P15 in a movie - sort of

[John Reddie]

I was watching one my favorite old movies, "The Big Steal" from 1949 with Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and William Bendix. In the film, the bad guy is driving a "41 Mercury club coupe but the interior shot shows the dashboard to definitely be a P15 and not a Mercury. Note how the word PLYMOUTH has been covered over on the emblem above the speaker grille. Regardless of this inaccuracy, the is a really cool old film with plenty of car action going on.

John R

[Greg51T&CWagon]

Love Mitchum's stuff. I bet they used the Ply for interior shots b/c the back seat area is much bigger so they could mount the camera far enough back to get the depth of field they needed?

Edited January 23, 2020 by Greg51T&CWagon

[Plymouthy Adams]

They used the Plymouth so they could depend on getting the shot in one take...….at least that is how I read the crime scene....the rest of you can look at however wrong you like....?

[plymjim]

Good job picking that up John. Maybe you can get a job as a continuity editor

for a film studio. My faves are the chase scenes where the big expensive

limo goes over the cliff, then when it hits bottom in a ball of fire it's morphed

into a cheap 10 year old sedan.

[jgreg53]

Just watched motherless brooklyn today. Lots of cool old cars in it. Many old mopars.

[Plymouthy Adams]

watch John Wick, especially when his gifted Charger is pushed into the empty drydock......they don't even seem a bit concerned over correctness....guess they figure you looking for John and where he got to and not the car's engine and transmission.....

[John Reddie]

13 hours ago, plymjim said:

Good job picking that up John. Maybe you can get a job as a continuity editor

for a film studio. My faves are the chase scenes where the big expensive

limo goes over the cliff, then when it hits bottom in a ball of fire it's morphed

into a cheap 10 year old sedan.

Thanks. I love the old serials with many car and airplane scenes. I have quite a few of them on tapes and DVDs.

John R

[busycoupe]

It is interesting that in the interior shot of the Plymouth you can see that the paint is worn off of the steering wheel.  We are used to seeing that on our 70+ yr.old cars, but the one in the movie is only 2 or 3 yrs old.

[Plymouthy Adams]

8 minutes ago, busycoupe said:

It is interesting that in the interior shot of the Plymouth you can see that the paint is worn off of the steering wheel.  We are used to seeing that on our 70+ yr.old cars, but the one in the movie is only 2 or 3 yrs old.

 

that part of interior dress they got right, this would be normal wear and tear on the Mercury...?

[Dartgame]

If you folks like to see old cars check out so called Film Noir on Turner classic Saturday evenings...Lots of black and white films dealing with murder mysteries etc from the late 40- into the 50's...

[tom'sB2B]

There is a load of mopars in the Martin Scorsese movie "the Irishman". Whether you like the movie or not, the cars are fun.

[greg g]

It always amazes me how fast these prop cars go in neutral or park!  Check out the shift lever position in the picture.

The LA assembly plant for Chrysler's was very near the sound stages of the major studios.  Chrysler was one of the pioneers of product placement in movies during the 40 and 50s.

Edited January 24, 2020 by greg g

[John Reddie]

1 hour ago, greg g said:

It always amazes me how fast these prop cars go in neutral or park!  Check out the shift lever position in the picture.

The LA assembly plant for Chrysler's was very near the sound stages of the major studios.  Chrysler was one of the pioneers of product placement in movies during the 40 and 50s.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that some of the studios did use prop cars as Greg G mentions here. The P15 in the picture very possibly had no back on it and these frames were filmed inside the studio rather than on the location.

 In another sequence from the same film, It shows William Bendix driving a '46 Buick but the dash in the interior shot appears to be a D24. I see that the Buick hood ornament was added correctly.

John R 

[BobT-47P15]

There's a piece of that black tape over the center top of the dash trim....probably a Dodge emblem there.

[greg g]

Gaffers tape no doubt

[Dan Hiebert]

Yeah, as John notes, these are most likely prop cars, also most likely not much more than you can see in the films.  That's definitely a D24 in the second screen shot, but don't know why there would be tape over that trim piece, there are only vertical lines in the center of it.  Maybe to cut glare or reflection?