This model is a film prop, but from which film?

[MadisonU6]

 

 

I apologize if this post doesn't fit the scope of this website, but I'm looking for help identifying the provenance of this boat model.  I recently purchased this model that was used as a prop in a film, but which film?  The boat originally had a motor that drove gears that caused the oars to row. I have one oar and an oar handle with a doll's forearm attached (visible in the photos). I surmise that the large appendage below is a buoyancy chamber to cause the boat to float at the correct depth. The wood is very weathered, and the wire is brittle, so I guess that it is from the 1930's to the 1960's. Any suggestions as to which film the boat is from? I found a photo of a similar whaleboat model from Moby Dick (1956) (model maker Babs Gray). That boat had the same buoyancy chamber below, but the hull was lapstrake, not smooth, and there were ten oars, not four (made in the same model shop, perhaps?). Another possibility is Lifeboat (1944) for which Fred Sersen did the visual effects. The lifeboats in Titanic (1953) may be a match to this one; four oars, smooth sides, double pointed ends, mechanical puppets and oars (visual effects by Ray Kellogg).  The whale boats in Down to the Sea in Ships (1949) look like a possible match to this model. There are short tubes (about ¼-inch diameter X 3 inches long) attached to a spar which is in turn attached to the bottom of the hull in which a guide wire ran.  The spar sticks out about eight inches beyond each end of the hull.  Ideally, I'd like to find a still photo of a model boat from a specific film that I can match to my model.  Thank you.

[ccoyle]

Hi, Madison, and welcome to MSW.

 

I'm no expert on old models, movie props or otherwise, but your post raises a few questions:

• How do you know this is a movie prop?
• From whom did you acquire the model?
• Did they know it was a movie prop? If so, how did they know?

Without some hints about the model's provenance, I doubt there's anyone in our ranks who can fill in the missing details.

 

Kind regards,

[Keith Black]

 Madison, welcome to MSW. I hope your search is rewarding. Glad to have you aboard. 

[CPDDET]

Can't help you but that's an interesting piece.

[MadisonU6]

I bought the model at an auction for an antique dealer that was closing up shop.  It was presented as being a movie prop.  I later contacted the dealer and he told me he bought it from a guy in Arizona, but that he didn't know from which film.  I later found a photo of a prop from Moby Dick (1956) that looks very similar to the model I have (floatation chamber below, spar with tubes for a guide wire, etc.).  When I posted photos elsewhere, one of the respondents stated that the stand looks like the ones used for movie prop boats.  I'm quite confident that it is a movie prop, but I just don't know from which movie.  Does anybody on this forum know of somebody who specializes in model boats as movie props?  Thank you.   

[Keith Black]

http://www.modelshipsinthecinema.com/2016/02/ben-hur-1959.html

[MadisonU6]

Keith, Thank you for the suggestion, but I posted this model on Model Ships in the Cinema, and have been in communication with the host of the website since then.  No luck there yet.  The boats in Ben-Hur are older designs than mine (1800s versus 100s?).  Thank you. 

[Keith Black]

 Madison, you're more than welcome, I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. In all the years I've roamed these topics yours is a first for myself. We're primarily modelers but we all have other lives we lead outside of modeling and there maybe someone who's tickle me Elmo is ship movie props but I'm gonna climb out on that shaky limb and say I kinda doubt it because to my knowledge the issue has never come up before. 

 

 Now, if you were asking us, do I restore or how do I restore, you'd be inundated with responses because now you're in our bailiwick. Please don't take a lack of responses as us not caring, it's a simple matter of us not knowing.

 

  Keith 

Edited October 7 by Keith Black