The Motion Picture Director (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

?? THE MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR February Clarence brown, the man, is an infinitely more interesting subject for editorial comment than Clarence Brown, the director. Naturally, it is the man who actuates and motivates the director. But to know the man aside from the director is to plumb the depths of his sincerity. Let it suffice to say that the Brown of this dawning epoch of heydays is the same man of yesteryear’s turbulent era. Today he would not say anything, nor do anything, that he would not have done yesterday. He is entirely free from the sudden snobbishness and false flourishes that have hurtled many other promising and delightful people of leaner days into a personification of the inane. When Clarence Brown says something to you, you know that he means it. He doesn’t “beat around the bush.” He doesn’t “talk to the gallery.” If he has any serious shortcomings as either man or director they have not made themselves apparent. He is the kind of a man that you can pin your faith on. He would never violate a trust. Those kind of men make good directors. Brown is one of the best in the business. The physical make-up of Brown is indicative of a thinker and a doer. Of sturdy build, about five feet ten inches in height . . . black hair fringed with gray . . . a penetrating gaze; the gaze of a keen analyst and a sound intellectualist . . . a quizzical smile, at times fading into a vague reverie . . . subduing outward emotions . . . not inclined much to speech except at times when enthusiasm moves him to ardent discussion . . . never indulging in idle gossip . . . and of a temperate nature that is one of the rarities of Hollywood (he neither drinks nor smokes) . ... he exudes a firm resolve and radiates a dominating personality. Clarence Brown was born at Clinton, Mass., on May 10, 1890. At the age of fifteen he graduated from high school there. Four years later he was graduated from the University of Tennessee with two degrees . . . those of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. For about six years he directed his knowledge and abilities in the realm of automotive engineering in a worthy capacity with the Stevens-Duryea Motor Co. Unwittingly he was fitting himself for his future work as a film director. For it is the sense of mechanical motivation of dra ‘y'/ie an on Cover ma, drama that however does not lose its emotional power, that sets Brown apart as distinctive in the field of directors. For six years after his entry into motion pictures in June, 1915, Brown was assistant with Maurice Tourneur. From the start he exhibited his capacity to forge ahead in the young industry. He readily grasped the somewhat intricate engineering of photoplay production. Brown, however, thought in terms of human thought, rather than from the standpoint of what constituted “good drama” from the viewpoint of director and cameramen. He later evidenced this in violating many of the motheaten bugaboos about camera angles, sequence of events, in brief, the construction of a motion picture to him was good as long as it abided by the natural trend of progression, and not by the box-office idea of scene assembly. The most noteworthy of his productions are “The Great Redeemer”, “The Acquittal”, “The Signal Tower”, “Butterfly”, “Smouldering Fires”, “The Goose Woman” and “The Eagle”, in the order of their making. It was the initiation of a new order of consistently fine photoplays that established him. Probably “The Signal Tower”, more than any other, served to bring his name to the public foreground. Each succeeding Brown picture has been consistently better, regardless of theme or size. It is generally conceded that “Kiki”, the Norma Talmadge vehicle which Brown is now producing, will be the greatest triumph of both Brown and Talmadeg. At the present time he is under contract to Joseph M. Schenck to make pictures for United Artists Corporation. Brown was maneuvered from Lfiiiversal by Schenck immediately after the completion of “The Goose Woman”, which proved to be one of the biggest hits of 1925 and brought Louise Dresser to stellar fame on the screen. One thing about Brown that is of interest to the layman — and also to the man (Continued on Page 62)