Terry writes ...
David Lean (1908-1991) was one of our greatest directors, and, like several directors before him, was an editor. Indeed he was considered to be the best "cutter" in the British film industry, and several films which were in were in serious trouble, were rescued via his editing skills. Although he was a very skilled technician, both as an editor and director, he had some very 'down to earth' things to say about film making...
"The shooting script is a technician’s guide to the way the story is to be translated into pictures".
So, he knew precisely what was going to happen before he went onto the floor. He did not carry anything in his head. The script was the 'blue-print', and you deviated on point of death! Even a word or gesture, if altered, worried him.
"If I haven't got a shooting script I'm on unsafe ground."
His continuity girl, Betty Curtis once said,
"The picture was there, on paper. This kind of preparation was the essence of a good director. He couldn't draw, but he did little thumbnail sketches - like a child."
David also said, "I'll tell you a funny thing I've discovered over the years. If you have a scene that is really well written, everything is easy. It's easy to photograph, it's easy to act, and you shoot very fast. If you have a scene where everything seems to go wrong, I always suspect the writing of the scene."
During the filming of his epic "Lawrence of Arabia", 1962, he called in a famous Hollywood director to act as assistant director to film the famous 'Battle of Aquaba' scene - not because Lean could not do it, but because the film had fallen behind schedule.
Hungarian-born Andre de Toth, (1913- 20021) had directed numerous Hollywood films, Film Noir, Westerns, etc, but was famous also as having been the first to direct a movie in 3D, ie, 'House of Wax', in 1953. This was quite surprising as he was blind in one eye! When he was asked how he managed to do this, he replied,
"You only need one eye to look through a viewfinder."
Of the digital age, he had this to say,
"You are starting at the dawn of new picture - making, with new tools at your fingertips, but beware of electronic images - those 'out of this world toys'.
...They may overwhelm the audience with wonders for a while. But, could they, would they, make them laugh from their hearts, or make them shed a sincere tear, without a human story? I bet on the latter, it has survived since lightning gave fire to our monkey-like ancestors, who, sitting around the fire, told lies to each other - 'the birth of stories'.....and stories will survive.
Terry
Picture credits: http://www.plus.es/media/television/david_lean/canalplusCine3/la_epica_de_la_emocion/gr.jpg
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