How special effects were used to create the ''ghosts'' in The Time of Their Lives (1946)
For such an elaborate effect, the process of creating it was oddly simple.
Practical effects were nothing to sneeze at back in the 1940s. To make a ghost film like The Time of Their Lives (1946), a careful hand was required to portray the paranormal. Though the film was a comedy first, the effects were necessary to create a compelling story.
Cinematographer Charles Van Enger explained the process behind the scenes. “To get those ghost effects, we’d first photograph the set with nobody on it and then cover everything with black velvet,” said Enger, according to Bob Furmanek’s Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.
“Next, we photographed the scene with the actors. This was overlapped so that, when somebody sat down in a chair, it looked as if you could see right through them, giving the illusion of ghosts.”
The practical effects created a spooky effect on screen. But in terms of story, the only real magic required was that of the film’s stars working alongside each other, according to the film’s director, Charles Barton.
“It would take you time to fall into the mold of directing Abbott and Costello,” said Barton. “I would always let the cameras run. That on-the-spot creativity added life to their films. Both had equal talent. Both had photographic memories. They could glance at a script once, and they’d know it. They were very quick learners who hated rehearsals.”
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