American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE MONTH HERE COMES MR. JORDAN Columbia Production. Director of Photography: Joseph Walker, A.S.C. "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (originally and more appropriately "Heaven Can Wait") is one of the finest jobs of photography Director of Photography Joseph Walker, A.S.C, has turned out in some time. Played throughout for comedy, it doesn't offer the obvious opportunities for spectacularly dramatic camerawork and lighting that some of Walker's other, more heavily dramatic productions have, but he makes it distinguished visually by giving it sensitivelykeyed "mood" photography where the ordinary impulse would be to shoot it in a fairly high-keyed comedy mood and let things go at that. The picture is definitely the better for Walker's cameratreatment. Even though it is one of the better, and more unusual comedies of the season, there is ample variation in dramatic mood and tempo to give Walker's lighting considerable play. And we've seldom seen photography that followed the mood of the action more sympathetically. A particularly good example of this — and one which can be recommended to students of cine-technique — is the sequence leading up to the second murder of the stockbroker whose body Robert Montgomery temporarily occupies. Up to this point, the treatment has been fairly high-keyed: but as the sequence progresses, the visual key is subtly lowered, with increasingly ominous shadoweffects taking place in the compositions, until — by strictly visual means — the audience is mentally prepared for the murder which follows. The special-effects work of the production— which, being uncredited, may be presumed to be Walker's achievement— is outstanding. Both technically and pictorially the scenes in the celestial way-station where "Mr. Jordan" waits (with a transport plane!) to pick up the passengers he is to ferry to Heaven, are outstanding. The concept is one which could all too easily be thrown out of key by inept camerawork; but Walker's realization brings it to the screen deftly, with the precisely right visual note of combined reality, unreality and slyly incongruous humor. His execution of the various appearances and disappearances of Montgomery, as the disembodied prizefighter, and his mentors, "Mr. Jordan" and "Messenger 7013" furnish another technical highlight of the film. One could wish, however, that there might perhaps have been a few more of these, and that also in at least some of the scenes in which these characters were shown and established as being invisible and inaudible to the other players, they could have been shown as more conventionally double-exposed ghosts. Similarly, one wonders if it would not have been more dramatically convincing if Montgomery, as he takes over temporarily the bodies of the deceased broker and prizefighter, could not have been helped in his characterizations by changes in makeup which would make things more believable to the audience. Another serious flaw in the picture is the fact that one whole sequence — that in the broker's office — a set employed in another very recent Columbia release is employed, scarcely without change. It seems ludicrous to see Montgomery, in the broker's body, using an office which belonged to Franchot Tone in "She Knew All The Answers." One almost expects Tone, or at least Joan Bennett, to walk in and order the interloper out! A highly enthusiastic word must be said about the laboratory work on "Here Comes Mr. Jordan.'' In the past, we've seen some very indifferent prints from this studio — and said so. But it is a pleasure to report that when the preview print of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" was made, Laboratory Supervisor George Seid and his staff were very much on their toes, and turned out a print which is not only the best Columbia print we've seen in many a year, but one which would be a credit to any laboratory. We hope they'll keep up the good work. MY LIFE WITH CAROLINE RKO-Radio Production. Director of Photography: Victor Milner, A.S.C. Special Effects by: Vernon L. Walker, A.S.C. This is another example of Milner in his best mood — the deft, crisp polished comedy of the Lubitsch-esque school at which he so greatly excels. And it is one of Milner's best photographic achievements in every way. His sparkling high-key photography does much to set and maintain the frothy atmosphere of the picture. A particularly noteworthy achievement is what Milner's camera does to the star, Ronald Colman. Ever since "A Tale of Two Cities" we have seen Colman growing progressively older and wearier on the screen. And inevitably the general audience-reaction has been "what a delightful player he was" rather than the present-tense mention his performances have really deserved. But in "My Life With Caroline" Milner's camera-treatment of Colman gives the public back the Ronald Colman of a dozen years ago. Seldom has the value of understanding camerawork to a star been more emphatically emphasized. Vernon Walker's special-effects work is excellent, as usual. There is quite a variety of it in the production, too. Most outstanding, perhaps, is the yachting sequence, which includes some real ly noteworthy process-background work in which foreground and background are uncommonly well coordinated. On the other side of the ledger must be mentioned the settings designed by Nicholai Remisoff. Viewed as examples of bizarre architecture they might, perhaps, be considered worthy of mild praise. But as settings for a motion picture they are atrocious. Instead of providing an atmospherically fitting background to the action, these sets — with perhaps the single exception of the "Sun Valley" set used briefly in the opening and closing sequences — continually fight with story, dialog and action for the center of the stage. It is a literal fact that in several of the most dramatically important sequences of the picture the exaggerated ornateness of the sets actually conceals the players from the audience. Perhaps the worst offender in this respect is the set supposed to represent the entry-way and main staircase of Colman's luxurious Florida home. This bizarre creation centers around a lavish staircase which would be questionable as a background even for a Busby Berkeley musical extravaganza number — a fearful and wonderful creation of modernistic chrome, lucite and — so help us! — fur. And yet quite a bit of important action takes place on and near this stairway. Inevitably, in much of that action the audience's eye has literally to fight to get past that over-aggressive setting to the people acting on it. Sometimes it's a losing battle. In one important scene in the latter part of the film, when Anna Lee, after starting out to leave with another man, returns home and hurries up the stair, this important action is shown in a long-shot — and Remisoff's incredible creation literally hides the fact that anyone is moving up the stair until a line of dialog from another player — '"There she goes now" — tells you what you are supposed to be seeing! If this is a sample of Remisoff 's best work, we fail to see what could commend him to so astute a producerdirector as Lewis Milestone, save, perhaps, his congenially Muscovite name. At any rate, for his next production Milestone would be well-advised to satisfy himself with a simple art director rather than a "production designer" of this type. He'd get better sets — backgrounds which would give his direction and the talents of his cast a better chance. SERGEANT YORK Jesse L. Lasky Production : Warner Bros.' Release. Director of Photography: Sol Polito, A.S.C. Battle Sequences: Arthur Edeson, A.S.C. "Sergeant York" is in every sense of the word, a great picture — perhaps the most impressive of the season. Pro(Continued on Page 390) American Cinematographer August, 1941 375