American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

dust as did these pioneer women in their soul-searing cross-country trek a hundred years ago,” he said. On the screen, every exterior is not only a skillful pictorial composition, but needle sharp with extreme depth of focus. This further enhanced the stark effect which director Wellman insisted was so desirable. To accomplish this, Mellor used a 5N5 filter plus a polascreen, and set his camera shutter at 90°. So intense was the light, meter readings consistently indicated a stop of f / 45. With the filter-polascreen com¬ bination before his lens, and the ability to reduce his camera shutter opening, Mellor shot in bright sunlight at f/8. One of the “surprises” which Sur¬ prise Valley held for the hundreds of players and the technical staff was the gruelling 65-mile bus trip out to the val¬ ley from Kanab, and back again at the end of each day. Normally, this sort of trip is considered all in a day’s work for natives, but oddly enough it was the score of women extras recruited in Kanabe that were the first to complain about the trip, and ultimately quit. They had to be replaced by additional extras from Hollywood. The Hollywood players stuck it out till the end of the picture! Nor were the players and technicians the only ones who sometimes found the going pretty tough on this location. The camera equipment particularly was sub¬ jected to excessive heat and dust and often rain and snow. This made it neces¬ sary to take the cameras apart for in¬ spection and cleaning at the end of each day, and then re-assemble them. The company brought along three Mitchell BNC’s. Two were used in shooting every scene; the third one was held in reserve in case of a breakdown or an accident. At all times optical flats were mounted in front of the lenses to protect their delicate coated surfaces from pitting by sand, which the wind seemed to be stir¬ ring up all the time. An item of equipment that proved of immeasurable help to Mellor was the four-wheel-drive camera car, which Hollywood technicians have dubbed the ‘Blue Goose.” This is fitted with a hydraulic lift and platform on the front and is normally used as a mobile cam¬ era car in rugged terrain where other camera cars cannot be used. Mellor was glad director Wellman insisted on taking this piece of equipment along. He had used it with considerable suc¬ cess the year before in the Colorado mountains when on location shooting exteriors for Across The Wide Mis¬ souri. (See American Cinematographer for May, 1951, page 178.— Ed.) Mellor found still another use for the “Blue Goose” — that of light parallel for his booster lights in some exteriors that were shot in deep shade or in close quarters, such as the scene filmed from within a cave. Here, with brilliant sun¬ shine lighting the background area, a brute mounted high on the “Blue Goose” enabled him to balance lighting for the action staged in the shadows. “With constant sunshine daily,” Mel¬ lon said, “our working days were long. We made the most of every moment. In this respect, director Wellman was most understanding and cooperative. Perhaps few directors have the respect and ap¬ preciation for ‘continuity in lighting’ that he does. Indeed, he considers this an important factor in pictorial perfec¬ tion — something which marks every production he makes. “Thus, whenever the sun in its course moved too far around toward the west to permit us to continue shooting a scene which we had started earlier in the day, he would order shooting stopped until the next day, and would transfer operations to another setup in which light direction need not match any preceding shot. Then the next morning we’d return to the first setup and resume shooting. “With some directors, if I were to call attention to the changing light, they’d invariably say, ‘The devil with it. Shoot it anyway!’ For fill light on location, Mellor used very few reflectors. Booster lights were used instead. The company brought along a 1000-amp motor generator, which supplied the necessary current. Later, this equipment was put to good use in shooting scenes for the closing sequence of the picture, which were staged within a large pavilion on the ranch. This had a huge overhanging roof, but no sides, making it neces¬ sary to step up the lighting for scenes filmed inside, balancing the illumination against the intense daylight in the back¬ ground. This proved Mellor's toughest lighting problem on the whole picture and sometimes, he says, they were draw¬ ing more than the generator’s rated amperage capacity in order to get the light volume needed for these scenes. Having spent six weeks in Surprise Valley and in and around Kanab, dur¬ ing which time more than 50% of the picture was filmed, the company gath¬ ered together its equipment, cast and technicians and returned to Holly¬ wood to shoot the few scenes scheduled for the sound stage. Of these, the most technically interesting was the rain¬ storm sequence, during which one of the covered wagons, inundated by the swollen stream, overturns drowning some of its occupants. 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