The Film Daily (1930)

Byrd Cameramen Find South Pole Supreme Test of du Pont Film COURTESY PARAMOUNT PICTURES--BYRO EXPEDITION Van der Veer, Commander Byrd and Rucker with some of the precious film boxes Shooting thirty miles of film on the most important news event of the day Van der Veer and Rucker, the Paramount Twins According to Dante in his "Inferno," there are different kinds of punishment in Hell for different offenders. As far as we know there is no special Hell for Cameramen, but we would like to make a few suggestions. Leave out the fire and brimstone, sulphur, pitchforks and other properties. Substitute a temperature as low as 70 degrees below zero; add cameras that freeze tight when the metal parts expand; mix in a few blizzards, with snow piling up inside the camera box; stir in plenty of static; season well with a literally blinding snow glare and serve frozen. On his outdoor exposures give him pictures without shadows or contrast— nothing but dead glaring whiteness. If that isn't hell enough for the average cameraman, then give him thirty miles of film and the most important news event of the day to shoot — under almost impossible conditions — and then watch him suffer! We carried 150,000 feet of orthochromatic, panchromatic and negative stock with us to the Antarctic. Working in collaboration with the du Pont film laboratories at Parlin, an ideal film container was developed. Each can of SOME HIGHLIGHTS ON SHOOTING THEANTARCT1C Temperature Down to 72 Degrees Below Zero Shooting a Blizzard Borne on a 75-Mile-an-hour Gale Fingers Frozen Loading Film Magazine in the Changing Bag Cameras "Froze" when Different M< l:ils Expanded Different Degrees Static in the Dark Room (Beside the Radio Hut) that Looked Like a Miniature Electrical Storm Asking a Super-Sensitive Film to Stand Ice Glare Strong Enough to Blind a Man It was Fourteen Months After Some of the Pictures Were Taken Before They Were Developed COURTESY PARAMOUNT PICTURES--SYRO EXPEDITION Commander Byrd with the flag and stone which he dropped on the South Pole film was finished with Duco, sealed with nine others in a zinc case, insulated by an enclosure of fibre board and placed in a wooden box. These precautions were fully justified. When our supply ship was unloaded at New Zealand, we found that most of the cases of film had been under bilge water for the entire journey. COURTESY PARAMOUNT PICTURES— BYRD EXPEDITION Cameraman Rucker "shooting" a whale at the bottom of the world It seemed as if our part of the expedition was sunk before we started. But a hasty investigation showed that the careful forethought of the du Pont laboratories had saved the day. Not a drop of water had seeped through — our precious films were unharmed. Everything — time, money, labor — depended on the quality of the film in those tin boxes. In Little America there could be no question of re-takes. After the scenes were shot it all depended on du Pont chemists whether we had a wow or a flop, hard test, If filr ever a him was given a here was one. Results? Well, if you have seen the Paramount picture, "With Byrd at the South Pole," and have noticed the way it's packing them in, you have the answer. Here was a film that went through the tropics twice in the hold of a boat — and that's hotter than hot! And was subjected to temperatures down to 72 degrees below. With static that made the film writhe out of the cans like a kettleful of snakes. And some of it had to wait fourteen months before it was developed. I tell you, brothers, it gave us a queer feeling at the pit of the stomach when we were loading the cans on the City of New York for our return trip. Twenty months of work on an epochal event were sealed up in those cans — and we either had a picture or we didn't have one — depending on the film. Courtesy of Du Pont-Pathe Film Mfg. Corp. 35 West 45th Street, New York, N. Y.