International photographer (Jan-Dec 1935)

/ weniy-six The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER March, 1935 In the Land of the Winged Serpent "TARZAN" CAMERAMEN SURMOUNT DIFFICULTIES Filming of New "Tarzan" Sound Movie Presents Many Problems — Entire Picture Shot in Guatemala By Nat G. Rothstein The Ashton Dearholt Expedition in Guatemala for the Burroughs TARZAN Enterprises, Inc. staging a scene in one of the imposing ruins of that marvelous country. Note the natives far up above the arch. Seemingly insurmountable difficulties are nothing new for sound motion picture cameramen in their daily labors ; in fact when one considers the strange and sometimes almost unbelievable jobs performed by news picture cameramen, the work of these experts borders on the sensational. When Eddie Kull and Ernie Smith, cameramen of the Ashton Dearholt Expedition into Guatemala for the Burroughs-TARZAN Enterprises, Inc., were engaged for the filming of "The New Adventures of Tarzan" they made an advance study of the country, territory to be covered, roads, terrain, actinic qualities of the light at various hours of the day, etc., not overlooking inquiries as to servicing of the sound truck accompany the expedition. After many weeks of correspondence with electrical experts in the City of Guatemala, and conferences with motion picture men who had shot silent pictures in that country, they had what they believed a fool-proof itinerary, but a sad surprise lay in store for them. To attempt to relate the incidents, accidents, and experiences of these two intrepid movie cameramen for nearly three months in Guatemala would require a volume. Suffice it to sketch lightly a few of the situations that confronted them. To begin with, on their arrival at San Jose, the port of entry in Guatemala, the Steamship "Seattle" of the Hamburg-American Line had to anchor three miles out in the roadstead, there being no harbor at San Jose for a steamship the size and tonnage of the "Seattle." Huge barges were provided for transfer of passengers and equipment of the Expedition to shore. Upon examination it was found that the ship's derrick was of insufficient capacity to handle the heavy sound truck. What to do? Nothing but take a chance. While the entire Burroughs-TARZAN Company held its breath, the derrick slowly raised the heavy truck, swung it over the side of the ship and began lowering away. Instead of smooth travelling, the winch let the truck down in jerks. It looked like disaster every second. The swaying truck reached to within a foot of the deck when the boom broke and down it crashed. Fortunately nothing was broken but a couple of tubes, as the boom fell clear of the truck. The transfer of the equipment and passengers was done in a nasty rolling sea, and the removal of the truck from the barge was a classic, with the swells rolling in, the lack of derrick equipment of the proper size, etc. Messrs. Kull and Smith thought their biggest difficulties were over but they quickly found their troubles had just started. The journey from San Jose to Escuintla, a distance of between fifty and seventy-five miles, was a nightmare, over roads that bounced the truck oft the ground most of the way. A tightening process of all chassis, bolts, nuts, etc. had to be undergone. Even that experience was slight compared to the climb up the steep mountain grades to Chichicastenango, and still worse up to Lake Atitlan. "In some places," stated Eddie Kull, "the roads were so narrow that had we met an oncoming vehicle of any kind, one of us would have had to back up many miles or else — and," added Kull, "it would not have been me. We had to pull it in low gear most of the way up nearly 6,000 feet, with many stops to cool the engine, while Smith sat inside of the truck holding his breath, hoping against hope nothing would be smashed. But the going up was a cinch compared to the coming down. In low gear all the way with some spots of such sheer declivity that even with emergency brakes set, the engine in low gear and foot on the service brakes, it was all we could do to hold the truck back. "At one spot the truck got away from us momentarily." stated Kull, "and we were headed to what looked like sure disaster, but again our luck held when in a turn in the road that we negotiated with our hearts in our throats, we came up a small rise that enabled us to stop the headlong speed of the vehicle." Eddie Kull, at the camera, and Ernie Smith directing a close-up while the rest of the crew and the actors look on. It is the Ashton Dearholt Expedition in Guatemala, for the BurroughsTARZAN Enterprises. "If once," stated Smith, "at least a dozen times it looked like 'curtains' over those roads, up and down those terrible grades, but we came through O. K. though both (Turn to Page 28) Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.