Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

DOCUMENTARY FILM NEWS 81 directing. There are quite a few old-fashioned, tired directors who are still coasting on past reputations. And there are also quite a few directors who find it difficult to work up much enthusiasm for run-of-the-mill assignments, and are content with doing a routine job of turning pieces of paper into pieces of celluloid. 'When you're working with a director with no enthusiasm for what he's doing, it's hard for the cameraman to get enthused,' Gregg said. 'If the director makes a two shot, and then a couple of close-ups, and plays every scene the same way, no cameraman in the world can exert much creative energy. And then there's the director who wants to make his set-ups "exciting" and tries to use a 30 mm lens all the time. This can drive a cameraman crazy, because you can't use a wide-angle lens without a knowledge of how and when to use it. 'Or you get the director who wants to move his camera all the time. My own view is that there is a sensible point of view in between static set-ups and constant movement. I've gone to both extremes in Long Voyage Home and Citizen Kane. Now I think a better point of view has been reached with Willy in Best Years. We didn't have any preconceived rules; we moved when it seemed that helped tell the story best. Camera movement shouldn't be noticed, because it takes your attention from the actors, and what is happening to them. Yet, some directors, because a scene has a great deal of dialogue, have the extremely false notion that camera movement will make the scene appear to move. This doesn't help the cameraman any, either.' Going on from these specific criticisms, Gregg feels that the industry in general should be criticized. He feels good pictures aren't being made, and he feels that you can't blame audiences. He has quite a healthy respect for the quality of the American audience, and doesn't believe that pictures have to be geared to the level of the twelve-year-old mind to be successful. In general, his main criticism is, he believes pictures have lost reality and imagination. They are conventional in writing, direction and photography. One of his deep resentments is the star system. 'It means we are making pictures with a "personality" rather than story. That's why many cameramen are forced to sacrifice everything in order to keep some old bag playing young women. And when I say old bag, that's what I mean. A girl is often so old by the time she proves her ability that out comes the burlaps ir. front of the lens. 'The average producer will answer that he has to protect his investment. But why not protect it with a good story, script and director, and then cast it with the best actors for the parts, not box-office names. I know the answer to that one, too : "Pictures are a business for profit." So they are, but it would be fine oncein-a-time though, to see an honest motion picture. 'Aren't you tired of seeing some glamour star playing a shopgirl in New York, living in an apartment that would cost ten times her monthly salary, wearing dresses that she couldn't possibly afford, and with a hairdo that you can only get by coming to a movie studio and having a staff of specialists create for two hours before you come on the set?' I admitted I was tired of it, and he sighed. 1 could go on and on, but why?' 'Well,' I said, 'partly because it's good to get it out of your system, and mostly because I want to know how you feel so I can write a proper interview.' In that case.' he said, I'll go on. A lot of people won't like this, but I think it's true. At least, it's the way I've seen it from the inside over a period of years. I think fewer creative pictures are being made these days as compared to 20 years ago because most of the people directly responsible are more smug and better paid. The unions protect many positions, where in the old days it was touch and go. In those days any youngster could start in the picture business, if he had the stuff. Salaries were much smaller, but I think there was a greater pride of achievement. Generally speaking, most people today have the attitude that everything has been tried and present methods are the best. Now, I'm not saying the back-lot people all have economic security, or even all the socalled creative or talent groups are living off the fat of the land. I'd say, though, that what an expensive audience of extra people. This is an example of what I Baid earlier. People out here no longer ponder; they no longer have the same challenges to meet There is money enough, so they build enough set for safety — just in case they need it. And so it goes — everyone protects himself, and everything sails along just fine. Kane may not be a great picture, but I honestly believe it excited more comment and made more people snap out of their complacency than any other picture in years. By the way, I want to be sure to make this point. I have worked under contract to Samuel Goldwyn for many years and some people might have the mistaken notion that I am saying these things in criticism of him. That is definitely not the case. I sincerely believe that Goldwyn will allow me more freedom, more experiments and more ideas than anyone at the moment. I do not say this to protect my contented feeling, as Goldwyn may have my contract back any morning he chooses, and with If you're working with a director with no enthusiasm, its liard for the cameraman to get enthused. I've said is too true of the people who make the decisions, and who are in the last analysis responsible for what goes on in this town. 'Naturally, I don't speak of the few persons who have a burning desire to accomplish things, but who are usually held down by a production office or a producer with a "Why take a chance?". 'That's why making Citizen Kane was so wonderful. Orson Welles (who directed it) and I had a wonderful time. It was the first time I had encountered anyone with the authority to do anything and not be confronted by the front office, I suggested and tried things I'd been dreaming of for a long time. 'We made mistakes in it, but we also did a few startling things which people still discuss J might add that one reason for man) oi the effects was a lack of money. We just couldn't afford to have an audience in the opera house when the camera was shooting from behind Dorothy Comingore, the singer. So we thought. J put up a series of baby shots in a black opera set and trained them at the camera. I believe that the ultimate effect was more desirable than out a settlement, and he knows it. I say it because I believe he tries harder than any other person in this industry. This doesn't mean that he is always right, but he tries. I wish more people did.' In Hollywood today, where the tendency is toward a standardized product, and toward conformity on all levels, citizens like Gregg Toland have a value far beyond their skills or techniques. As individualists, they have the ability to subordinate themselves and their work to the co-operative creative process Yet they retain their personalities and identities. Because he has a personality. Gregg has personal opinions, and they are reflected in the pictures he makes. Too many people in Hollywood have given up the fight to retain their identities, and when asked for opinions, ansvvei 'I can do it whichever way you want', rathei than '1 think it would be better this way' In B community where so man) people are loth to speak their minds, men like Gregg are good to have around. He may not always he right hut at least he tries.