Daily Mail (31/Mar/1927) - Film-Making Problems

Details

• article: Film-Making Problems
• newspaper: Daily Mail (31/Mar/1927)
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville, Easy Virtue (1928), Islington Studios, London, London, England, Noël Coward

Article

FILM-MAKING PROBLEMS

COMPLICATED BUSINESS OF GETTING READY.

By THE FILM CRITIC.

Mr. Alfred Hitchcock, the young English film director, left London for Nice yesterday preparatory to taking some scenes there for the opening of his next British film, based on Mr. Noel Coward's play "Easy Virtue."

An official at the Islington studios, where "Easy Virtue" will mainly be produced, explained how organisation alone, in such a case, makes economical film production possible. The number of scenes to be taken abroad have been limited to a minimum, since work done outside is far more costly than studio "shooting," and the fewest possible actors and technicians are sent on the trip. A location manager who is responsible for all the arrangements goes in advance to select suitable sites or hire accommodation in foreign studios, and the arranging of hotel accommodation needs great tact, since not everyone can travel first class or all reside in the best rooms in the best hotels.

The director follows next. Mr. Hitchcock travelled in company with his wife, who acts as floor-secretary (the invaluable liaison officer "between the script and the actual operations), his camera-man, the camera-man's assistant, and the "property" man. The actors themselves will follow last, along with the location manager, who will fetch them, the cameras, the raw film, the dresses, properties, and copies of script, and will shepherd men, women, and material across the Channel, take charge of Customs and passport regulations, train reservations, and a thousand other details.

The actual business of taking scenes for a film seen to be child's play compared with the complicated business of getting ready to do it.