MovieChat Forums > The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) Discussion > Special effects

Special effects

posted 10 years ago by rokrox
3 replies | jump to latest

I thought the special effects were amazing in this, though the real talent was Granger in so effectively playing both characters (and his appearance being so different between them)
but in the scene where the two Rudolfs meet, HOW DID THEY DO THE HANDSHAKE? I paused it and can't seem to figure out how they did it, maybe it's very obvious if you understand the overall split screen process but I don't, so if someone could explain this particular effect I'd be very grateful!

"Of course it's me, who were you expecting?"

[–] beresfordjd 10 years ago

I am watching it now on BBC2 and I have been puzzling the scene too!! Excellent effect.

[–] pRot3us 10 years ago

Same here, I've not seen any effect like this done anywhere near as well from this era.

I need to know how it was done.

.pRot3us.

[–] liscarkat (16434) 6 years ago

I think that the arm we see reaching out from one of the Grangers to shake hands with the other belongs to another man who is hidden, outside the frame, or masked out somehow. This man has his arm inserted into Granger's sleeve. Granger has his own arm not in the sleeve, and keeps it out of sight. When the two parts of the double-exposed film strip are complete, it ends up appearing as if the two Grangers are grasping hands.