International photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

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of a series of impressions. Each shot was framed, and the action and movement took place within that frame. The first shot of the march to the poor farm, which I mentioned before, consisted of the two figures, a tree, a fence and the horizon. All inanimate objects within the frame are as important in the creation of mood and character as the actors themselves and are used with telling effect." Lighting went through revolutionary innovations in the filming of "Tobacco Road." The preponderent use of shade was one of the things that caused Arthur Miller many sleepless nights because it is very easy to get bad photography with too much shade. Keeping it from going beyond bounds at any time was Miller's main problem. "But even a bad photographer cant get a bad picture when he works with John Ford,' Miller said. "He is the best director for any cameraman to work with because he always knows what he wants and how to get it. "What interested me more than anything else in filming 'Tobacco Road' was the use of one source of light only and the minus of backlight. There could be no artificiality with this system, and the results as we viewed them in the daily rushes were vitally interesting. "Those cases where we did have backlight were in outdoor shots where the main characters and the action were in the foreground shade and the background was in the natural sunlight. But this, like the use of one source of light, added to the naturalness and realism. "Absence of makeup on all of the characters, except Marjorie Rambeau, who played Sister Bessie, was a great factor in attaining camera naturalness." It was a very minimum of makeup which Miss Rambeau was allowed to use. and it was checked carefully every morning by Miller and his second cameraman, Joe La Shelle. For the first two or three weeks on the picture, Miss Rambeau couldn't gel out of the habit of using lip rouge with the makeup. Miller and La Shelle had to remind her every morning with the admonition of. "No lips. Miss Rambeau," to wipe it off before she began work. Not only did the otherwise glamorous Gene Tierney use no makeup in "Tobacco Road." but her face and limbs were treated every day to a generous coat of dirt. First the skin was rubbed with oil in order to provide a base for the dirt to stick to, then the dirt was rubbed in until it was well imbedded in the pores. The famous movie boner of having a backwoods girl with perfectly coiffed hair was scrupulously avoided when John Ford ordered Gene Tierney not to wash or dress her hair in any manner throughout the entire period of production. It was kept stringy and unkempt at all times. William Tracy, who played the role of Dude Lester, added another touch of realism by sacrificing some expensive bridgework and exposing the gap of a missing front tooth. "With realism extending into every department in the making of the picture, the total effect could not have been achieved if the camera had not also done its utmost to match this effect with its work." Miller said. "We continually took advantage of weather to create mood. So far I have mentioned mostly the filming of the low moods in the picture, but there are many comedy sequences. For these, of course, we took advantage of bright sunlight in our outdoor shots. "It is John Fords practice once he has started a sequence to follow that sequence through to completion in script order. However, changes in weather many times made him suddenly switch to other scenes when sun or the absence of it made conditions just right for certain lighting moods that he wanted to get. "On our main location at Sherwood Forest we had two important sets. One of these was Jeeter Lester's cabin and farm, and the other was a decrepit old mansion which had seen its last good days during the Civil War period and was now inhabited by sharecroppers. "These two sets were strategically situated in relation to the course of the sun and the shadows it cast. The shooting schedule was worked out so that we always shot the cabin in the morning and the mansion in the afternoon, at which times the light conditions were ideal for these sets. "An exact duplicate of the cabin and farm was also built on Stage 5 at the studio. On this studio set we filmed our night shots, rain scenes and a few of the day scenes which we could not get on location on account of rain. "On the outdoor set, the distant background consisted of trees and low hills. To match this on the studio set we had a foreground fringe of trees and then filled in the background with acid smoke which gave the illusion of distance." Unlike the play by Jack Kirkland, the picturization of "Tobacco Road" took in many sets, utilizing action and backgrounds which were in the original novel by Erskine Caldwell. Scenarized by Nunnally Johnson with the accent on comedy and entertainment. Director John Ford nevertheless utilized every mood, from the very high to the very low. in telling this story. This was the pattern which Arthur Miller and his camera had to follow. What degree of perfection they have attained will be determined by that ultimate critic of all motion pictures — the man who puts four bits on the line at the box office. Looking over the setup for a street scene for "Tobacco Road" on the 20th Century Fox back lot. Seated in the chair is Director John Ford talking it over with bearded Charley Grapenin in the role of Jeeter Lester. In the center background, with arms folded, is Arthur Miller, Director of Photography. Paul Garnett is shonn in extreme left and next to him, wearing sweater, is Paul Lockwood. The only thing visible of Joe La Schelle is the top of his head behind the camera. International Photographer for February, 1941