20th Century-Fox Dynamo (April 1950)

REPRESENTS MOST EXTENSIVE LOCATION FILMING ENTERPRISE “AMERICAN GUERRILLA” NOW BEFORE CAMERAS IN LUZON TONS OF MATERIEL AND 82 FROM STUDIO ARE SHIPPED THERE MANILA, P. I.—To insure documentary real- ism for “American Guerrilla In The Philip- pines”, 20th Century-Fox has brought to this country a group of technicians and performers, plus thousands of pounds of materiel. Actually, production on this picturization of Ira Wolfert’s novel is well under way. Starring Tyrone Power and Micheline Prelle, the company includes al- most two scores of principals from the States, as many technicians and 1100 Filipino extras and bit players. Director Fritz Lang leads the company. Many American and Filipino guerrillas who actually took place in'the guerrilla warfare that followed arrival of the Japanese invaders are appearing as them- selves in the picture. This is the dramatization of the great campaign that helped pave the way for Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s eventual return to the archipelago. Tyrone Power’s role will be a com- posite of various American guerrilla leaders—serv- icemen! who chose to continue to fight rather than surrender to the overwhelming Japanese forces. “American Guerrilla In The Philippines” is the first motion picture to be filmed in its en- tirety on an actual battle locale. It is being filmed in Technicolor which further adds to the tremendous task assigned to the company here. To equip the movement, the studio shipped some 126,000 pounds of material here. Included were cameras, cranes, booms and generators. Practically all of the shooting is being done on Luzon Island. In reporting the movement to his newspaper, The New York Times, Correspondent Harold Men- delsohn, cabled the following: “With the staccato echoes of gunfire not yet fully vanished from the contemporary Philippine scene, government offi- cials have assured the visitors from Hollywood ade- quate police protection against roving outlaw bands now terrorizing the countryside. The Hollywood- ians are still somewhat saucer-eyed over the sign prominently displayed on the desk counter in the swank Manila Hotel, headquarters for the troupe, which reads: “Deposit firearms here.” Extensive salvage operations were under- taken both in panoramic Manila Bay and up the busy Pasig river to acquire Japanese vessels and American motor torpedo boats necessary for the story. In most instances the war-casualty crafts are being raised from their watery graves only to face a fate of being once again sunk during the unfolding of the screenplay. The six major studios in Manila have offered their facilities to the company. Where necessary, cover sets for the picture will be constructed so that shooting may continue without interruption during the brief spells of inclement weather that the na- tives report may be expected during the local Summer season. The troupe will be racing against time in its operations since the picture will have to be com- pleted before the advent, some two months hence, of the torrential monsoons which bring an average of 90 inches of rain annually. To expedite produc- tion the company has, therefore, divided itself into two units, both group shooting simultaneously. For months representatives from the 20th Century-Fox ■ studio have been surveying conditions here and when the troupe itself arrived everything was in readiness for immediate shooting. The Government assured and is giving the visitors every co-operation. To lend an even greater measure of authenticity to the story, studio representatives spent months consulting numerous Filipino guerrilla leaders. In fact. Col. Ruperto Kangleon, now Secretary of Na- tional Defense, is serving as technical adviser on details of the dramatic episode. The government is co-operating in many ways, being as eager as the company to develop a picture commensurate' with the greatness and importance of the fight the guerrillas put up against overwhelming odds, where capture meant instant death. Practically every known type of transportation —carabao cart, helicopter, pedicab, jeep, outrigger canoe and donkeys—are being used by the troupe in moving into isolated locations deep in the fastness of Luzon’s tropical interior. But, here, too, advance agents have gone thoroughly over every inch of the ground where the company is to work in insure no stoppage of production and to facilitate movements of players and the camera crews. Historic Corregidor in Manila Bay and the peninsula of Bataan, scene of the infamous Death March, are included among the many lo- cations where the company is scheduled to work. The bulk of the Filipinos recruited here will be seen in the exodus from the cities following the initial stages of the Japanese invasion in the early days of Pacific warfare. Tropical condi- tions in this equatorial archipelago make neces- sary an air-borne ferrying service for unproc- essed film which will be flown approximately 50,000 miles weekly to and from the 20th Cen- tury-Fox studios in Beverly Hills, Cal. 20th Century-Fox experts claim that this expe- dition to make “American Guerrilla In The Phil- ippines” is greater than that which involved the transportation of thousands of pounds of materiel and people from England to Africa for the filming of “The Black Rose”. The latter, too, was a Techni- color enterprise. “American Guerrilla In The Phil- ippines” which was in preparation for almost two years, is a substantially most expensive undertaking. Special refrigerated containers, each hold- ing 10,000 feet of film, were made in Hollywood and brought hire. Constructed of aluminum, these receptacles weigh 110 pounds each, con- taining space for 60 pounds of crushed ice, which must be replaced every 55 hours. They are designed to keep the sensitive Technicolor film at a constant temperature of 34 degrees. Tyrone Power, who is very enthusiastic about his role in “American Guerrilla In The Philip- pines”, is on his fourth foreign location. He is un- questionably the screen’s most widely travelled star. Several years ago he made “Captain From Castile” in Mexico. Then he went to Italy to appear in “Prince Of Foxes”. That completed he moved to Africa to appear on the Technicolor picturization of “The Black Rose”. He recently completed “Raw- hide”, an outdoor drama filmed in California. On completion of “American Guerrilla In The Philippines”, Power plans to go to England to appear in a stage production before returning to California. Power is no stranger to this part of the world. During the war Power, a Marine transport pilot, was variously stationed at Kwa- jalein, Saipan and Kyishu. He made a brief stop- over at Samar, one of the Philippines, but he never did get to Luzon. Lamar Trotti is the producer of “American Guerrilla In The Philippines”. Fritz Lang is direct- ing and Harry Jackson is the cameraman. Horace Hough is assistant director, while J. Russell Spencer has been assigned the art direction. Robert Simp- son’s chores as film editor will be more than routine on this extraordinary expedition. In fact, every member of the technical crew was carefully chosen. Revealed in the death-defying antics of the guerrillas is a fascinating love story involving Power and Micheline Prelle, who plays a French girl. So far the French actress, who is under long term contract to this company, has appeared in only one American-made picture, “Under My Skin”. But, in “American Guerrilla In The Phil- ippines” she has definitely a much better and more dramatically romantic role. In fact, the role gives her every opportunity to re-demon- strate the fire which she displayed in “Devil In The Flesh”, the French-language picture that brought her to the attention of 20th Century- Fox. A With two pictures—“The Black Rose” and “Raw- hide”—completed and a third under way, Tyrone Power already knows his next assignment. It is “Quiet Zone” in which he will play a doctor. How- ever, “Quiet Zone” will not be produced until some time next year. It is now in the hands of writers for treatment. Following “American Guerrilla In The Philippines”, Miss Prelle is scheduled to go to France where she will co-star with Danny Kaye in a Technicolor musical titled “On The Riviera”, set to be filmed on the Riviera late this Summer.