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69
J'notographs by Reginald McMahon
* The author as director and cameraman, as he recorded the events of a United States soldier in India.
SWEATING IT OUT was filmed primarily as a GI's personal record of the government sponsored "vacation" in "Mystic India" and of the 10,000 mile cruise through the "peaceful" tropical waters of the various seas separating him from the United States.
With the exception of a few sequences, the footage was shot without a script. The film was really created at the editing table, and, after cutting, I decided where inserts should be made, to smooth the continuity. This extra footage was staged and filmed, to match the real thing as closely as possible.
The pictures in India were taken at Gushkara, the home base of my outfit, the Twenty fourth Combat Mapping Squadron of the United States Army. Although it was a "photo" unit, 16mm. film was scarce. I was lucky to be able to "acquire" the fifty foot magazines used on the gun sight aiming point cameras installed in the fighter planes. Later, I was fortunate when my brother supplied me with rolls of Eastman and Agfa film, sent from his Signal Corps movie team at Wiesbaden, Germany. The Cine-Kodak Special and the Keystone A-3 were my camera equipment.
S7veating It Out opened with several short shots of B-24's "buzzing the field," followed by scenes of activity on the airstrip. The transition to the area quartering the troops was a
MAKING A Gl RECORD
Despite cine hazards, editing saved the day
REGINALD McMAHON
simple "pan" from the planes, to a long shot of the "basha" huts (straw roofed barracks). A title introduced the dilemma of the enlisted men "sweating out" the long overdue promises of quick transportation home. A sequence followed, picturing the GI's in typical activities — poker games, "hitting the sack," writing letters and reacting to the arrival of the weekly "pin up" in Yank magazine. For this sequence, I wrote a simple scenario. However, it was not quite so simple to have ordinary GI's act for pictures, especially when they were comfortably settled in their beds.
Many of the scenes had to be taken without the knowledge of the unsuspecting fellows. For one of the sequences, I wanted our Hindu bearer, "Just Plain Bill," to shake his head in bewilderment over a poker game. He spoke little English and I knew less Bengali. I finally got him to go through the motions for a satisfactory "take." All he had to do was shake his head and scratch his hair. I strongly suspect his puzzlement was genuine, not over the poker game, but about the crazy American taking movies. Long after the shooting he would glance over my way and automatically shake his head.
I congratulated myself on having obtained two rolls of Eastman Super X for this sequence. Afterwards I learned that this shipment of film, besides having spent two summers in the humidity [Continued on page 80]
* Part of the long waiting time for transportation back to "God's country" was excitingly employed.
• Turning a fault into an asset was achieved by the author who used underexposed footage, caused by failure of film and lens, for night scenes.