Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Hollywood — The ^Artist of the Film the scenes must be able to see his scenery from more aspects than one. If Ornitz invented three plots a year he would make quite a comfortable living, for even in Hollywood £4.120 per annum will provide plenty of meat, vegetables, education, and bootleg. The artist may have to set two or more dramas a month. And every play demands an individual setting ; new, original, and complete down to the smallest details. Not a door goes up that should not be studied in reference to the general tone of the piece, not a dress used that ought not to be considered in relation to the scenery. And when the designing stretches beyond a mere house to whole villages or towns, land or mountain-scapes, all invented, designed, and finally constructed within the limits of a movie lot, the real importance of the artist in the films can be estimated more correctly. Place your much-advertised hero and heroine before a blank backcloth and you might be surprised to find how much of the * pep ' had faded from their heroics. William Cameron Menzies, chief designer at the United Artists studio, is a Scotsman. He gave us some of his original sketches, which we reproduce to explain with what skill and forethought the movie settings are planned. Although these are brilliant drawings, their function, as moments in drama, shows an even better understanding of using the movingpicture as dramatic art, and we must regret that often in the production of the films with which he has been associated the supposed needs of the story have prevented him from exercising his full artistic powers in the direction of more vivid picture-making. The number of directors who know the value of true pictorial art in the movies is yet limited. There is more work to be done in this line in spite of the chaos and confusion created by the sudden development of the movietone, with its very different problems.