Warren Newcombe

Birth : 1894-04-28, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

Death : 1960-08-03

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Warren Newcombe (April 28, 1894 – August 3, 1960) was an American special effects artist. He won two Academy Awards for Best Special Effects and was nominated for another one in the same category. He worked on more than 200 films during his career.

Movies

Gun Glory
Special Effects
An ex-gunslinger (Stewart Granger) shunned by townsfolk is the only one who knows how to stop a ruthless cattleman.
Designing Woman
Special Effects
A sportswriter who marries a fashion designer discovers that their mutual interests are few, although each has an intriguing past which makes the other jealous.
The Wings of Eagles
Special Effects
The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter.
The Opposite Sex
Special Effects
Former radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to ignore the information, but when Crystal performs one of her musical numbers at a charity benefit, she breaks down and goes to Reno to file for divorce. However, when she hears that gold-digging Crystal is making Steve unhappy, Kay resolves to get her husband back. The Opposite Sex is a remake of the 1939 comedy The Women.
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Special Effects
The story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Special Effects
Chuck Rodwell is a gambling cowboy who discovers that he's lucky at the roulette wheel if he holds hands with dancer Marie. However, Marie doesn't like to hold hands with him, at least not in the beginning...
I'll Cry Tomorrow
Special Effects
Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Lillian Roth becomes a star of Broadway and Hollywood before she is twenty. Shortly before her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, he dies and Lillian takes her first drink of many down the road of becoming an alcoholic.
Guys and Dolls
Special Effects
Gambler Nathan Detroit has few options for the location of his big craps game. Needing $1,000 to pay a garage owner to host the game, Nathan bets Sky Masterson that Sky cannot get virtuous Sarah Brown out on a date. Despite some resistance, Sky negotiates a date with her in exchange for bringing people into her mission. Meanwhile, Nathan's longtime fiancée, Adelaide, wants him to go legit and marry her.
Trial
Special Effects
A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters.
It's Always Fair Weather
Special Effects
Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.
The King's Thief
Special Effects
An ex-soldier turned highwayman uncovers a plot to take control of England from King Charles II.
Love Me or Leave Me
Special Effects
A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
Interrupted Melody
Special Effects
Interrupted Melody is the inspirational filmed biography of world-renowned Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence. She’s a foremost Wagnerian, equal to the vocal and physical demands of the composer’s oeuvre. And she’s a beacon of triumph to anyone who fights back when personal tragedy strikes.
Jupiter's Darling
Special Effects
Rome is on the verge of being conquered by Hannibal. While Rome's ruler, Fabius Maximus, plots a defense against Hannibal's armies, Fabius' fiancée, Amytis, is curious about the fearless conqueror. Amytis travels to Hannibal's camp just to get a look at him, but she ends up being captured. However, she is instantly smitten by the Carthaginian commander, so she tries to shift his attentions away from Rome -- and to her instead.
Deep in My Heart
Special Effects
Biographic movie about the American composer Sigmund Romberg.
Brigadoon
Special Effects
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.
Her Twelve Men
Special Effects
An inexperienced female teacher is hired at a private elite school for boys where she raises a few eyebrows among the all-male faculty.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Special Effects
In 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that they want to get married too.
Executive Suite
Special Effects
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to see who will replace him.
Kiss Me Kate
Special Effects
Fred and Lilli are a divorced pair of actors who are brought together by Cole Porter who has written a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play. A fight on the opening night threatens the production, as well as two thugs who have the mistaken idea that Fred owes their boss money and insist on staying next to him all night.
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Special Effects
In the South Pacific islands, two brothers, one good and one bad, fight over the same girl and over a bag of pearls.
Give a Girl a Break
Special Effects
When the temperamental star of a new Broadway musical revue in rehearsals walks out, director and choreographer Ted Sturgis suggests casting an unknown for the role. When it is announced in the newspapers, throngs of hopefuls show up. The revue's musical composer, Leo Belney, champions ballerina Joanna Moss, while gofer Bob Dowdy is enchanted by novice Suzy Doolittle. Then producer Felix Jordan persuades Ted's former dance partner, Madelyn Corlan, to come out of retirement to try out, much to Ted's great discomfort.
The Actress
Special Effects
The true story of Ruth Gordon's early struggles on the road to stage stardom.
The Band Wagon
Special Effects
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Julius Caesar
Special Effects
The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for the idealist and the republic.
Remains to Be Seen
Special Effects
A singer and her apartment manager get mixed up in a creepy Park Avenue murder and find themselves facing danger at every turn.
The Story of Three Loves
Special Effects
Passengers on an ocean liner recall their greatest loves.
The Naked Spur
Special Effects
Howard Kemp has been tracking killer Ben Vandergroat for a long time. In the Colorado Rockies, he teams up with prospector Jesse Tate and former Union soldier Roy Anderson. Thinking Kemp is a sheriff, they agree to help for a small fee. When they catch Vandergroat, he tells them Kemp is pursuing a $5,000 bounty. After demanding equal shares, the uneasy alliance heads for Kansas as Vandergroat tries to turn them against each other.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Special Effects
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.
Desperate Search
Special Effects
A man (Howard Keel), his wife (Jane Greer) and his famous-aviator ex-wife (Patricia Medina) search for their two children lost with a cougar.
The Prisoner of Zenda
Special Effects
An Englishman vacationing in Ruritania is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
Holiday for Sinners
Special Effects
Three old friends reunite during Mardi Gras and try to forget their problems.
Shadow in the Sky
Special Effects
Burt, a Marine suffering from Battle Fatigue, is deathly afraid of rain and confined to an asylum, but showing improvement. He wants to live with his sister's family, but they have young children.
Skirts Ahoy!
Special Effects
Three young ladies sign up for some kind of training at a naval base. However, their greatest trouble isn't long marches or several weeks in a small boat, but their love life.
Carbine Williams
Special Effects
David Marshall Williams is sent to a prison farm where he works in the tool shop and eventually develops the precursor of the famous M-1 Carbine automatic rifle used in World War II.
Talk About a Stranger
Special Effects
Small-town gossips rage over the arrival of a mysterious stranger.
Singin' in the Rain
Special Effects
In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.
The Belle of New York
Special Effects
In squeaky-clean New York at the turn of the century, playboy Charlie Hill falls so much in love that he can walk on air. The object of his affections is beautiful Angela Bonfils, a mission house worker in the Bowery. He promises to reform his dissolute life, even trying to do an honest day's work.
The Wild North
Special Effects
In the Canadian mountains, a trapper goes on the run accused of a crime and is pursued by a rugged and determined lawman of the Royal North-West Mounted Police.
Callaway Went Thataway
Special Effects
Two smart marketing people resurrect some old films starring cowboy Smoky Callaway and put them on television. The films are a big hit and the star is in demand. Unfortunately no one can find him. When a lookalike sends in a photo, the marketing team hires him to impersonate Callaway. Things get sticky when the real Callaway eventually shows up.
An American in Paris
Special Effects
Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.
The Strip
Special Effects
Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
The Tall Target
Special Effects
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.
Show Boat
Special Effects
A dashing Mississippi river gambler wins the affections of the daughter of the owner of the Show Boat.
The Painted Hills
Special Effects
After years of prospecting, Jonathan finally strikes gold. He returns to town only to discover that his partner has since died and left Tommy fatherless. He decides to leave Shep (played by Lassie) with Tommy to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Jonathan's new partner, Lin, isn't interested in sharing the gold, and lures Jonathan to his death. Lassie immediately deduces what's happened, so Lin poisons Lassie. Lassie barely pulls through and pursues Lin to a climactic confrontation where, due to an off-screen accident with some liquid nitrogen, Lin's gun jams.
Royal Wedding
Special Effects
Tom and Ellen are asked to perform as a dance team in England at the time of Princess Elizabeth's wedding. As brother and sister, each develops a British love interest, Ellen with Lord John Brindale and Tom with dancer Anne Ashmond.
Mr. Imperium
Special Effects
A pretty singer/dancer is becoming an actress whereas the playboy crown prince is becoming a monarch. The both will have their clandestine romance interfered with by their changing circumstances.
Inside Straight
Special Effects
A tycoon rises to the top in 19th-century San Francisco through greed and corruption.
Kim
Special Effects
During the British Raj, the orphan of a British soldier poses as a Hindu and is torn between his loyalty to a Buddhist mystic and aiding the English secret service.
Two Weeks with Love
Special Effects
The Robinson family are spending two weeks of summer vacation at a resort in the Catskills. Older daughter Patti vies with her friend, Valeria, for the affections of Demi Armendez but Patti is at a disadvantage because her parents think she is too young for boys. But with Patti singing at an amateur show and a dance, her adventures in quest of Armendez ends happily.
To Please a Lady
Special Effects
Mike Brannon is a former war hero turned midget car racer. His ruthless racing tactics have made him successful but the fans consider him a villain and boo him mercilessly. Independent, beautiful reporter Regina Forbes tries to interview him but is put off by his gruff chauvinism, and when Brannon's daredevil tactics cause the death of a fellow driver, he finds himself a pariah in the sport thanks to her articles. When she finds him earning money as a barnstorming daredevil driver hoping for a comeback, they begin to become mutually attracted.
Three Little Words
Special Effects
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury for while, so he has to earn his money as a lyricst. Per chance he meets composer Harry Ruby and their first song is a hit. Ruby gets Kalmar to marry is former partner Jessie Brown, and Kalmar and Jessie prevent Ruby from getting married to the wrong girls. But due to the fact, that Ruby has caused a backer's withdrawal for a Kalmar play, they end their relation.
Stars in My Crown
Special Effects
The story of a young pastor coming to a small town in the United States to set up his ministry. The movie tells of the various relationships and struggles he goes through as he goes about raising his family and preaching to the community.
On the Town
Special Effects
Three sailors - Gabey, Chip and Ozzie - let loose on a 24-hour pass in New York and the Big Apple will never be the same! Gabey falls head over heels for "Miss Turnstiles of the Month" (he thinks she's a high society deb when she's really a 'cooch dancer at Coney Island); innocent Chip gets highjacked (literally) by a lady cab driver; and Ozzie becomes the object of interest of a gorgeous anthropologist who thinks he's the perfect example of a "prehistoric man". Wonderful music and terrific shots of New York at its best.
Challenge to Lassie
Special Effects
When Lassie's master dies, an old friend tries to convince a judge that the dog's life should be spared.
Madame Bovary
Special Effects
Based on the French literary classic, this drama presents author Gustave Flaubert narrating his tale of infidelity and narcissism. After marrying small-town doctor Charles Bovary, Emma becomes tired of her limited social status and begins to have affairs, first with the young Leon Dupuis and later with the wealthy Rodolphe Boulanger. Eventually, however, her self-involved behavior catches up with her.
In the Good Old Summertime
Special Effects
Two co-workers in a music shop dislike one another during business hours but unwittingly carry on an anonymous romance through the mail.
The Great Sinner
Special Effects
A young man succumbs to gambling fever.
The Stratton Story
Special Effects
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
Hills of Home
Special Effects
William McClure is the villlage doctor in a remote Scottish glen. Tricked into buying Lassie, a collie afraid of water, he sets about teaching her to swim. At the same time he has the bigger problem that he is getting older and must ensure the glen will have a new local doctor ready.
A Date with Judy
Special Effects
Best friends Judy and Carol compete for the affection of an older man during their high school dance. As Carol tries to rekindle Judy's relationship with Carol's bumbling brother, Oogie, Judy suspects that her father is having an affair with a beautiful dance instructor. The two girls team up to expose Judy's father -- who is only taking innocent dance lessons.
Easter Parade
Special Effects
On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protege, Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.
Desire Me
Special Effects
A war widow falls in love with the man who informed her of her husband's death.
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Special Effects
A mysterious Civil War veteran courts a Missouri farmer's daughter amid postwar unrest.
The Sea of Grass
Special Effects
A St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.
Green Dolphin Street
Special Effects
Sophie loved Edmund, but he left town when her parents forced her to marry wealthy Octavius. Years later, Edmund returns with his son, William. Sophie's daughter, Marguerite, and William fall in love. Marguerite's sister, Marianne, also loves William. Timothy, a lowly carpenter, secretly loves Marianne. He kills a man in a fight, and Edmund helps him flee to New Zealand. William deserts inadvertently from the navy, and also flees in disgrace to New Zealand, where he and Timothy start a profitable business. One night, drunk, William writes Octavius, demanding his daughter's hand; but, being drunk, he asks for the wrong sister.
The Secret Heart
Special Effects
Penny Addams lives in a constant state of depression stemming from the trauma of her father's death when she was just a young girl. Her brother, Chase, and stepmother, Lee, work to help Penny process her grief through psychotherapy and revisiting their past, but only the revelation of long-buried family secrets -- including her mother's secret lover and the true nature of her father's death -- can bring Penny out of her intense despair.
The Yearling
Special Effects
Jody convinces his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves?
Bad Bascomb
Special Effects
A western bandit is reformed by his love for a little girl.
The Hoodlum Saint
Special Effects
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He gets caught up in the "make money at all costs" game but receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929.
The Harvey Girls
Special Effects
On a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley meets a cheery crew of young women traveling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.
Week-End at the Waldorf
Special Effects
Anything can happen during a weekend at New York's Waldorf-Astoria: a glamorous movie star meets a world-weary war correspondent and mistakes him for a jewel thief; a soldier learns that without an operation he'll die and so looks for one last romance with a beautiful but ambitious stenographer; a cub reporter tries to get the goods on a shady man's dealing with a foreign potentate.
Son of Lassie
Special Effects
Laddie (Son of Lassie) and his master are trapped in Norway during WW2 - has he inherited his mothers famous courage?
Mrs. Parkington
Special Effects
In this family saga, Mrs. Parkington recounts the story of her life, beginning as a hotel maid in frontier Nevada where she is swept off her feet by mine owner and financier Augustus Parkington. He moves them to New York, tries to remake her into a society woman, and establishes their home among the wealthiest of New York's high society. Family and social life is not always peaceful, however, and she guides us, in flashbacks, through the rises and falls of the Parkington family fortunes.
Kismet
Special Effects
Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.
The White Cliffs of Dover
Special Effects
American Susan travels with her father to England for a vacation. Invited to a society ball, Susan meets Sir John Ashwood and marries him after a whirlwind romance. However, she never quite adjusts to life as a new member of the British gentry. At the outbreak of World War I, John is sent to the trenches and never returns. When her son goes off to fight in World War II, Susan fears the same tragic fate may befall him too.
Gaslight
Special Effects
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
A Guy Named Joe
Special Effects
A cocky Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female flier. After he's killed on a mission, he is sent back to Earth by heavenly General with a new assignment.
Lassie Come Home
Special Effects
Hard times come for the Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling. Lassie, however, is unwilling to remain apart from young Carraclough son Joe and sets out on a long and dangerous journey to rejoin him.
Bataan
Special Effects
During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way.
Above Suspicion
Special Effects
Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe.
Keeper of the Flame
Special Effects
Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Reunion in France
Special Effects
Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.
Mrs. Miniver
Special Effects
English middle-class family, The Minivers, experience life in the first months of World War II.
Tarzan's New York Adventure
Special Effects
Circus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and his animal trainer out of the jungle. Tarzan and Jane follow them to New York.
Rio Rita
Special Effects
Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican border hotel.
Two-Faced Woman
Special Effects
A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Special Effects
A scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exists on Tarzan's escarpment. The villainous Medford and Vandermeer kidnap Jane and Boy to extort from Tarzan the location of the gold.
The Feminine Touch
Special Effects
A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Russell), to New York where he plans to publish a book on the subject. Meeting with publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin), who falls head over heels for Julie, John is assigned to his assistant Nellie (Kay Francis), who only has eyes for her boss. Working closely with Nellie, who Julie thinks is after her husband, John continues his high-minded ways while his angry spouse schemes to make him so jealous he'll knock Elliott's block clean off.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Special Effects
Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.
China Seas
Special Effects
Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!
The Mask of Fu Manchu
Special Effects
The villainous Dr. Fu Manchu races against a team of Englishmen to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan, because he wants to use the relics to cause an uprising in the East to wipe out the white race.
Sea of Dreams
Director
Unknown....
The Enchanted City
Director
An artistic free-form exercise in storytelling and a highly stylized film-poem. By the seasisde, a young man recalls to his true love a harrowing dream he had.