The English Hollywood A BRONZE-FACED cowboy, framed in a large grey
sombrero, a clergyman of the thin anaemic type, several elegant ladies in sparkling décolleté dresses stood in the entrance hall of the British International Film Studio at Elstree on the morning that I visited it. There could have been no better introduction to a world of unreality.
The British International is the largest film studio in England, and I am told it can hold its own against any studio in Hollywood. There were no less than six films being made in this enormous corrugated shed. It is so large that it requires considerable skill to find one's way, or in fact to find a way at all, in its labyrinth of pulleys, pipes, scaffolding, and film sets. The first impression is of complete and terrifying chaos, not only on the ground level, but away above one's head where lamps and lighting arrangements hang perilously from rafters. There is also a perpetual hammering from the_ shop, which adds to the bewilderment _ . . . of one's senses. But after a time this confusio- n sorts itself out into a certain order. . . • Every available floor space is taken up by a set. . At one place there is a large restaurant—a replica of one of the dining-rooms of the ' Aquitania- '—with yello* Painted walls; elaborate yellow columns-, :little -yellow covered tablei, all yellow coloured because White makes a shiny effect when photographed. Here Mr. Monty -Banks was being "shot " nonchalantly collecting a bouquet from the flowers arranged on each little table,. - A " close-up " of a man reading a letter, the camera just above his shoulder, was also being shot. - ..A little further on, a -corridor of the ' Aquitania ' disappeared into the distance, with its- numbered cabins, its fire extinguisher, , and its polished floor. _The last hundred feet of the . . . . corridor had been artificially constructed, and on close inspection prOved to be a foreshortened miniature, giving an exact impression of length in a couple of feet of space: - Further on we almost joined an after-dinner group of lovely ladies and immaculate gentlemen, standing round the fire--a green light shone from the grate to give . the illusion of the - fireHn an imposing manorial drawing-room. But the most amazing set I saw was a large tank let into the . floor, with a rowing boat at one 'end of it and at the other, .againit a black background, a miniature of the ' Aquitania.' What hair-raising adventures were to be enacted in this little boat I do not know ; it will be interesting to see when the film Champagne is' released. - ' , Around the corridor of the _` Aquitania' were gathered . Mr. Jean Bradin, Mr. Ferdinand'von Altenthe " heavy," or villain of the piece—and a stewardess, who were making a scene of an unexpected encounter, under the direction of Mr,. Hitchcock. Speaking sometimes in German, sometimes in English, he rehearsed this little scene' until he • achieved the perfection for which he is famous. It was tantalizing to watch Mr. von Alten's sinister 'and supercilious sneer without being aware of its significance: But this is the ineYitable . misfortune of all spectators in a film studio, and, in fact, of most actors and actresses. The director alone interprets the script according to his conception of it ; the actors are often but puppets in his hands. Near by, Mr. Anthony lquith was engaged on his new film Underground, king a scene of a charming pale-faced girlyelloW complexions are no longer the fashion-, and-the make-Up is very much the same as for the stage—in a simple purple frock, standing with her lover by a' dressing-table. I saw no Cossacks galloping in close formation, no eleventh- hour reprieves, but the work which I did see in progress was sufficient to show me the amazing care, imagination, patience, and all-round artistic sense which is required in the making of a film.
Acting for the films is by no means the exciting, melo- dramatic life which one might imagine. To the outsider, it appears to be intensely monotonous. Hour, after hour,. the artists. wait by the _set in which their scene is being made, powdering their noses, making adjustments to their costumes, rehearsing their scene with varying lighting effects. The making of each scene is accom- panied by suitable music which no doubt has the desired effect of soothing the nerves of the actors, when it can be heard through the hammerings and bangings. It is also probable_ that the music plays a definite part in making the movements of the actors rhythmical.
Together, the director, camera man, and art director determine how the film shall be produced.. The art director of Tesho, a film of a gorgeous . Russian ballet dancer, played by a German star, Miss Maria Corda- directed by Mr. Savile—showed me a little model of Tesha's studio, each wall made, separately, so' that the directhr could experiment in the design of his pictures from any point of view.
Already several suceessful films have been made at -Elstree, The Ring---:one -of the best English pictures I have seen, Produced by Mr. Hitchcock—The Former'i Wife, Poppies of Flanders, and Moulin Rincie, now being -shown at the TivOli. This last gives a .glittering im- pression of Paris revue life, which will be as popular fot those who like that sort of thing as any chorus on any stage. But the story of Parysia, the bright particul6 star of the Mciulin-Rofige, her daughter and her daughter's fiancé, who cannot resist the mother's charms, wanders off from the lights of Paris to melodrama which vies with Grand Guignol. The story is poor, but the productiori, by M. Dupont, is rich in imagination and skill.
To a very romantic film "fan," a visit to Elstree might be disillusioning, but to anyone intelligently and artistically interested in the Cinema, a slight acquaintance with the elaborate technique of this still young artistic mediurn intensifies rather- than diminishes one's interest.
CELIA SimPsar.
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