American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1949)

into a series of dramatic (and often melodramatic) sequences staged against properly atmospheric settings. There is the local gin-mill with its collection of gliding, shifty-eyed derelicts. There is the back room of this establishment, in which the hero and the villain meet in a poker battle to the death. In this sequence, the camera assumes prime responsibility for the crea¬ tion of almost monumental suspense. Low-key lighting is com¬ bined with low angles and extreme closeups, to bring the audience right into the vortex of the game. The cards them¬ selves, while used as pictorial elements to frame the composi¬ tions, also assume a high dramatic importance. The sequence is one in which a static but intimate camera combines with staccato cutting to achieve a most suspenseful result. Like every good script, “Rope of Sand’’ has its other side — one which emphasizes glamor and romance. The main locale for this situation is the lushly elaborate colonial mansion of the villainous commandant. The art direction expended on this set lends itself beautifully to the artistic camera treatment which cinematographer Lang has given it. The rough handhewn brick walls form an interesting contrast to the rococo art treasures displayed thereon, forming a perfect canvas for the painting with light that is used to such good advantage. Here again, the general lighting scheme is low-key, but it is not a sinister type of low-key; rather it is a mellow style of lighting treatment primarily designed to display to full ad¬ vantage the curvaceous charms of the film’s heroine. The dramatic climax of the plot is a “knock-down dragout” fight between the hero and the villain, a battle to the death that builds to almost unbearable heights of suspense. The brutal impact of this sequence is due partially to expert direction, partially to the extremely realistic performances of the players (who refused the aid of doubles), but most di¬ rectly to the inspired coordination of camera angles and light¬ ing used in photographing the sequence. The action takes place out on the desert in a shallow draw between two sand dunes. It is night, and the source of the key illumination is the headlight beam of the half-track in which the characters have been riding. A driving wind, com¬ plete with swirling sand, enhances the effect. It is in this set¬ ting that the characters, having stopped the half-track, some¬ what theatrically throw their weapons away, and proceed to settle their score with bare fists, shovels, and a few other mis¬ cellaneous pieces of hardware that go with the half-track. The low camera angles, the stark cross-lighting, and the dynamic super-close-ups, edited together with the staccato punch of machine-gun bullets, combine to make this the most viciously potent sequence in the film. Location filming for “Rope of Sand” was done on the vast California-Arizona sand dunes near Yuma, a stretch of ter¬ ritory closely resembling the diamond country north of Cape¬ town, scene of the story. 1 he entire cast and crew, almost ioo, motored to the V uma location headquarters, and set up what amounted to a portable studio away from Paramount’s Holly¬ wood studio. They used giant half-tracks and tractors to oper¬ ate on the sands. Buttercup Valley, where most of the action was lensed, is a small oasis deep in the heart of the desert. Freak winds keep this quarter-square-mile area free of sand, althouh it is com¬ pletely surrounded by gigantic drifts. When it became neces¬ sary to re-create certain of these actual desert settings back at the studio in Hollywood, it was discovered that West-Coast sand photographed differently from the inland species; there¬ fore, for matching purposes, several truckloads of Yuma sand were transported to Paramount for the pick-up shots. Among the props taken to Arizona on location were several cartons filled with skulls and the skeletal remains of animals. These were sprinkled about the sands to lend the proper at¬ mosphere. I hey were later retrieved and returned to the studio. Construction crews from Hollywood built a workable airport on the desert for key scenes in the film, and the air¬ drome, complete with necessary buildings, still stands. It will be used as an emergency landing strip for planes in the Yuma area. “Rope of Sand” is an exciting bit of film fare which prob¬ ably would have stacked up as fairly absorbing screen melo¬ drama, even had it not been filmed with more than just an adequate camera treatment. However, with the inspired pho¬ tography of Charles B. Lang, Jr., it emerges as a top-drawer example of cinema craftsmanship. END. LANG'S lighting throughout picture is more eloquent for what it conceals than for whaf if reveals. His camera assumes points of view not only pictorially interesting but suggesting dramatic action immediately imminent. FIGHT action played at night in light of half-track's headlamps gave scenes greater dramatic impact. Thus with light, shadow and camera placement, Lang reproduced atmosphere faithful to the South African desert locale. August, 1949 American Cinematographer 279