I’ve just finished putting Justin to bed and settling into a mellow hang with the wife when
I get a call from Thom that we will be shooting in the Brooklyn set quite early. 6AM. Buddy, I’m not breathing at 6 in the morning. My wife delivered our son at 5:00 and I was asleep folded up like an accordion at the nurse’s station. I’m no looker but beauty sleep still counts to me. Thom suggests I meet everyone in the village at about 10:00AM for the next set-up. I’m going to miss a scene with Judy Krause and I weigh my options. I love watching her work. However, it is a small set-up with a stagehand and there are plenty of juicy scenes with her left to shoot. I opt to keep my vampiric hours.
Knowing I can sleep in I decide to watch a documentary on John Ford written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. I like John Ford and I really only know him for his westerns like Stage Coach and Fort Apache. If someone asked me who directed The Quiet Man --- that quintessential Irish/American pic with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara that seems to be the Saint Patrick’s Day equivalent of It’s a Wonderful Life, I am embarrassed to say I would not have known. That goes for The Grapes of Wrath, Who Shot Liberty Valance, Young Mr. Lincoln and How Green is my Valley. I guess I can’t really claim to be a bonafide cinephile. I find it truly fascinating that the things we take for granted in watching a movie---since the talkies! That’s 1929, guys, and even before that, we owe to John Ford. Among directors and movie fans he is considered to be one of the masters of filmmaking. People like Orson Wells, Ingmar Bergman and Steven Spielberg refer to John Ford as a poet and a master painter. He influenced the likes of Fassbinder, Truffaut and Godard---Giants of the silver screen. Orson Wells claimed he watched Stage Coach at least forty times in preparation for Citizen Kane. Ford was the first to make the landscape a character in a movie. He was the first to use ultra-wide shots of great expanse to convey the world we live in. He was the first to make an epic. He was also one of the first to throw dialogue away. If the moment can be captured in a look or thru body language then the dialogue was trashed. There are actors out there that I call line-counters. These people mistakenly think that the more lines they have the more screen time. To some extent that is true. If the lines are not delivered well then the editor can significantly reduce an actor’s appearance. More on that in another entry. However, it is the brilliant actor who can tell an emotional story with minimal use of words. The Theatre is for words. Film is an exploration of human behavior. Both are fascinating in their own forms if done well. John Ford started in the silent film era making westerns with a stock company of actors. A bit of trivia, he was a bit player in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. He was quoted as saying that it is much harder to try and tell a story without dialogue. I think any aspiring film student should make at least one silent film so they can learn the language of pictures and behavior. Not replicate a silent film but create a story with just pictures and movement.
I make my way down to Grove Street where I find a very pared down crew. Patrick, Thom, Ed, the director and a PA. Whit is dressed in his great cape and top hat looking a bit imposing and Rebecca dons a beautiful violet taffeta and black velvet Victorian dress. The scene takes place towards the end of the story. Victoria has settled into her New York City home after leaving London and Richard. In a prior scene Victoria was set up by Catherine to walk in on Richard and herself in a compromising position. (See I Spy with my Little Eye blog). Richard has made the great crossing to seek forgiveness and hopefully reunite with Victoria. Thom shows me the scripted scene and it is sparse with lines. The actors rehearse. Both Whit and Rebecca have problems trying to get the words out with genuine connection. They ask to huddle with the director.
“Can we just try it without having to say anything?” Rebecca requests.
“It seems forced. If you don’t want to cut it can we refashion the lines?” Whit adds.
“Why don’t you guys scrap the script and say what you want to say. Say what you feel.” She replies.
I watch from a distance and Richard and Victoria begin their scene. And from where I am standing it certainly doesn’t look like much. The director asks Ed to hook up the video tap and Patrick moves the camera in filling the frame with the two lovers. Suddenly their entire world is lit up. In their eyes alone there is so much to feel and glean from a subtle move or a gentle touch.
“ACTION!” The director yells. Victoria is on her way out and locking the gate to her courtyard. Richard quietly moves up behind her. When she turns she is startled and a plethora of emotions at once contradictory and yet perfectly in sync cascades over and through her. Richard touches her face tenderly and the look they share says it all. It lasts a minute or two but it is electric and satisfying. He takes in every nuance of her face. The sunlight is absolutely perfect for the shot. Something in Victoria’s face opens and blossoms. He extends his arm. She accepts and they walk down the street together. When I write it down it seems simple and banal. There are no words to convey it. That is why film is a visually visceral medium that has to be seen, preferably big, to be experienced.
“CUT! That was perfect!” The director says. “You guys were right on! Beautiful!”
“You want to get another one?” Thom asks as he is our AD for the day.
“I know I have it but we’ll do another one for safety.” The director replies.
“And another for shits and giggles…for me?” Thom says with an evil smile.
“How was that for camera?” The director asks.
“Stunning.” Pat replies.
“The sound was okay---I’d like another take.” Ed says tongue-in-cheek.
“There’s no dialogue, idiot---Fuck sound!” Thom adds exasperated.
“I think I want to use my safe word now.” Ed says meekly. “SPONGEBOB!” He shouts.
I think Thom and Pat are about to bust a gut laughing.
“We’ll have to strip out reference sound anyway because of the traffic. Whatever we need we can design and foley later.” The director explains to the PA who is wrangling cords and battery packs.
I ask Whit how he’s doing since it is almost ninety degrees out and he’s layered in wool. “I think I sweat off my velvet change purse.” He says gluging water. “ I have GOT to get out of this costume or score an ice cold beer somewhere. We’re done, right?”
“Oh yeah, we’re done here.” I say and he walks away quickly to find some shade.
We all jump into various vehicles and head back to the Brooklyn Brownstone for lunch. Whit and Rebecca are done for the day. Since Rebecca only lives in the next neighborhood she decides to go home. Whit meets Sandy and they drive back to Brookyln together AC at full blast. The next scene is in a historic parlor in a well-known building in New York. It is the location for Charles and Victoria’s New York mansion. Keith and Bill meet us at the location. We have to be quick and we have to be quiet.
Dr. Willoughby walks the Citizen Kane-like interior through these massive oak pocket doors to Charles who is nervously awaiting news of Victoria’s health. The Doctor informs Charles that ‘she lost the baby’. Again, I watch in rapt attention as a profusion of emotions and discoveries wash across Charles’ face. It is evident that he did not know of her condition. And it is quite clear that he was not responsible for her pregnancy. But his deep devotion to her remains intact. I’m not sure if he is weeping from the hurt of betrayal or from the fear of losing her or from the deep disappointment that Victoria had to step outside their marriage to find fulfillment. I vote for all three. And once again silence is golden.
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