International photographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

pRudEuy ancI The tjmes Anion" the doctrines promulgated by the Medieval churchmen, few have reached wider or lasted longer than that of denouncing the "flesh" as evil and loathsome and therefore to he hidden. Neurotic ascetics, flaming with a compensatory zeal kindled by their own abstinence, built up a complex against the naked human body that finds expression even todav. Odo of Cluny in the Tenth Century reviled in carefully chosen epithets all the beautv of the female body. "If we cannot bear to touch phlegm or filth even with the tip of the finger." said he, "how could we desire to embrace a bag of dung." And with wonderment we read of female ascetics who bathed in the dark or in their shifts, lest they fall into temptation. To this same impulse may be traced the crime committed by the missionaries of the last century against the island peoples of the Pacific; simple beauty-loving races compelled under threats to become lisping From "Monsters and Madonnas" By WILLIAM MORTENSEN prudes, walking to chapel in Mother Hubbards and cast-off Prince Alberts. This movement against the innocent South Sea Islanders was perhaps the final manifestation of an impulse already somewhat discredited in the land of its origin. Although in Victorian England the forces of prudery held absolute sway, the character of this prudery had changed utterly since the days of Odo of Cluny. As Havelock Ellis points out: "The nineteenth century man who encountered the spectacle of white limbs flashing in the sunlight no longer felt like the medieval ascetic that he was risking the salvation of his immortal soul ... he merely felt that it was 'indecent'." Already there was under way a movement toward a healthier, saner view of nuditv, a movement which today is bearing fruit. Compare, for instance, our conventional swimming attire with the habits of the bather who, a hundred years ago in Victorian England, patronized a "bathing machine," a dressing room on wheels that was rolled out into the water. From this contraption the bather descended, completely sheltered by an awning that came down to the surface of the water, and in sedate privacy disported himself in the chill brine of the North Atlantic! Although the movement has suffered much from the prurient curiosity of a section of the public and from the unseemly antics of a few publicity seekers, the growth of "Nudism" is significant as a symptom of a changing viewpoint. It ma) well be that this changing viewpoint is leading us to a new Renaissance of the plastic and graphic arts. "In all the arts." says Maeterlinck, "civilized peoples have approached or departed from pure beauty according as they approached or departed from the habit of nakedness." Nowadays, among normal and intelligent people, we usually depend upon a wholesome reaction to the use of the nude in photography — pleasure in a healthy body, admiration for plastic beauty. SOME RULES MAdE TO DE DROliEN What is good motion picture photography? If simple questions always had simple answers, it would save a lot of wear and tear, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Let's have a look at an answer to our question; the answer being a good deal more complex. Good photography means a good deal more than well photographed pictures. A picture may have carefully-considered composition, fine lighting, depth and character and still not be acceptable as "good" photography when applied to an individual scene in a motion picture. The pictures the competent cinematographer must get on his film, in addition to the above requirements, must fit the dialogue, the action and the subject matter of the sequence in question. For instance, very often my laboratory man has called me to say that my rushes were too contrasty, or too flat or that the exposure was too great or even that the picture was photographically out of balance. All of this was, on several occasions, perfectly true. But the laboratory-man was judging the several hundred feet of film he was working on by accepted photographic standards. He did not see it as anything but a part of the whole. And he certainly did not see it through the eyes of the cameraman. With all due respect to members of my craft, I have never been satisfied to find a successful formula and then stick to it forever after. To do so would be a positive denial of progress. I don't believe in this and I hope I may never be guilty of practising it. But setting new standards in any profession or craft is not an easy matter. One must not start breaking the accepted rules until one has mastered these rules. No competent artist and I'm speaking now of the man with brush and paints, no competent artist, such as Bracque or Picasso, ever attempted the unconventional, weird canvasses for which they are famous until they had thoroughly mastered the conventional methods. Applying this to cinematography, one can readily see that before "special effects" are to be sought by the cameraman, he must master his "art" as it is conven By GREGG TOLAND tionally practised. And only when he has done that, has he earned the right to experiment; only then has he gained permission, so to speak, to deviate from the normal. One of the greatest bugbears in Hollywood today. I think, is that the greater portion of all the creative workers — writers, directors, actors, cameramen and all the rest — are making pictures for the approbation of their fellow-workers. This is an unhealthy condition and leads nowhere except to false values in pictures. Motion pictures should be made for the ultimate consumer, the audience. And the creative worker, should, in my opinion, make pictures for the audience and dare the criticism of his fellowworkers. As great an occupational hazard as the Hollywood cameraman has to face is that of constantly wondering whether the director or the producer or the star will like the results of his day's work. It is true that many are not in a sufficiently secure economic position to forget these considerations but to those who do have a few nickels in the bank, this viewpoint is directed: The sooner you adopt International Photographer for March, 1941