Cinema Progress (1938 - 1939)

BETTMANN (Continued from Page 6) interest and credence to an historic filnn; why aren't they utilized more often? Q. — Couid you suggest a few offhand? A. — I think so. For instance, in the Middle Ages, people afflicted with insomnia were lulled to sleep by the sedative strains of a hired violinist. Then, in the Elizabethan era, trunk hose were generally worn which were so tremendous as to permit a man to carry in them "a pair of sheets, two table cloths, ten napkins, four shirts, a brush, a glass, a comb and a night cap!" Q. — That's a natural for a comic scene. A. — And more than that, it gives an insight to the period. A film about London in the early part of the 18th Century might well include the following episode: A man is doggedly carrying an umbrella over his head while people in the streets laugh and urchins throw stones at him. Comment can be made that this man had to sign a pledge for the local government, promising to behave himself. All because he was Jonas Hanway, the first man to use an umbrella in England. Q. — I see what you mean. Here is unusual information in amusing form, a commentary on the mechanical development of the time and a scene that fits into the action. A. — Right. Another one might be used to supplement the railroad train sequence in "Victoria, The Great." When the first railroads were introduced in Europe, people seriously went about making protection clothes with heavy wadding as insurance against injury from these iron monsters. Again, such a scene would amuse and indicate something about the psychology of the period. Q. — Do you have any definite suggestions as to how historical films can be improved? A. — Yes. Mainly by a more careful study of the numerous pictorial representations of the period to be filmed. To a lesser degree, literary sources will also prove productive. Generally, though, artists drew their pictures with less equivocality and more detail than can be found in the works of contemporary writers. Q— How about actors and other people concerned in making such films? What should they do? A. — Actors, scenarists and directors, in order to combat the anachronistic movements and gestures now prevalent, should make an exhaustive study of the characters and their times. Players would then be able to approach their roles with a knowledge of physical and social characteristics upon which to build their creative portrayals. Q. — How do you think your suggestions would work out as far as entertainment and audiences go? A. — I feel they would make more human, more informative and better-remembered films. Contemporary anecdota and incidents I have described would highlight the life of the times while providing amusing and educational background for the action. Q. — What do you think historic films of the future will be like? A. — For one thing, they will tend to dramatize and humanize, rather than glorify. History, like government, sometimes endures revision. At this time, history is changing from an overemphasis of personalities to dramatized documentation of social and cultural phenomena. I hope some day to see historic pictures, not of people like Henry the Eighth or Captain Bligh or the Prince of Wales, but people without names, our anonymous ancestors who really made history. LOCATIONS (Continued from Page 9) the picture. At long last, the camera could get in its work. Then the whole proceeding had to be reversed, the horse lowered, and the equipment carried down. R. C. Moore, Location Manager at Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, tells of using the front of a house In a suburb of Los Angeles for the filming of a Jones Family picture. The owner of the house was being paid $100 a day. All went well — the first day. When the crew arrived the following morning, they found one of the next-door neighbors complaining bitterly about the noise and confusion which was keeping her little baby from its beauty sleep. So the baby and Its mother had to be pacified — to the tune of $25.00 per day! Quite obviously, then, the life of a location manager Is far from passive. Every picture presents new and different problems. Every change in place or In weather must be met with resourcefulness and ingenuity. Every producer, director, star, cameraman, and sound technician presents problems to be solved by the location manager, and each must be pleased with the solution. It's a twenty-four-hour-a-day job that these location managers have, and they are entitled most assuredly to more than the meager recognition they receive. CINEMA PROGRESS' PICTURES The list below, page by page, shows the sources from which pictures in this issue were gathered: Cover — Roland Reed Productions. 1 — SelznickInternational. 2 — T. It. to L. bm. Roland Reed Productions. L. rt. U. S. Department of Agriculture. 3 — U. S. Department of Agriculture. ■4 — March of Time. 5 — Columbia Picture Corp. 6^BGttmann Archive. 7 — Samuel Goldwyn. 8 — M. J. Hungerford. 9 — U. It. Paramount; c. and bm., Columbia. 10-1 1 — Paramount. 12 — U. It., Selznick-lnternational; cr. William Dieterle; U. rt., Metro-Coldwyn-Mayer. 13 — U. It., Earl Thiesen; U. rt., J. Eugene Harley; L. cr., Norman Alley. 14-15 — 111 Gaumont-British; i2i Foreign Film Exchange; (3) Grand International Theatre (Los Angeles); i4i Grand International Theatre; iS) Grand International Theatre; (61 Foreign Film Exchange; (7i Amkino; (8) Grand International Theatre. 16-1 7 — Metro-Coldwyn-Mayer. 18-19 — Paramount. 21 — L. E. Lang and L. H. Ressegger. 22 — Henry A. Linek. 23 — Irving P. Kriek. 24-25 — Donald P. Bean. 26 — U. It., Fred Orth; L. rt.. Visual Education Department, Los Angeles city schoo's. 27 — Twentieth Century-Fox. 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