American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

ASSIGNED to shoot "An American In Paris" only a few days before the starting date. Director of Photography Alfred Gilks, A.S.C., (right) was greatly aided by unit Art Director Preston Ames, shown here discussing a scene "visualization" he prepared for the production. Some highlights in the filming of .. . ‘An American In Paris’ By ALFRED GILKS, A. S. C. The announced goal of the persons who pooled their talents for MGM’s An American In Paris was to do a pic¬ ture which would reflect the real heart and emotional appeal, as well as the ex¬ citing tempo, of the city regarded alike by travelers, painters and story tellers as the most romantic in the world. The top command — Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli, and Gene Kelly — worked intensely for many months on the plans for the production and came up with an abundance of brilliant ideas for sets, lighting effects and camera movements. To carry out these ideas and deliver them to the screen in a practical manner, with all the flavor and atmosphere intact, was the challenge handed unit art director Preston Ames and myself. Fortunately Ames had been in on all the pre-production work and had trans¬ posed many of the ideas into sketches. I was not assigned to the picture until a few days before shooting was to start. It was Ames’ fine cooperation that speeded my briefing and made it pos¬ ts • American Cinematographer sible for me to “go to the post” with confidence that I had a complete under¬ standing of the spirit of the picture. Because the picture was to be pro¬ duced entirely in Flollywood, except for a sequence of atmosphere shots, it be¬ came a formidable and challenging as¬ signment in art direction and photog¬ raphy. Without the pictorial impact of authentic Parisian scenes and locales, the picture — as conceived — would lose much of its punch. And so Paris was re-created in the MGM studio. There are many advantages in build¬ ing sets for a picture like this instead of shooting in the original locales — advantages especially for the camera¬ man. When the sets are designed and built at the studio, the full requirements of the camera can be considered in the planning and the sets constructed to permit widest utilization of the camera. Also, colors more suitable to Techni¬ color photography can be used, and the lighting, of course, is not the problem it would be on location. Previously, in 1932, I had visited • January, 1952 Paris and spent much time with Buckley MacGurrin, artist, lifelong friend and former shipmate. I had just pur¬ chased a Leica with a very fast lens, so I could shoot candid pictures, inside and out. day and night — from Can Can girls at the Bal Tabarin to big spectacle scenes with Mistinguette at the Casino de Paris. In those days it was a decided sensation to see someone snapping away with a camera at night with no flash gun or lights, and the French no doubt took me for a harmless idiot; hut I got some hue pictures. The long arm of coincidence has been fatigued by overuse in films as well as in novels, but I cannot help thinking how really extraordinary was this ex¬ perience of mine in Paris, from the co¬ incidental point of view, because my companion was, like Gene Kelly in the film made so many years later, a young American painter, veteran of the pre¬ ceding war, who lived on the fringes of the Butte Montmartre in a studio as typical as anyone could imagine. To¬ gether we wandered in little Montmartre streets; frequented the artists’ cafes in Montmartre and in Montparnasse; we saw the quays in daylight and at night ; we drank white wine and ate oysters on the terrace. And all the time my Leica was working — from the Place du Tertre to Notre Dame. When I started on the picture at the studio, I dug up these old Leica photos. They revived countless memories which I sincerely believe were a great help to me in getting the feel of the atmosphere I was to strive for in filming An Amer¬ ican in Paris. Perhaps one of the most challenging AFTER studying art department sketches, which visu¬ alized all the important sets and action before start of picture, Gilks planned his lighting and photography.