Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

FEBRUARY 1924 Picture s and Pichure tyuer ii .it a level croi in i h< so ne was to In photographed from th< rear of the oar. In order to sa\e expense we planned to build our "■•■ and level crossing, and fix a buffer (such as i on American automobiles) to the front of the car so that it would take the chief of tin impact. The first time the Car was driven against the gates it failed to smash them, hut carried gate ]*>sts and gates away on tin bonnet of the ear. The second time the gates refused to give way and the car was broughl to a complete standstill. The third time was lucky, for the car smashed the gat< smithereens and a piece of the flying timber smashed the camera too ! So it was not such an inexpensive experiment as we had imagined ! Then came the time when, having garnered my profit on previous films, I hen I am in retrospective mood / it does not seem very long ago since the time when, fired with the enthusiasm of youth, I set out after having acted in one film, and having studied the distribution end of the English movie business, to produce my first picture. The plot for my initial production was conceived in a little back office ; by candlelight — because my last shilling had long since been put in the gas meter. Next day I secured the money (a few hundred pounds) for my first production, and started, with the help of several enthusiastic friends to produce, what was to be a " winner." I, as producer-scenario-writer-electricianset-designer, also played a leading part in the film, whilst the carpenters, office boy, and secretary of the small company were also featured in this marvellous movie. The film took ten days to make, was a two-reeler, and sold at ' a big profit. That is over twelve years ago — what changes have taken place in filmland since that time ! I have directed over a hundred films since that eventful day when I started out to produce a film with a then-star in a leading part. The production was entitled A Bold Adventuress, and contained a very realistic motor smash, It was very difficult to plan this smash in such a way as to ^^^ avoid the total wrecking of „--'• r. the car. The car, driven by the villain at full speed, was to crash through the ^ Above : W alter West the wellknown British producer playing in one of his early productions. Gregory Scott is the man on the sofa. Right : "The Woman Who Did " zvas photographed partly in Rome. Eve Balfour and J. R. Tozer are teen in the foreground. Below : Violet Hopson as she appeared in her first Broadwest film. Violet Hopson, Mathcson Lang and Gregory Scott in "The Ware Case" (Lang's first film). set out to make a super production. The Woman Who Did was the story I selected, and as some of the backgrounds were Italian, I decided to take my company to Rome to secure the right atmosphere. This was the first occasion on which an English company had visited Italy for a film, and the event caused tremendous comment at the time. The film starred Eve Balfour and J. R. Tozer and sold at a record price for a British film. One amusing incident which I recall in connection with this Italian trip was the difficulties we had in making people understand what we wanted. None of the company spoke Italian so at the hotel we usually managed to secure what we required by means of signals. So accustomed had we become to this sort of thing that we frequently signalled instead of