The Cine Technician (1939)

109 T I (IN E T E ( 1 1 N I ( ' I A N I i -Jan., 1037-8 Hollywood Letter by LEIGH AMAN LET'S start with the fights and get them over. The latest one centres round assistant directors. The question is whether they should be included in the i i en Directors' Guild or not. The directors say ihc\ should, but the producers sa;\ their's is a different kind of work and therefore should have a different Union. Their idea of course, is that the assistant directors, being purely technicians, and not "artistes." should work in the interests of the studio if necessary against the director. The directors, presumably, want the assistants on their side. L'ntil t hey gain their end, the producers refuse to recognise the Screen Directors Guild— which is all scry c plicated. As yel it isn't settled. There is another fight on between the two writers' Unions for official reei ignition. The "Talk ol the Month" this time is the Hal RoachMussolini business. This has caused a great deal of amusement to some people, but seems to have antagonised the majority. There were more arguments and heated discussions over tins affair than 1 have heard for a Ion" time. The trouble be^an. it appears, in Italy. Mussolini made Roach a very attractive financial otter to make films oi some of the operas and Roach saw no reason to refuse it. Mussolini put the business in charge of his son and it was suggested he should visit Hollywood. Roach didn't feel so good about that — or so he said afterwards: — "The visit of Mussolini was not my personal idea. It was suggested by an Italian banker and advocated by his lather. I could not do otherwise than act diplomatically in favouring young Mussolini's trip, which was simply for the purpose of studying conditions in the industry in this country. The boy is not interested in war or politics; he's interested in business and I never imagined at the time that a business deal would become a political question." Which seems to me quite reasonable. However, when Yittorio arrived, a Hollywood anti-Fascist League at once published various quotations from his book on the Ethiopian war. "War for us is a sport," was the favourite, with which was published the picture of a dead child. The\ also said (in common with many others) that the mere fact of having an American producer associating with Mussolini would harm the entire American film industry. The result of this rather ridiculous unpleasantness was that Vittorio slipped quietly out of Hollywood after staying onhj a week. Which was too bad. as Roach had put an entire new front to his studio at great expense just to impress him! It is fairh certain that the deal will fall through now and this is perhaps just as well. The ( 'a h lorn ians all expect the war to start in Europe and it would be a pity to disappoint them. Al an\ people think that studio work has become so efficient in Hollywood that there is very little location work done now. This is not tru< — il anything it is growing in importance. It is the only way of getting a natural setting and with the continual improvement of equipment it would be silU not to use all the natural advantages available here. Nearly every picture made since I was here has had some location sequences. The still here is one of the "Bad Man of Brimstone" company on location in Utah. M.G.M. is one of the lew studios even in Hollywood to have a departmenf devoted entirely to research work. As can be imagined, this department saves many a eom M.G.M's. "Bad Man oi Brimstone" Unit on Location pany time and money for information on almost every subject. Under the able guidance oi Nathalie Bucknall, it deserves mention here, as it might be a useful idea to develop a similar department in one of our larger stud .1 Corner of M.G.M's. Cartoon Department [c ontinued on page 176)