The Moving Picture Weekly (1920-1921)

It's the "Little Things'' That Count Details Essential, Says Jack Ford By BILLY LEYSER. In the Cleveland News, Its A Universal Specisl Three-Sheet Poster t'pVERY editor in the country agreed that 'The Three Godfathers,' recently presented American fiction lovers thiough the medium of a weekly magazine, was an excellent story with wonderful dramatic possiilities, but the great percentage of these editors overlooked the fact that as a film subject it stood out as a classic with unlimited possibilities." "And," continued Jack Ford, Universal's great dii-ector, who is responsible for the filming of the story under the title of "Marked Men," "it was the great punches in the story that attracted me. I had Universal buy it, and, of course, it fell to my lot to make a six-reel photoplay out of it with Harry Carey as the star." DESERT BECOMES STUDIO. "The public has no idea of the work we had to do preparatory to filming the story. It meant build the old-time western dance hall on the desert. It meant long tedious days of struggle in the merciless sun on a sand covered waste. It meant move men, women and children from up-to-date hotels to the heart of a deserted country, and to make them understand that they were a part of that country and must act accordingly. It meant find types, the kind that would pass the closest scrutiny of the ever critical public. And it meant to take a six-weeks-old baby into this fringe of civilization to become the pivot around which the story was woven." REAL "EXTRAS." "Every influence was brought to bear, and we took the opening reel in a penitentiaiy. There were no imitation bars, only three imitation prisoners out of the 1,100 convicts shown in the picture, and only one acting guard or 'head screw,' shown in the great prison scene. Into this atmosphere I had to take camera men, lights, and on top of it had to make 1,100 desperate men remember that they were really prisoners in the greatest penitentiary of the west and act accordingly. "In the second reel I had to find one man who dared risk his life for a thrill, and I found him. His duty was to dash through the railing of a high wooden bridge on a horse and fall sixty feet below in a shallow river. I had six camera men there to catch the scene from every angle, and I believe that it will stand as one of the most daring feats ever performed before a camera. "I had to find a man who could handle a rifle so well that there could not be a fraction of an inch mistake in his aim, for he shoots at Carey, who is swimming a river, and the bullet is seen to hit just three inches from the star's head. "And then came a man who knew how to dynamite a safe. There were a lot of amateurs about the country, but they wouldn't do. I had to have a professional, and I borrowed him from the penitentiary, where I made the first reel of the picture. He had served ten of his twenty years, but it seems hadn't lost the old knack of 'cracking a crib,' and the scene, as a result, is unusually realistic." NO IMITATION. These things Jack Ford told me the other day when he spent a day with me between trains on his way to the coast, were just a few of the details attendant upon making "Marked Men," one of the best films Universal has ever produced, and looked upon by the picture world in general as one of the finest pieces of directing ever done before the camera. Ford is a stickler for detail. No imitation whiskers are used by people acting under him to show the passing of time. He does not permit them to shave when such a facial effect is needed. In fights there is a real battle, in drinking liquor the real stuff is, or rather, was, used, and at a dance the music really plays. Ford himself becomes a part of the picture. He acts every scene for his principals, and goes through every move for the minor actors in the cast "In everything I want realism," is Ford's continual cry. In "Marked Men" the result of his careful direction will show his wonderful knowledge of western life. For two months he studied the story before outlining any acting. Then he chose his cast, and lastly he spent weeks finding locations for the great punches in the big story. Then came the work which consumed sixty days, all hot, wearisome days, with eight to fourteen hours of untiring acting — and as a result came the masterpiece, "Marked Men." The photoplay is being shown this week at the Standard theatre and will serve for those who study the intricate ins and outs of the movies as the finest bit of directing seen in many a day. Its A Universal Special One-Sheet Poster