Cinema Canada (Oct-Nov 1974)

a ———————————— — out, and I believe she still had this Beaulieu on the shelf because nobody wanted to be caught dead with it. And here started my love-story with a remarkable little camera that has lasted to this day. At first sight a very filmsy thing, almost feminine in appearance, but quickly proving itself a very tough broad. It’s incredible versatility (2-64 frames, forward and backwards), TTL focusing, stop-frame capability and other goodies in an incredibly light package is a joy to explore. Of course there are bad points too, like any woman has. The light meter behind the lens is a farce and the old turret had to be beefed up. And talking about tough! Peter Reusch, a very respected cameraman, had the misfortune to have his helicopter fail 150 feet above the Expo grounds while grinding away with the Beaulieu. It all ended reasonably well as accidents go. The pilot had his face smashed into the control-panel (he mistook the engine cut-out switch for the heater switch, he doesn’t fly anymore) and Peter got thrown out in a mudflat, seriously hurting his back. The director only suffered consistent nightmares ever since. But the camera! This landed on a rocky plateau 200 feet from the helicopter. The door was never found. The lens, a Taylor Hobson Monital 3.8 zoom, was severely damaged. With a slight dent in the top part of the body, the camera ran faultlessly. It was packed with mud. Janet Good gave or sold me that body, I forget which, and with buying a new door and a turret and carefully denting out the body, I used it for two years, until I had the mistaken idea to take it apart and built a 400 foot body for it, somewhat like the efforts of Joseph Trnka in Ottawa. I must very humbly admit the effort was a total failure and to this day I am in the possession of a box of Beaulieu parts if anyone wants it. So when Jim Mercer had a Beaulieu for sale for a soft price I jumped at it and after ripping out the TTL lightmeter, I’m still the proud owner of a very good camera, that has absolutely never failed me and has earned its bread over... and over... and over.... Jim mentioned to me the other day that after a very easy year with the American customs regarding T.I.B.’s (temporary import bonds), they are again cracking down with a vengeance. Apparently, some dingbat in the West used these T.I.B.’s to export expensive furs to the U.S., then switched labels and returned with a load of rats or squirrels or something, thereby severely depleting America’s wherewithalls to wage war, or conduct phone taps or whatever our good neighbours use their taxes for. So now one has to alert a broker in the US city that one goes to, and clear customs on 24 Cinema Canada the spot. That, by the way, precludes taking fragile equipment like lenses or soundgear with you on the plane, causing pained howls from soundmen who rightfully suspect airlines of deep malice toward all camera crews. So for you who contemplate trips south, please contact your friendly broker. I had pretty good service from Airspeed Brokers. They do a lot of camera crews and know what you're talking about when you mention Elemacks, or spiders, or twelve to one-twenties over the phone. Love Story BELL & HOWELL is also a very respected name in the business. I know of many cameramen, who, after packing a BL or NPR for a trip overseas, after packing 16 cases of all sorts of exotic gear, throw in, almost as an afterthought, a B&H 70DR. Just to be sure, you mind! With a 10, a 25, and a 75mm lens, this camera has been a standard in the industry for umpteen years. It’s in a class with the Auricon, (the Great Gaffer bless ’m) and is a last resort nowadays, when the BL fails, the NPR blows it’s last transistor, the 16-S power connector disconnects, the Beaulieu jams, the Bolex spring breaks, and the director screams bloody murder to keep on shooting. What can one say about a camera that grinds out film faithfully after 21 years? I bought mine in 1953, in Hong Kong. An old B&H HD, used, as I had my first 16mm assignment. Up until that time I had only shot 35mm and this HD was just like a funny toy to me. It cost me HK$ 1200.00, probably about $80.00 US at that time. The assignment went well, netted me about $200.00 US so it surely was not a dead loss, even if I did not use it for another 4 years. I never had to clean or overhaul it until 1960 when I started in Vancouver with CHAN. So I gave it a face-lift and upgraded it to a 70-DR, with interlock turret, and I also gave it the 10-25-75 mm complement of lenses, and later a filter slot. It is still with me. I don’t use it much, but it has saved my skin at least twice since then. Once in the north, with an outside temperature of 45 degrees below zero, the BL had to warm up inside every 15 minutes. The 16-S was totally useless. The B&H did not even waver 1/10 of a frame. The BL and 16-S were winterized. The B&H was not. And of course that time in Dacca, when the hotel decided to save electricity so I could not load my batteries. So what more can I say? No repairs since 1960? No scratches, ever? I wish that cameras nowadays would be made with the same technical expertise. And for you young uns, who have never even seen this camera (Jesus, I feel old!) take a look any night on channel 7, Buffalo. They use a photo of the thing at the head of every local story. And don’t point at it and laugh — they haven’t made a better one yet. Small Stuff For you people who have a BL with a 110 volt AC motor, a new powerpack is on the market. Ron Niecke has developed a real gee-whiz package that works exceptionally well. I bought one about two months ago and frankly, I was sceptical about the claim it would do 13 400 foot rolls. So, during the elections I did not charge it up for 4 days, shooting about 3 rolls a day. I finally did charge it overnight because I was worried it might not last past the 13th roll. Usually, claims for new equipment are a bit exaggerated: it is one thing to run a camera on a bench under controlled conditions, another if you have to use it with the start-stop conditions we work in. It does me good to see Canadian gear come on the market. After all, we do a hell of a lot more documentaries here than they do in the States. For TV use, that is. It’s really funny, we went crystal here in Canada much quicker than the guys in the States did. Some of the stories in the ASC go all gooey about so-called new gear, sync-up methods etc., stuff that we worked with pretty exclusively years ago. It always does my heart good to hear an American director go ga-ga on those assignments I sometimes get for the American networks. Like radio-links, instant playback on cassette, syncboards with LED read-outs etc. Niecke’s pack would drive em wild! Projections I feel that there is enough expertise in this country to develop the dreamcamera. Something like a cross-breed between the ECLAIR ACL and the ARRI-SR, with some of the features of the PHOTO-SONICS and the CP-16R thrown in for good measure. But simpler and more rugged. Good Lord, if you just knew what kind of a dossier I’m assembling on the characteristics of the ACL, I wouldn’t sleep so good at night, for fear of being strangled by the French. But to be fair, one must point out that many cameramen are very loyal to their own gear. Like Bob Dutru who says: “If and when you get it to work, its the best camera there is. I wouldn’t work with any other camera than the ACL”. It’s that “if and when” that Bob seems to have forgotten, his trips to France to get it to work properly, the shitty front-end that Heinz Jungermann (did I spell it right this time?) had to rebuild. I