Connery's Allan Quatermain gun belt

[Baggers]

Okay, here's framegrab that shows his belt a little better:

Unfortunately, when it comes to framing up a principal character like Connery's, the last thing they're concerned with is his belt unless it's a majpr plot point.

Cheers!

 

[Kodiak]

Ahh... cartridge loops for that Webley. Very nice :arated:

 

[carebear]

Unless he was wearing his gun somewhere else (right side hip?) or not wearing it at all during the attack on the factory, that picture sure supports the shoulder holster position.

Ahh... cartridge loops for that Webley. Very nice

Look again. That belt is 3-4" wide. .455 Webley rounds are roughly the same length as .45 ACP, there's almost that much bullet and brass showing beneath the loops. Those are rifle rounds.

 

[Kodiak]

Well Matt, I don't mean to offend, but I have actually seen .45 caliber rounds loaded in a belt of similar size, and they stick out about like that.

The thing is, when you load them up, you push them as far down as you can, so these loops could be fairly short and they just let the loops show off a bit more bullet. Sorry if this is vague, but these still could be .455 rounds. Of course, they could be rifle rounds too...

I do agree that this might be a shoulder holster now though, based at least on this pic.

 

[carebear]

Kodiak,

No offense taken. I disagree though, based on my own 2" Western gunbelt with .45 Colt in it.

Connery's belt, when compared to the distance between his shirt buttons, appears to be almost 4", it has room for a two prong buckle. The loop appears to be well more than an inch deep itself so the only part of a .455 inside the loop in that picture would be the rim, which is usually on top of the loop for retention.

Maybe there are two stacked rows?

Those Webley rounds are stubby little things, shorter than the .45 Colt by quite a bit.

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/455/introto455.htm

 

[Baggers]

The Sam Browne belt was only 2 1/8 inches wide, so assuming that's what they cannibalized for a buckle, the belt they built would only be wide enough to accomodate it. Also, I saw cartridge loops on the right side of the buckle in another image. Take another look at this one:

It also shows that the rounds were pushed down into the loops as far as the cartridge rims. I'm willing to bet he only had two reloads on that belt, six rounds per side.

Another thing to consider is that the cartridges seen may not even be .455 caliber. The costume department may not have bothered to use the correct ones because they didn't have any. After all, .455 Webley is not a very common round these days. They could be anything from painted pieces of wood or plastic to dummy rounds the prop people in Romania (I think that's where the film was shot) had on hand, which could have been a smaller cartridge like the 7.62mm Makarov pistol ammo used by the military in that country. I don't think I saw Quatermain reloading during the film, so why bother using the appropriate ammo if they're only going to be seen as part of his costume?

It's just a guess, but I'm trying not to think like an armourer, but like a costume designer. To them, a bullet is a bullet. Big ones for rifles and little ones for pistols.

Cheers!

 

[carebear]

That's a much better picture and the proportions look right for pistol rounds. Chalk another one up in "I was wrong" column I guess.

 

[Serial Hero]

I just rented it this weekend, having never seen it before.

In the making of, and in the commentary, the costume designer says that the whole costume was designed and custom made for the film by the costume department.

The felt for the hat was from Italy, and the leather for the vest was from Africa. She picked it because it kind of looked like old hippo hide.

Some of the cartridge loops on the pistol belt were left empty to represent the holes left in Quatermain’s life.

 

[Baggers]

I vaguely remember that in the commentary now. I wonder though, built by the costume department in the UK or in Eastern Europe?

The hide for the vest being sourced from Africa makes sense, as in the closeups when the lighting was right it did have a texture that reminded me of the water buffalo hide from which my Courtney boots are made from. I will say that possibly not all the vests worn by Quatermain were made from the same stuff, however. In the courtyard scene in Venice, and later back on the Nautilus, the hide had a much smoother texture and a glossier sheen, almost like something artificial.

The comment about the empty ammo loops on the belt sounds just like the sort of thing a costumer would do. Adding some additional layering, or "subtext" to the character through what he's wearing. Designers do that, it's what makes them designers. They can't simply dress an actor in period appropriate clothing. Anybody can do that. They have to give the talent something that helps them create the character they're portraying. Kind of cool, really. It's part of what makes costume design an art. It takes a team of skilled professionals to provide the "tools" an actor needs to do his job well.

Cheers!

 

[carebear]

When I see empty loops I always wonder why they didn't reload the belt after the last fracas. That's why you keep the extra box of ammo in the saddlebags after all.

 

[Serial Hero]

I vaguely remember that in the commentary now. I wonder though, built by the costume department in the UK or in Eastern Europe?

Cheers!

I just watched it again last night, so here's a little update and corrections:

She designed the belts and they were made by saddle makers in London.

All the hats in the film were made in Italy, as opposed to just getting the materials from there (makes more sense), my mistake.

The holster is a cross draw worn on his belt. If you play it in slow motion you can see it sticking out from under his vest, though it magically disappears and reappears from shot to shot.

Quatermain’s vest (and in fact all the costumes in the movie) changes throughout the movie. This was done on purpose so it didn’t look like he was wearing the same cloths the whole time.

The movie was filmed in Prague.

 

[carebear]

The holster is a cross draw worn on his belt. If you play it in slow motion you can see it sticking out from under his vest, though it magically disappears and reappears from shot to shot.

That's pretty common in TV and movies. Holsters can interfere with clothes that aren't designed around them and carrying a gun all the time takes getting used to. Very often a character will have the gun when they need to draw it with it not being in evidence the rest of the time.