American Cinematographer

May 1933

PHOTOGRAPHY
of the MONTH
"THE BARBARIAN''
photographed by Harold Rosson, A.S.C.
Egypt-the Egypt of the fictionists of the E. M. Hull
school-furnishes the background for this extremely pic¬
torial romance. Naturally, it offers every imaginable in¬
gredient of the pictorial glamour that made "The Sheik"
and its successors optical treats; and the tremendous ad¬
vances in cinematographic materials, equipment and methods
have vastly increased the pictorial possibilities of such a
story. Cinematographer Rosson has taken full advantage of
all that was available-and turned out one of the most
spectacularly pictorial productions seen in some time. "The
Barbarian" (originally titled "The Man on the Nile") is
in every way welcome after these many years of ultrarealistic pictures, with their harsh, newsreelesque photog¬
raphy. It is strikingly pictorial without going to the un¬
desirable extreme of being a story concealed by its photog¬
raphy. Rosson's compositions and lightings are beautiful,
tasteful, and so skillful that they deserve not alone praise,
but careful study.
M-C-M has given this production a beautiful mounting,
and the M-G-M Laboratory has turned out beautiful releaseprints: but one important factor has unaccountably been
neglected. "The Barbarian" is a production which would
be tremendously enhanced by the use of tinted-base stock
throughout; moreover, the picture is so cut that the use
of tinted-base film would be extremely easy, as most of the
night and interior sequences are long-very nearly fullreel lengths- and the changes would all come at the reelends. After seeing the picture, I queried the sound-engin¬
eers, asking if the use of tinted positive would be injurious
to their prized tone-qualities; the answer was, "No, it would
be all right with us." This ommision, therefore, must be
strictly chargeable to the executive and laboratory depart¬
ments.
I therefore suggest, with all due respect to these
august gentlemen, that they make at least one print of
"The Barbarian," using the tint known as "Caprice" for
the body of the picture, "Nocturne" or "Purple-haze" for
the night-exteriors, and "Sunshine" or "Firelight" for the
interiors. The result of the use of these colors, combined
with the imaginative cinematography of Hal Rosson, should
add mightily to the warmth and romantic appeal of the
production.
"A BEDTIME STORY"
photographed by Charles Lang, A.S.C.
A feature-comedy such as this one, which frequently
more than borders upon the slapstick, is hardly an assign¬
ment which would offer a cinematographer-even such an
artist as cinematographer Lang-any outstanding oppor¬
tunities for pictorialism or the type of camerawork that
he likes best to do.
Nevertheless, Charles Lang, A.S.C.,
has done remarkably well with this assignment.
He has
managed to surmount the handicap of having to light for
broad comedy rather than for quality-and done it most
remarkably will. There are a number of individual scenes

and sequences which are most artistically photographed-
especially several light-effects.
He has also photographed
Helen Twelvetrees unusually well. Taken all in all, Lang
is to be congratulated for making such a fine combination
of artistry and commercial workmanship out of a decidedly
difficult assignment.
"HELL BELOW"
photographed by Harold Rosson, A.S.C.
Indisputably, this is one of the most striking productions
of the year.
It abounds in sensational action-aircraft
attacking submarines, ships being torpedoed, etc.-which
has been most expertly photographed. But more than this,
Hal Rosson, A.S.C., has achieved some unusually fine photog¬
raphy in the more intimate parts of the picture. His treat¬
ment of the several sequences made inside the submarine
is especially noteworthy, while a long sequence of effectlightings occurring during a love-scene between Robert
Montgomery and Madge Evans, in the early part of the
picture, is outstanding.
Several of the scenes in this
sequence offer an unusal combination of the virility, beauty
and imagination of the best of European cinematography
with the perfected technique of one of America's best
camera-artists.
The miniature and special-effects work in this production
is also notably fine.
One must, however, make two or three criticisms: in
the first place, MCM made the serious mistake of using
a very bad working print for their press-showing, doing
grave injustice to everyone concerned with the production.
The release-prints will unquestionably be better; moreover,
one understands that they will be made very largely upon
tinted-base stock-which should greatly benefit the pro¬
duction. Another flaw is that neither scenarist nor director
apparently gave any thought to the proper treatment of
time-lapses: accordingly, several sequences suffer decidedly
from a garbled impression of time, especially that in the
disabled submarine, where action which would logically
have taken over a day and a half is presented in such a
manner as to suggest that but a few hours elapse.
In
such situations, the camera can easily be made to suggest
the passage of time in a very small footage; surely if
the writers and directors were not equal to the demands
of so simple a situation, they could have called upon the
experienced brain of Cinematographer Rosson, and avoided
a flaw which will undoubtedly bring forth adverse criticisms
wherever the picture is shown.
"SONG OF THE EAGLE"
photographed by Henry Sharp, A.S.C.
This is another of Henry Sharp's expertly-made pro¬
ductions for Charles Rogers. It doesn't offer any spectac¬
ular opportunities for unusual pictorialism, but Sharp has
done excellently, giving it the realistic treatment demanded
by the story, without any sacrifice of quality, or display¬
ing the players unfavorably.
Cinematographer Sharp is,
in fact, to be commended upon his excellent lighting of the
cast-especially Louise Dresser.

American Cinematographer - May 1933

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American Cinematographer - May 1933

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 1933