Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1953)

210 JAMES L. WATSON, ACL (right, above) talks over a scene with John Dowell at foot of the sweeping open staircase which producer planned for in film. Meter reading at left is for closeup as Dowell enters. HISTORY OF A MYSTERY From script to score, the Ten Best producer of "The Man With The Box" tells how this psycho-shocker came to be JAMES L. WATSON, ACL MY purpose in making The Man With The Box, which later became a 1952 Ten Best winner, was to produce a mystery film without benefit of dialog or subtitles. I wanted to depend solely upon action and reaction, heightened by an appropriate musical score, to get the story across. Necessity also played an important part in my decision to produce this type of film. For I did not have equipment for sound on film, and I felt that the use of subtitles would be a throwback to pre-/az2 Singer days. THE BASIC PLAN My basic intention was to work up a mystery theme with a smash ending, a switcheroo in which a man, already suspected as a murderer, convinces a young girl that he is harmless — but immediately thereafter lets the audience see that he is a helpless pathological killer. Thus, as the two drive off gaily in his car to the park, each onlooker is left with the terrifying knowledge that the girl is going innocently but inevitably to her death. To heighten the effectiveness of this climax, I decided that the man should be mild mannered, inoffensive, almost scholarly in appearance — and I cast him therefore as an archaeologist. Further, I felt that the girl should be led to her doom by her own naive but insatiable curiosity in the man's actions. To bring them together for this denouement, I had the man hire a room at the girl's home (it is established that her mother takes in boarders), where he arrives with a mysterious box just as the girl's imagination has been fired by murder headlines in the local paper. From this beginning, the girl's mounting suspicions of "the man with the box" lead her to discover that the box contains seemingly lethal weapons, and subsequently that the man digs up what she believes to be a human skull. Fleeing homeward in terror from this revelation, she is later reassured by the man as he gently explains his archaeological pursuits — only to become his victim when, suddenly and inexorably, his pathological urge to kill overwhelms him. CASTING AND DIRECTION Casting this story was not difficult as I had two very definite types to portray. My friend John Dowell was a natural for the archaeologist, for he is mild appearing and, behind his tortoise shell glasses, has the mien of a scholar. His only acting experience had been in the usual run of high school plays. The girl had to be young, pretty, athletic and, above all, have a face that would register emotion ! Such a girl, Cathy Moss, happened to live across the backyard from me. Cathy's previous dramatic experience had been in a few college plays. Both played like troupers! Minor roles of the girl's mother and the newsboy were cast after shooting began. Inasmuch as we were not using subtitles or dialog, the entire story had to be portrayed through facial expressions and body movements — action and reaction. My basic technique in direction was to ask the players to think about what was happening and then let it be mirrored in their faces. This, plus several rehearsals of each shot to insure a flawless performance, was the procedure throughout. Also, I took many of the scenes from different angles and then used the most effective one in the final editing. One of our most difficult scenes, I am sure, was the closeup of John as he stares lethally at Cathy in the climactic revelation of his murderous intent. This was taken seven times. I told John to put on a poker face,