar room painting?


In the scene in the bar room when the two dumbells (played by Alan Hale and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) drink and look at the painting of the lady above the bar...something moves on the painting, near the belly button area, but I really can't figure out what it's supposed to be doing. There's some sort of crude animation special effect. Is the lady in the painting supposedly "breathing?" I have replayed it a few times, and I can't figure it out. Whatever is happening, it's kind of a dumb scene, and could have best been left out.

reply

[deleted]

OK, I answered my own question. Upon re-viewing, at the beginning of the scene, when Errol Flynn and the two side kicks walk into the saloon, a barker is standing outside yelling about "Livin' Lillie" painting in the "Sazarac Saloon."

So, apparently the two dopes were seeing an illusion that the painting was "breathing." Horrible special effect. Like I said, a dumb scene that should have been cut.

The rest of the bar room scene is great, with a rousing chorus girl rendition of "Battle Cry of Freedom" and good acting by Errol Flynn and Mariam Hopkins.

reply

Curtiz trying to do a few things done in the "Dodge City" bar scenes which were crazy too.

The whole picture was a complicated take on "Dodge" with this convoluted script which looked and sounded a lot like the picutre of a few years earlier not even Curtiz again, could pull it off.

reply