RARA-AVIS: Late Entry: Musuraca's and Tourneur's Lighting For "Out of the Past"

From: John A. Armstrong ( johnnyyen@telus.net)
Date: 31 Aug 2004


A reply to an elderly thread - reading a book of Gore Vidal essays and he talks about how the Warner Bros. restrictions on electrical access resulted in what was later judged the "style" of the studio's pictures. Vidal was a studio writer for several years and lends a vote to the cost-cutting argument.

Best, JAA
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: chrisaschneider@earthlink.net
  To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2004 8:45 PM
  Subject: RARA-AVIS: Musuraca's and Tourneur's Lighting For "Out of the Past"

  Mark wrote:
> He found documentation (memos,
> budgets, etc) to back up that the
> lighting style [of "Out of the Past"]
> was due to cost-cutting on the sets.

  Doherty wrote:
> it was just a way of making films
> economically

  It was in one of his essays, I believe, that W.H. Auden gave, as an example of genius, composer Giacomo Rossini spilling ink on a portion of his score's manuscript, his noticing that the ink landed on a good place for a note, and then his keeping the note in that spot for the final score.

  Whether or not the lighting of "Out of the Past" was a result of economics -- although I, myself, would prefer to speak of the quite conscious influence of the Val Lewton unit at R.K.O. and their approach toward atmospherics -- my claim would be that the important factors are (2) what was done in the final movie, and (2) the import of those choices in the film that we view today.

  Both director Tourneur and cinematographer Nicholas Musurara had worked together under Lewton, of course -- "The Cat People" (1942).

  Here, by the way, is a good article on Tourneur:

  http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/7-8-2002/tourneur2.htm

  Chris

  RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/

        Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
              ADVERTISEMENT
             
       
       

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Yahoo! Groups Links

    a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
      
    b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
      
    c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
  Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 31 Aug 2004 EDT