American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

LMIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIHIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlii FLASHBACK TO YESTERYEAR | 1923 — The place — Rome, Italy. And the man behind the camera — Arthur | C. Miller. ASC, photographing scenes for Samuel Goldwyn’s “The Eternal | City,” a story about the beginning of the Fascist movement in Italy that | ultimately brought Benito Mussolini to power. The camera — a Mitchell, 1 actually Mitchell camera number 3, i.e., the third off the assembly line. | Others from left are director George Fitzmaurice, actress Barbara Famar 1 and actor Bert Fytel. The production, as Miller recalls, was a tough one, made so by a num| her of unlooked-for situations that developed, ranging from strikes to expul§ sion from Italy of the director and others. One Sunday, says Miller, the | company worked on five different locations in and around Rome, using 1 2500 extras. All of them had to walk from one shooting location to another. Mussolini, whether by design or because he liked to hobnob with Holly| wood movie people, invited the company to make his office its head| quarters while in Rome. Here Miller stored his camera and equipment 1 at the close of each day’s work and he saw or talked with Mussolini almost | every day. Once the Dictator posed for him, sitting behind his huge desk. When “The Eternal City” was about half finished, Mussolini chanced | to see another film which Fitzmaurice had directed there three years earlier | and which poked fun at many Italians and Italian customs. This so en ! raged the Dictator he summoned Fitzmaurice and his assistant to his | office and ordered them to leave Italy at once. Miller, realizing he had | all the negative of the picture that had been shot to date locked in a trunk 1 in his hotel room, anticipated that Mussolini might attempt to locate and | confiscate it. To avoid this, he and his wife (who had accompanied him | to Italy) quietly checked out of their hotel that night and took the train 1 for Switzerland. They failed to reckon with the customs officers at the | border who, upon their arrival there, proceeded to search the Millers' | three trunks. But luck was with them. The officers, after going through 1 two of the trunks and finding nothing but clothing, assumed the third | contained the same, routinely stamped it “OK” and waved them on. From | here on their journey was without incident. They arrived safely in New 1 York with the negative, and the picture was completed in a New York 1 studio. ■ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 M M M M ■ 1 1 > 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 •* Custom-Made! Hand Calibrated, Professional Favorite! COMBI-500 Professional Exposure < Mf)DC Combines a Selenium OUUA IflUllL Cell plus ultra-sensitive Cadmium Sulphide Cell to give more than 500X greater sensitivity than ordinary meters. Actually 100X more sensitive than the previous SPECTRA PROFESSIONAL model! Strictly professional and hand cali¬ brated, produced in limited quantities. ASA range .1 to 32,000; measures incident or re¬ flected light. If there's any light, SPECTRA meas¬ ures it . . . precisely! Previous Spectra models can be converted . . . it's the Lifetime Meter! It For tech data: SCOPUS, INC., 404 Park Ave. S„ N. Y. 16 Mfg. by Photo Research Corp., Hollywood 38, Calif. SAVE MONEY When Filming In Europe By Renting Your Camera Equipment From CHEVEREAU PARIS, FRANCE We Service The Entire Continent CAMERAS, including the Mitchell BFC 65mm CRANES DOLLIES 20 RUE DE LA CHINE PARIS 20, FRANCE TelS: MEN 9472, PYR 5104 Cable: Cameraloc Paris AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, MARCH, 1963 17S