Secrets Of Screen Stunting

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

Secrets Of Screen Stunting

Film Page

By--Reg Kavanagh,

' STUNT MAN'

—Copyright thrills are not faked. Miniature work has not reached that stage yet. So there is still a good living for stunt men.

n <; ra r h0 * ! ,n> iP"|i'iied in many more p uies than ino.<t people imagine. Often when I tell friends that I < the clash tor ,-uch-aiid-*ueh a lilm. hty look surprised. and confess that they ha<l not realised that there «as any stunting in it. Picture aiter picture lias a ear !' ooniething like that, which occupies llttl( . til|l( . <(li tW M . lvtMK l)(it ' "ch ha.s probably l«-cn far more ditlile'torin than ethiii.. spectacular. ' Like. j, T|) . k V ",lli.re „.a car -ma-h 'gu.. at t lie b.'ginning of this which «> ~r tl'e most dilliciilt I have ever attempted. I "as called in and told: "The .-it tuition is that litiildog 1 >rillitino)itl is drivin«» » heavy Bentley which has been tampered with. We want to show it lacing downhill out of control, and meeting a light car drive,, by Jack. And the BtMitlev' «s ,i»ot to turn over.'* A simple job - except for the last s* liteme. (t apparently hadn't occurred to the tilni people that in anv collision between a heavy car and a light car the former would be far better off. That is the ordinary course of events In thir-i-.ise the heavy ear had to be raeiii" <I<>wi„mU and the light car climbing the hill. Fn any ordinary crash of this sort, there would not be much left of the lMit ear! But there it was. The studio wanted things the other way round, and it na<l to ln» done.

'lie erasli. One of the most important points this, for it is not much frood ha\in<r a cra-h out of the camera's ranpc!

Jo mark the approximate place, we >pit-ail a row of leave* aeroat the road. Partly due to the moot carefully workedout calculations, and partly <hfe to luck, we managed to meet exactly on that row of leaves—and to turn* over the Bentley without wrecking the light car. The turning over was achieved by hitting the light vehicle at exactly the right angle. We approached each "other head-on. Then, at the last second. I swerved abruptly. Besides putting the car momentarily off her balance, it also enabled the light car to tip the Bent lev'* wing in such a way that 1 went completely over.

I «a„ knocked out. but that was all. In any crash of that description on the road, tile driver would probably j>et knocked about a great deal more than I did. W hat it that tMiardi- us stunt men ?

lake it from me. we re not crazv. T I have tear and imagination. 1 realise! what could happen: but I have brought' the whole tniug down to ;i science of timing. Lady Luck count- a lot. but I ' i'\ not to rely on her more than ! neces>a ry. 1 don't wear any protective clothing j or padding, either in 'plane.-, or cars. The j reason i- purely a |<*vchological one. I When ! do t'le.s? era-lies'[ a.--ure myself j that I am not going to get hurt. ' To take elaborate precautions would I be an admission that 1 thought I might i get knocked about. And. a- I have said. ' f have plenty of imagination. If ever I i began to worry about myself 1 shouldn't last long at the game! The cai s I (smash tip are not doctored in any \®iy. except that I have a istrap fixed to the nitside of each door. In a crash such as the one I did for •■Bulldog .lack. I grasp both these straps at |

the jieychological moment, and pull myself taut. Tims. I am more or lcr» suspended in mid-air while the car is turning over. The rea.-oii J got knocked out in that particular ease was because one of the -trap« uave way under the strain. I'hat's just one of the things that can't lie heiped.

Suspension doe-n't enter the question when you are smashing up a i<tr without turning over. Here you have to relv

011 knowledge and instinct. You have got to know bv the feci of the car the moment it hits just what's going to happen. If the engine i* not coming back you ve got to fling yourself under the dashboard. But if it is coming back, youve got to grab one of the straflte and fling yourself 011 to one side, with both feet coming up on to the seat.

It is wise, however, to have aeroplanes specially equipped for the purpose of crashing. I like to liave a special „teel support behind the engine. This cute out the risk of the engine droppin o, back and mangling the pilot. Though there is no falling about air crashes, there is what I suppose vou might call a certain amount of deccp- • °1V „ Take * for example. a crash I did in Hollywood for "Xight Hawks." A plane, supposedly out of control, had to hit a cliff at a torrific Bpee<l. The scene was shot 111 two sections. First, I went up to a height of about 8000 teet. and came spinning down at a dizzy speed. Just before reaching the cliff. I righted the machine, and missed the cliff. The cameras left off photographing as I came out o&tlie spin.

Then 1 went up about 1200 foot, and came down spinning;.—but at nothing like tlio speed T had descended from 8000 fi-et. At the last moment T got tlie machine under control, and bit the cliff with a winy-tip.

. 1 ,u> only yon <lare crash a 'plane is to lot one of the wing-tips, take the impaft. C,o straight into anything with she propeller, and you won't bo In the r>niasli highness any longer. Apart from the steel sup]>ort ltehind the engine, the only precaution I take in an air smash is to pnt a rubber pad behind my head.

1 have two method- of performing mid-air crashes between two 'planed O"*' to have an assistant in <1110 'plane, v« liile T am in the other. Wo approach

each other dead-on. and swerve -lightly at the last minute so that only the wings meet.

But I am not keen 011 this metlio;l these days. When we were doing thi - stunt for exhibition purposes in • the South of France about three years ago. the other fellow couldn't get out of the machine and was killed outright. I prefer my other method, which is for my assistant to set his '"plane 011 an even keel, centralising the controls, then to jump out before going into the camera's range. Then it is up to me to hit the pilotles«s machine before it yets out of control.

For high-speed crashes. I usually follow the same scheme as the one* used for hitting a cliff. The two machines approach each other at high speed and just miss, and then the actual smash takes place at a slower speed.

After the crash itself, I give the cameras about 30 seconds to photograph the machines as they fall, and then 1 make my parachute leap. Accidents do happen, of course. I have ha<l pretty well every bone broken at one time or another, and mv bodv is covered witli little scars caused by'flying glass (I prefer doing crashes without glass, but this isn't often possible, because it is the living glass that make* these scenes look even more thrilling). 1 he buiness has its funny angles. One of my most amusing experiences was a scene I did for "The Crouching Beast." It was a hectic car chase through narrow streets, culminating with the pursued car blocking one street so that the following car, a much heavier one. had to smash into it and turn over.

Once again the film people chose tiie heavy ear as the one that should turn over! So I was up against a similar problem to the one I faced in • Bulldog •Tack." The amusing angle to "this chase was that I was both pursuer and pursued. Richard Bird v and Wyvne Gil>son were supposed to be*in the first car. 1 and an assistant doubled for them, and set off on this crazy dash through the streets. ' <r

We reached the corner where the car had to 1m? left, and jumped out. Then I hurried back to the starting spot, and got into the heavy car which was supposed to be following the other. In this case T doubled for Fritz Kortner. «nd T followed the same route that I had taken before, finally hitting the parked vehicle and turning over. So. actually, the two cars were not seen at the same time on the scr-en. The chase effect was gained purely l.y cutting from one car to another!