International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

RAQMAM / "The Camera Must Always Come First. That Is the Creed of the Motion Picture Photographer. No Matter What Happens It Must Keep on Turning." DM THE CAMERAMAN'S ANCLE No. 7 M-G-M STUDIOS VRRETTS OF WIMPLE STREET." DiSidnej Franklin; from the play by Rudolph ; screenplay by Claudine West and Ernest first cameraman, William Daniels. i: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles ton, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ferdinand MuKatherine Alexander, Marion Clayton, Ian HE MERRY WIDOW." Director, Ernest ich ; original by Franz Lehar; dance director, ina Rasch; first cameraman, Oliver Marsh. i: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, i Gomhell, Edward Everett Horton, Una !, Barbara Leonard, Sterling Halloway, fc Barbier, Joan Gale, Shelia Manora, Leona rs. Edna Walde, Barbara Barondess, Shiross, etc. iCRED AXD PROFANE LOVE." Direclarence Brown; original by Edgar Selwyn; play by John l.ee Mahin; first cameraman, : Folsey. i : Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Otto Krutuart Erwin, Una O'Connor, Marjorie Gate\kim Tamaroff, Paul Porcasi. IE STUDENT TOUR." Director, Charles isner; original screenplay by Arthur Bloch 7eorge Seaton; adaptation, Philip Dunne; ameraman, Joseph Valentine. : Charles Buttervvorth, Jimmy Durante, \egan, Maxine Doyle, Florrine McKinney, BJue, Dewey Robinson, Doug Fowley, Mary ,L GOOD AMERICANS." Director, Ed[arin; original play, S. J. and Laura Perelscreenplay, Wells Root; first cameraman, Krasner. : Robert Young, Una Merkel. Madge Otto Kruger, Ted Healy, Louise Henry, d Brophy, Bert Roach, James Donlan. E HIDE-OUT." Director, W. S. Van screenplay, Albert Hackett and Frances Sch; first cameraman, Ray June. i: Robert Montgomery, Muriel Evans, Ed -, Mickey Rooney, Louise Henry. ver have I seen so many of the smaller busy," says Miss Pickford. "They're mak ctures everywhere and using big names in It means that the day of mass-production ■ screen is over." irding to Mary Pickford there never was a time for the young player to get his . This makes a lively market for new talent. ays that there is a marked scarcity of • young leading men, who know how to act eak lines. Ming an ambition he has had for years, Freulich, "still" cameraman at Universal i. recently completed a two-reel drama en'Prisoner." picture has but two characters, George veil known stage and screen actor, in the role, and Jack Rockwell, veteran character, ; the supporting role. ough the drama has no dialogue, beautiful and appropriate sound effects form an inig background. Under the able direction ■ulich, who also wrote and produced the . it was filmed by Cinematographer King in the heart of the desert near Victorville. picture is booked for an early showing at imarte Theater, on Vine Street, Hollywood. SOL LESSER (Pathe) ICK'S BAD BOY." Director, Eddie Cline; George W. Peck; screenplay, Bernard Schund Marguerite Roberts; first cameraman, Good. Jackie Cooper, Jackie Searl, Thomas n, Dorothy Peterson, O. P. Heggie. Fernstrom has returned from his tour of 1, France, Switzerland and Ireland where Seen Technicolor-ing for Fitzpatrick TravelVVe understand that in a couple of weeks 'rts out again for the same company. • (-LION DOLLAR RANSOM." Associate r'rvEph '^sner: director, Murray Roth; 1 S Damon Runyon; screenplay, William Lipfl rst cameraman, George Robinson. ■'■ Edward Arnold. Marjorie Gateson, Wini > Robert Gleckler. Bradley Page, Edgar Norgnie White, Phillips Holmes, Mary Carlisle. ERIK CHARELL, DIRECTOR OF FOX "CARAVAN" CLAIMS SOMETHING NEW IN CAMERA TECHNIQUE Erik Charell, noted Continental producer of musical spectacles now making his first American offering for Fox Film. "Caravan", believes that the day of the "close-up" is about over, and is filming his production accordingly. "Everybody knows that the motion picture camera is supposed to take the place of the spectator's eye and see what he sees," Charell explains. "Yet in many pictures you will look at a scene of two or three people, taken from a distance of perhaps 20 feet, and then the camera jumps into a position two feet away from one player, then back to the first position, then in front of the other player, and so on. It becomes a series of disconcerting jumps instead of a smoothly-told story. "If. it is absolutely necessary to show a close-up of a player to emphasize a dramatic expression, then the camera should move in slowly, just as if the spectator should walk up to that player and look him in the eye. It should never leap about like a kangaroo. "In 'Caravan' I am using as few 'cuts' as possible, and am trying to tell my story just as a spectator on the actual scene would see it. I believe that this makes the resulting picture much more realistic and plausible than if I made the audience dizzy by rapidly alternating the viewpoint." Hollywood film experts have been considerably interested in Charell's application of this belief, and in his extensive use of "dolly" and "crane" shots to get his effects. On only two or three occasions has the director employed more than one camera at a time, even on the most elaborate scenes, but this camera usually follows an intricate path, carefully rehearsed and timed, through the set. and it has frequently taxed the ingenuity of the Fox Film technicians to arrange tracks and equipment so the instrument can be moved as he wants it. As a result, many of the individual scenes in the picture run as much as 300 to 400 feet in length, with the camera now making a long shot of a huge crowd of gypsies, hussars or Hungarian villagers; now bending to concentrate on a leading player or a significant movement, now wandering among a group of dancers, perhaps singling out one or two for a close shot, then following or preceding a certain character from the set. Most American directors who made such a scene would break it up with at least a dozen "cuts" to close-ups or shots from another angle, but Charell intends to use these scenes in one continuous flow, just as they were made on the set. The favored few Fox Film officials who have been privileged to see a rough assembly of "Caravan" to date are prophesying that the picture will be sensational from a photographic standpoint, as well as in its introduction of a new film star, Charles Boyer, the French screen idol, who has the starring role. WARNER BROS.-FIRST NATIONAL "A LOST LADY." Supervisor. Tames Seymour; author, Willa Cather: screenplay bv Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola ; director. Alfred E. Green; assistant. Frank Shaw; first cameraman, Sid Hickox; operative cameraman, Wesley Anderson; assistant, Vernon Larsen; stills, John Ellis; recording engineer, Oliver Garretson; film editor, Owen Marks, art director, Jack Okey; chief electrician. Paul Burnett; chief grip, L. P. Maxmeyer; chief prop, Pat Patterson. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck. Ricardo Cortez, Frank Morgan. Rafaelo Ottiano. Charles Starrett. Philip Reed. Henrv Kolker. Willie Fung. "FLIRTATION WALK." Supervisor. Robert Lord; authors, Delmar Daves and Lou Edelman; screenplay, Delmar Daves; director, Frank Borzage; assistant. William Cannon; first cameraman, Sol Polito; operative cameraman, Al. Green; stills. Mac Julian; recording engineer. C. A. Riggs; film editor, William Holms; assistant, William Phelan; art director. Jack Okev; chief electrician, Frank Flanigan ; chief grip, Harold Noyes; chief prop. Orin Haglin. Cast: Dick Powell. Ruby Keeler, Pat O'Brien, John Eldredge, Ross Alexander. Guinn Williams. Henry O'Neill, Glenn Boles. Tohn Arledge. "A LADY SURRENDER'S." Author a n d screenplay, Mary McColl, Jr.; director. Archie Mayo; assistant. William McGann: first cameraman, Ernest Haller; operative cameraman. Al. Roberts; assistant. Stuart Higgs; stills, Cliff King; recording engineer, E. A. Brown; film editor. Tommy Pratt; art director. Charles Hughes; chief electrician. Claude Hutchinson; chief grip. Harry Barnhouse; chief prop. Pinky Weiss. Cast: Jean Muir, George Brent. Veree Teasdale, Arthur Aylesworth, Joan Wheeler, Pauline True. Charles Starrett. FOX "SERVANTS' ENTRANCE." Producer, Winfield Slieehan; author, Sigrid Boo; screenplay, Samson Raphaelson ; director, Frank Lloyd; as sistant, Booth McCracken; first cameraman, Hal Mohr; stills, Ray Nolan; recording engineer. J. E. Aiken: film editor, Margaret Clancy; art director, William Darling. Cast: Janet Gavnor, Lew Ayres, Ned Sparks. Walter Connolly, Louise Dresser, Siegfried Rumann, G. P. Huntley, Jr., Katherine Doucet. "JUDGE PRIEST." Producer. Sol M. Wurtzel; author, Irvin S. Cobb; screenplay, Dudley Nicholls and Lomar Trotti; director, John Ford; assistant, Edw. O'Fearna; first cameraman, George Schneiderman; stills, William Thomas; film editor, Paul Weatherwax; art director, William Darling. Cast: Will Rogers, Brenda Fowler, Rochelle Hodson, Roger Imhof, Tom Brown. Anita Louise. Stepin Fetchet. "WANTED." Producer Sol M. Wurtzel; screenplay, Lester Cole and Stuart Anthony; director, Louis King; assistant, Sid Bowen; first, cameraman, L. W. O'Connell; stills, Frank Powolny; recording engineer, S. C. Chapman; film editor, Al de Gaetano; art director, Duncan Cramer. Cast: Rosemary Ames, Russell Harding, Pert Kelton, Victor Jory, George Irving. SCRATCHES AND DIRT ... My Shovel Boys tell me that Friend Baker is working out a new process printer for the insert department. . . . Fred Dawson was on the sick list for a while this month — but he's back in harness again, so don't send flowers. . . . Rod Tolmie showed up on the lot for a few days; I guess he's finished that serial he was working on. . . . Bill Bradford also hove in sight from far-off Pasadena to work on some inserts. Bill lives so far away he must feel like a Pilgrim every time he comes, to work. . . . F. M. Browne disappoints me; he took his Leica to the races at Indianapolis and took only ten pictures. Ennihoo he says he had a grand time at the Chicago Fair. He practically took me through it in a burst of verbal enthusiasm. . . . Johnny Stumar vows he'll require a parachute as part of his equipment hereafter whenever he shoots from an insert car. Johnny took off from the top of a camera car as it rounded a curve, and made a, three-point landing on the handiest group of boulders. Guic»es wn. show you the spot where small bits of Stumar cling to the underbrush. Charlie is now up and around and able to take a little nourishment out of a bottle, if you haven't a glass handy. . . . Emil Oster has been busy putting the final touches, on the new motorized dollies that Columbia just purchased. Incidentally, I am informed by one of my Shovel Boys that the Camera Department will give out a story next month that will wow 'em — a surprise for the whole industry. Hold vour breath. . . . Andre Barlatier, T.O.B.S. (The Old Background Snatcher) took a little jaunt to Mazatlan. Old Mexico, recently with Roy Davidson, the gentleman in charge of Columbia's Special Effects Department, to photograph backgrounds for the Milestone Production, "The Captain Hates the Sea." (I love to roll that title on my tongue. Maybe it has a special significance for me. I was born twenty miles from Cape Cod and some of my ancestors were sea captains. Tish tash. there I go again.) Anniway, Andre went toMazatlan, taking Don Murphy as his grip and Enzo Martinelli as his assistant. Enzo says tnai the sunsets were marvelous, but the cucharachas were bigger and more glorious. They were so big they were terrifying. They used to dash at the company car as it progressed along the road. Enzo claims that if he had stayed another week he'd have had one of the biggest cockroaches trained to carry the camera. Sure, Enzo, bin it takes a chameleon to change focus. ... At the Ambassador Beauty Pageant this month the bathing beauties were so brown I had to use a G filter on 'em to keep 'em from going higher 'aller. And if you've never seen Billie Seward in the fish, drop up s'm'tahm and I'll tell you why she won the contest. ... If I can get out of this straight iacket I'll be seeing you next month. — By Bob Tobev. MAJESTIC "SHE HAD TO CHOOSE." Director, Ralph Ceder; story by Mann Page and Izola Foster r screenplay, Houston Branch; first cameraman, James Brown, Jr. Cast: Isobei Jewell, Buster Crabbe, Regis Toomey. Sally Plane, Huntley Gordon. Wallis Clark. Matt McHugh, Fuzzy Knight. Maidel Turner, Kenneth Howell. Jules Cowles, Arthur Stone..