Scenes from SIGN OF THE PAGAN (1954)
Two scenes with matte paintings. The artist is not credited. Very nice, certainly the one below. Quite spectacular. The film has several of these cool shots but the studio bound movie needed more scenes like this.
Note the clever use of the crescent moon as a dot on the letter i of Constantinople.
ReplyDelete"The city of Byzantium (later known as Constantinople and Istanbul) adopted the crescent moon as its symbol. According to some evidence, they chose it in honor of the goddess Diana. Other sources indicate that it dates back to a battle in which the Romans defeated the Goths on the first day of a lunar month. In any event, the crescent moon was featured on the city's flag even before the birth of Christ."
https://www.learnreligions.com/the-crescent-moon-a-symbol-of-islam-2004351
The film is set in 5th c. AD. The city was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Now that is a lot of intervening history.
Istanbul (not Constantinople) song to enjoy:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5rHRd6Cl-tQ