Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

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150 HE KNEW WHAT HE WANTED Ibsen, Dickens, Shakespeare and Saki were his screenwriters, as David Bradley, now ex-amateur, plotted a deliberate and determined course to Hollywood prestige usually reserved for the big-budget boys. His taut production of Julius Caesar is probably the first feature-length 16mm. print ever to be booked by a group of major theatres in this country. WILLIAM HOWE SELDOM has any motion picture director charted his career with the acumen and vision of David Bradley, a graduate magna cum laude from the 16mm. school to full professional honors. By planning his own life with the blueprint precision he employs to block out a movie sequence, he has chalked up an enviable record of hits rather than hits and misses. THE ASPIRING AMATEUR Bradley's career is unique: he is that rare individual who knew what he wanted and, what is more unusual, knew how to get it. There seems to have been no question in his mind but that ultimately he would win his wings as a major picture maker. The aspiring amateur can take heart from the success of this bright new talent; for Bradley's efforts and acclaim have endowed 16mm. with a Photographs by Bradley Productions CHARLTON HESTON, in his 1941 role before Bradley's camera as Peer Gynt, may play artist Gauguin in friend's current Noa Noa. GETTENG STARTED The complexities of superior cinematics were never questioned by Bradley. He realized that few professions are so demanding and exacting as that of big league picture directing. To reach the higher rungs of major studio megaphoning you must be both diplomat and despot, artist and artisan, creator and interpreter. But how does one acquire the skills and scope that Hollywood demands of its ringleaders? Although the doctor and lawyer can count on schools for the better part of their training, the qualities required of an ace director are so diversified it is doubtful whether the most adept instructor could convey them by lectures or demonstration. True, there are creditable courses in cinematography and drama throughout the world. Yet the sum of all the parts does not necessarily equal the whole in the difficult business of movie directing. Where, then, does the aspiring picture director learn his trade? Probing the careers of Hollywood's ranking directors uncovers no common denominator: Billy Wilder is an ex-screenwriter; Vincent Minelli, a former musical director, and John Huston, a reformed vagabond and cavalryman. Some were cutters, dance directors, actors, radio scripters, producers, cameramen, stunt men, eVen real estate agents. The sound stages supply no answer. LEARNING BY DOING How Bradley groomed himself for his phenomenal splash is a lesson in cool, clear thinking. When he outgrew puppets, which were the first outlet for his dramatic drive, he turned his efforts at the age of twelve to making movies. Recruiting his cast and staff from schoolmates, he set about to learn his craft from the tripod up. From the first he put the credo of the progressive schools he attended into practice and began to "learn by doing." The stories he filmed were selected mainly for their cinaptitude. Yet the happenstance of an intriguing character face (which suggested the production of a particular Brandon Films DAVID BRADLEY, above at N. Y. premiere of Julius Caesar and at left as the play's Brutus, is able actor, director, cameraman.