Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Hollywood — First ID ays on the 3dovie Lot He jumped from his seat and, pushing Bancroft aside, gesticulated in his place. " Like this, George, see ! " "Well, now, I thought that it would be more natural if I . . ." the burly sailor began. " That is all right perhaps, George, but I can see how the whole thing works together, see? I'm looking at this thing not just as one piece of individual action, but as a whole. You try it as I say. And, Betty dear, what I want you to do is more like this. I mean keep it quieter. Eh ? " A little grudgingly the highly salaried stars submitted. We did not know, at that time, that we were witnessing a mute struggle between Von Sternberg and his stars. The former, in order to bring out the full intensity of this dockside drama, wished to hold his characters down to harsh realism. He wanted them to seem really degraded. But the stars could not afford to think exclusively of the artistic merits of the final picture. They dared not risk their whole careers in order to make one masterpiece for Director Von Sternberg. The actress had to preserve her famous charm under all circumstances : the public expected it from her. If she deliberately lowered herself too far for the sake of the piece, heaven only knew what might happen to her in the future. The actor had his well-known rough and careless goodfellowship to maintain : his public demanded that from him. So, no matter what the character in the actual cast might be, he had to hold on to this rough good-fellowship to the last. They could not afford to forget that public approval is the last appeal controlling every star's occupation. Hence the muted duel. The director wanted to create a masterpiece of unrelenting reality ; the stars had to avoid shocking their public. Yet they were conscious that, on the wings of a real masterpiece (that is, a masterpiece measured as masterpieces of the films are measured, by box-office [79]