Vagabond Director

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22909, 11 December 1937, Page 18 (Supplement)

Vagabond Director

By J. K. NEWNHAM

DIFFICULTIES IN TROPICAL LANDS

BATtKAS' job is one of the most "interesting connected with film-making. He is known as Britain's " vagabond " director. You'll see him in London one day, and then hear that he has hopped off to Africa, India, or some far-away spot shooting scenes for some new picture. His eyes are keen, and his figure virile. When you start talking to him, you soon realise that he is anxious to't be off again on some

jaunt. And when he relates some of his experiences, you find yourself envying the life ho has' also wondering whether some of the difficulties he encounters make it quite so attractive, after all!

Barkas is the man responsible for the location work in such pictures as "The Camels are Coming," "Rhodes of Africa," "King Solomon's Mines" and "Soldiers Three." He is more than a photographer of backgrounds. Although miles from studio organisation, he has real production scenes to direct, as well. Skiliul Use of Doubles "Actually," lie told me, recently, "my job calls for the skilful use of doubles as much as anything else. The stars themselves rarely go out on these long locations, and I usually take the - doubles out with me.

"Finding them is no easy task. They have got to resemble the stars in figure, and, if possible, in features. And they have got to be able to act. "I suppose I am responsible for roughly a quarter to a third of the 6ccnes seen in the completed pictures on which I work, but I will guarantee

\ French Director

, I Hollywood's latest capture from | [ France is the director Julien Duoioier, [ : director of " Poil de Carotte " and j ] " Pepe.ljt M0k,0." He is to make a \ : picture \for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. • : The capture has not been effected j j without strife, first it was reported j j that Duoioier viould sign for three j : years, at £BOOO a picture for the j I first tuio years, and £IO,OOO the third : s year. ■ i Then Duoioier started making de- j | mands. He Wanted his taxes paid, j | He wanted to choose his own col' { s laborators, and haoe a free hand j f generally. I 5 Now a compromise has been : | reached. Duoioier will make one } : picture at £B,OOO, with an option | I only for the other four. j

" you will never- know where the studio scenes finish and the ones I shoot begin, or where the doubles are used. It often falls to my lot to do some of the most dramatic scenes with the use of doubles. To give'you an instance, do you remember those scenes in 'Rhodes' of Rhodes and Dr. Jamieson going to the Lobengula kraal? They ,were mine. Natives in Pictures "Then, in 'The Camels are Coming,' I did a tremendous number of scenes in the desert fort, using doubles for Hulbert ancj the other principals." There is a definite technique about the use Of doubles. Unless an actor is at least 25 feet from the camera, he is not actually shown. The camera probably films over his shoulder; or perhaps the scene is shot as ho would be seeing it. I asked Barkas about the natives in his piatures. Obviously, they have to be directed. And they are not experienced, or even natural actors. "They are not too easy to direct," he confessed. "You can only get them to act by translating the Scenes to something within their own experience. You cannot just tell one of them, for instance, that the character he is portraying to be ill. You've got to remind him of the time he was ill —or failing this, a friend or relative — and get him 7 to re-enact what he can remember of the circumstances." Careful Organisation Needed . Few people think of the_ terrific amount of organisation that is necesparv to film these location scenes. Apart from the question of transport, suitable / spots have to be found. This means weeks of searching The necessary permission has to be obtained, and collaboration on the part of the local chiefs is required. The normal process is for Barkas to go out to the location first, bring back all his scones, and let the studio match up the backgrounds. The remainder of the film, is made with the principals. With "King Solomon's Mines," however, the process was reversed. Some background scenes were taken; then the studio scenes, and, finally, Barkas went out to Natal to complete the picture. One of the queerest experiences of all concerned a mountain, which, trans-- ,• lated, was called "The Mountain that Must Not be Pointed At." Local superstition had it that if anyone pointed a finger at it,, thcr#» would be bad weather. When they were filming a scene, the skies became overcast. , Barkas was told that hia camera was pointing in

Adventurous Existence of Geoffrey Barkas In Directing Location Scenes for Films

It is strange what a beard can do. Geoffrey Barkas sports a neat goatee affair. And it is because of this, plus his well-fitting clothes that few people would take him to be a man whose chief interest in .life is' wandering about the world, risking his neck if required, and generally leading an adventurous existence.

the direction of the mountain. Ho merely grinned, and then got all his colleagues around him, and told them what to do. They all pointed at the mountain, and made impolite noises at it. They did not do any more work that day. It began to pour with rain. Tropical Sun a Hindrance From a technical point of view, filming in the sunshine is not as easy as it might seem. In the tropical regions, the sun is not always the help it should be. "You see," Barkas explained, "the sun is too high in the sky. I have to arrange my schedules so that we work from seven in the morning until 10.30. Then we break until 2.30. At 10.30, the sun is so high that pictorial values are lost. The camera merely shows dense (shadows. "The important thing to remember is that you have to work toward the long light. This means that you^shoot one way in the morning, and in the opposite direction in the afternoon. Also, as the sun gets higher, you gradually work to closer shots, and vice versa. You have to remember all these things when arranging your schedules." Barkas' Varied Career Barkns himself is as interesting a personality as is his work. He left an insurance office during the Great War and managed to join the Army, although under age. After the Armistice he went to Canada, and gradually drifted to California, where he discovered, after bis first minor role, that he could not act. He became camera boy, learning all he could about the technique, and later produced shorts and nature films in England and Canada. After acting as official photographer on the Prince of Wales' tour, and covering 27,000 miles, ho drifted into the making of war films. He enwied a big name for himself when he made "Q Ships," which was followed by others of a similar type. He was recognised as an important director when talkies came, and then he was not wanted. He could not find anything for a time, but won recognition when he made the Everest Flight film for Gaumont-British. The studio realised just how good he was at this sort of thing, and that was how he came to specialise in the direction of location scenes.