The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF HOLLYWOOD because I can portray different characters. Not for my personality." Over the radio telephone from the boat on which the cameras were mounted came the order to surface. Ballast was let out ; Genius Joe sighed. It was tough being a genius. It meant days up to his waist in mud and water during this film. In fact, an infinite capacity for sustaining pains was required. He had not had much time to see anything of Lisbon — a fascinating mixture of baroque and modern architecture, of shawled women balancing baskets on their heads and sleek Cadillacs. But he did make time to meet ex-King Umberto of Italy when he dropped in on the unit. "I've got to conserve my energy. I have to work to a strict time-table. I have to have my sleep," said Joe. The submarine surfaced, and he took command again of the operation. Jose Ferrer was paid £50,000 plus a percentage of the film's profits for starring in and directing Cockleshell Heroes. But one day in London, about two months later, I discovered that the film was being finished without the benefit of Mr. Ferrer's genius. When I investigated, I learned that he and the executive producer, Irving Allen, had quarrelled. "When Ferrer finished the film," Allen told me, "we found that he had made it a tour de force for Joe Ferrer. But he seems to have forgotten about the rest of the cast. So I've been rectifying things. I've been doing close-ups of Trevor Howard that Joe forgot to do." Mr. Ferrer, it seems, also omitted to do a number of action scenes. One scene he omitted to film was the climax to the story: the blowing up of the German ships by the cockleshell heroes in Bordeaux harbour. The missing scenes were eventually shot (not by Mr. Ferrer) — on the Thames. 138