It's crazy how they made it pook so real back then especially with the darkness and wind. I also thought it was real footage overlayed or whatever lol.

Prior to CGI they had to be way more creative. I kind of miss old school special effects.

They may call it a sock, I have also heard it called a stocking. However this is only because of the shape. It was in fact about 30ft long and susspended from one of the studios lighting beams.
Let Zygons be Zygons

Seriously?! It's a cloth? It looks like a real tornado to me! It's impressive special effect at that time! I just watched the tornado testing someone posted in this thread and seeing it approach toward me, the viewer, somehow triggered my PTSD, even though it's fake. I survived the tornado back in March 1st, 2007, and the sound and the effects made it look realistic so it's pretty close!
I hope a bear throw a book at you, moon at you, and do a tap dance wearing a thong and leather boots.

I love the movie but it is creepy anyway you learn something new everyday
I heard you like the bad girls honey, is that true? - Lana Del Rey

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It was indeed a muslin sock. It's called a "practical effect". I read this in the book
The Making of The Wizard of Oz.
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.

Nah, it was no big deal. We were about three miles from it. Although it did get interesting when another funnel cloud suddenly descended behind us. We beat a very hasty retreat.
BTW, I believe only
five
storm chasers has been killed while chasing in the past
30 years. And two of those were killed in an accident after they ran a stop sign.
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.

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All 30 tornadoes I've seen were in
Texas, Oklahoma or Kansas
. During one trip I was hit with a rather large bit of hail. It hurt, so I reached into the Van for some protection. The only thing I could come up with was our plastic trash bag. So I put that on my head, and it worked well!
On another trip the windows on all three vans were busted by really large hail. The next day they had to replace all three windshields.
Here is a brief 33 second video of a tornado I witnessed near
Canadian, Texas on May 25, 2015.
It was the largest tornado we saw on that trip. Fortunately, nobody was killed.
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.

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Imagine living in Texas where we’ve gotten some nasty ones. Most up north toward Oklahoma but still scary.
I think the fact that it was black and white helped a lot in making the sock less noticeable and resemble more a tornado.

I've been on four storm chasing trips, and have seen 30 tornadoes in person!
They are an
incredible adrenaline rush!
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.

Me too. As much as a part of me would love to be a storm chaser, or at least along for the ride because I can see such beauty and majesty in tornadoes, I think if I were confronted with the real thing, especially if it was approaching my home, it would be another story all together.
"Your emotional state is not my responsibility." – Warren Smith

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Love that movie
How devastating tornadoes are, having a place underground is a must have

That did that in many films but Close Encounters did it best.

I think that's the one I was thinking of. I remember some movie (couldn't recall which one) that used things like ink and/or milk in water to create the weather.
"Your emotional state is not my responsibility." – Warren Smith

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Old fashioned special effects could work very well if done properly. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind the cloud effects were achieved using paint being squirted into water.

It's
not
CGI. That didn't exist in 1939. It's a practical effect, and it's
a muslin sock.
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.

CGI in 1939, how many F****** brain cells have you got. CGI did not exist till at least the 90s.
Let Zygons be Zygons

CGI in 1939, I don't think so !!!
Let Zygons be Zygons

Nope, you're wrong, Spoony. There was no CGI in 1939!
And the tornado was indeed a muslin sock. I discovered that in the book
The Making of the Wizard of Oz.
MAGA! FAFO! Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder.