100-Year-old VFX shot still slaps

This clip from The Johnstown Flood (1926) will show you what people mean when they say: "VFX were better in the 20's"
Full episode ► VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi 148

[DigitalImpostor]

Wren made sure none of them were still alive.

[ZachGarland]

I live 40 minutes away from Johnstown, and you can actually still see the movie at the Johnstown Flood museum!

[Jemppu]

Using Wilhelm scream on footage that is older than the sound effect itself must be a rarity...

[wizardswarrior]

“Oh easy, not even the babies” damn kinda brutal but true

[richardwoo]

My wife’s grandma would have been 4 when this came out. She’s still going strong.

[commandercody]

If you look closely, the horse and buggy are actually partially see-through

[WhenMarkers]

Wait. They do that in 1926?!? That's some amazing techniques.

[nicholaswood]

100 years old and it still looks great

[todmccreary]

We drove through Johnstown and spent the afternoon there. They left the flood level water marks on the buildings downtown and old bridge pilings in the river. We saw another road where th bridge was swept away during a later flood in the 1960s and not replaced.

[MichaelRainey]

That's the same William Fox who founded Fox Studios which would go on to become 20th Century Fox though he had separated from the company by that point.

[radskrbigollies]

Some of the effects on these old movies are pretty amazing. Especially the ones when you find out aren’t effects and are actually real! Like that old movie (Buster Keaton maybe?) where the front of the house falls but he’s standing right where the opened window would swallow him…. That’s insane!!

[chickentv]

My 103 year old grandma actually played a child in the Johnstown flood film. So no there are still people alive from this movie.

[GremLezar]

my grandpa was born in 1924 he's still alive a ww2 veteran and a great gym partner ya never know

[le]

If you look closely, you can see that the horse is transparent. This is a side effect of layered film.

[cargopilotguy]

People can be so creative and resourceful

[CaptnTBag-X]

Live not even an hour from Johnstown, and its good to see a place i see as local on a YouTube channel i like

[jojabrock]

They got this and a century later we’re stuck with megamind 2

[piplup]

This was my first thought when watching nosferatu, everyone that watched that film on release day and was involved with it in any way has died

[Veggy]

What i wonder is how long did it take for them to figure this shot out.
It’d be so cool to be like the first person to be like: Oh i know let’s do this scene like this.

[FranciumBoron]

Gotta love practical effects. The behind the scenes DVD on Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is amazing.