They crumble so easy - and then Rod Taylor is able to wipe out a whole shelf of them with one swipe of his hand.
How did they do that?
What movie prop materials/substances would have given way so easily for that effect?
"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"
My wild guesses were and not backed up here by facts either ( it's just an assumption only ) . That the props department had either took some old books saved from other older movies from many years ago and used them . Also the books could have been deliberately water damaged in some sort of " aging-like process " perhaps using some books old or new and then let them dry completely so the paper material would become very weak and fall apart easily . After all the book in George's hands the pages looked a bit water damaged before he crumbed it up . I thought it was an excellent effect ( and a bit sad too ) to have seen books so far degraded like that before .
Thanks nycruise-1 for your subject post .
I suspect there was only one book. The rest on the shelf was a construct to look like a row of books, but really was something that could be destroyed with the swipe of his hand.
... and the rocks it pummels. - James Berardinelli
The effect of sweeping all the books into dust was probably achieved by sculpting the row of books out of damp sand or some powder (I mean as a single lump of sand made to look like a row of books) and then painting the side to look like the spines of the books.
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