Oswald "Ossie" Morris & Film - Part 6 (final extract)
This is the sixth and final extract from an interview with Ossie Morris (see Part 1, posted 10th November 2008, with introductory details.)
All of the interview is Copyright © Oswald Morris & Barrie Gordon 2008.
Ossie (O): 'Dark Crystal' ... was my last film, that really was quite something.
Barrie (B): In what way?
O: Well, because it was something completely new. It was ... Jim Henson's idea to do this with ... it's all, all puppets, but they're full-size - some of them had two men inside, one on the back of the other, and they have a television camera inside - can't see anything, and all these wonderful animals ...
B: That was quite something, very different.
O: Quite something, yes, it really was. That took a lot of time, but it was Jim's money. It was his one film he wanted to do and in a way from my point of view it was a bit boring because we had to wait so long for them to get in and out of these costumes - because you couldn't leave them in these costumes for any length of time ...
B: Tell me ... any other particular films you've enjoyed ... these are the films to watch, that are really fantastic. Any films ...
O: ... I lived at Ruislip ... there was only a small cinema in Ruislip. There was a bigger cinema in Harrow and occasionally my parents would allow me to go and see a film there. Now, the cinemas were still nothing like the modern ones, but it was a bigger one - they got the films earlier on in the circuit. I went there once and saw a film called 'Zoo in Budapest', and I've never forgotten this film. It was photographed by a wonderful ... American cinematographer ... absolute classic called Lee Garmes, and I thought the photography was wonderful in my naive way and I've never ever forgotten that. The only other film I was ever allowed to see, apart from the odd Charlie Chaplin film, was a Bulldog Drummond film. It was the first talkie, I think. I think I saw that before seeing 'Budapest' ... with Ronald Coleman playing the part - was it Raffles in Bulldog Drummond, the detective?
B: ... don't know I'm afraid.
O: ... that was the only other one I was allowed to see, but 'Zoo in Budapest' was the one I'll always remember.
B: Was there a director that you would have liked to have worked for ... with, I should say?.
O: Offhand ... if I went away for 48 hrs and thought it through I might come up with something, but offhand No, but you know, the ones I ... the fresh ones I enjoyed working with ... Marty Ritt of course, Tony Richardson ... the first films, and René Clément, the french director - we learned so much.
B: What was the film with René Clément?
O: Called 'Knave of Hearts' with Gerard Philipe.
B: ... one of the films you worked on, was 'Lolita' by director Stanley Kubrick. If you can tell me a bit about that, and about Stanley.
O: Well I don't know how I was picked on to photograph the film, that's never been known - all I know was, that my agent said Stanley was going to make 'Lolita' and he wanted me to photograph it. Well, I talked to Stanley as I would with any other director, and I said 'how do you want the picture to look?' and he said 'this is a very risqué story' and he said 'I want the visuals to be totally different to the story', and I said 'well, can you give me an idea?' and he said 'well, you remember the black & white film from MGM during the pre-war, war time, and immediate post-war years ... that gloss they used to put on to the black & white ... I want that, because it will take the drama away from the visuals - but let the drama come out in the performance and the story'.
B: But when we were talking, we were only talking at that time about black & white, weren't we?
O:That's right, black & white, yes. And, err, so - I did some research and I found that they ... all the MGM contract cameramen ... they were all under contract, used a special filter. A shiny filter it was called - they weren't available in England, and I asked Stanley if he could get me a couple of sets and within, oh, 4-5 days they arrived, and then we also discussed the lighting of the sets, and he said 'you know I'd like the windows to burn out and the practicals to be very bright which was exciting for me because ...'
B: What does that mean the 'practicals'?
O: Well, they'd be very bright in the picture. Normally because the directors wanted the audience to look at the actors, you didn't have bright lights behind them because that would detract from their face, but Stanley wanted to do that, and I thought what a wonderful idea it is, so of course the lighting at the MGM films always had a gloss about them, even the biggest drama, there was no kitchen sink. Kitchen sink ...
B: Pretty?
O: Kitchen sink wasn't a word in America - you mentioned that and you were out on your ear. So it was a wonderful chance to do this, and I did this. Stanley used to come on the set, to make absolutely sure ... he wasn't going to get a surprise ... I'd get him to look through the camera, at the lighting. ... so 'Stanley, come and have a look at this' ... 'do you like the look of this?', and Stanley would look through, and they'd be a pause. He said 'do you think that light in the background's a bit bright?'. I'd say, 'well it is bright Stanley, but that's what we agreed'.
B: Yes, what he wanted ...
O: 'Can you take it down a bit'. So, I said 'yes, sure', and I'd tell the sparks to take it down a bit (it's on the dimmer), take it down a bit, and he'd said 'I think that's better there now, don't you?'. I looked through - I said 'well, no Stanley, it's not what we agreed. Now, are we going to stick to that or not?'.
B: Was he working for his own studio then, because ... ?
O: Oh no, he was working for himself. Nobody dictates to Stanley what he does.
B: I think from the beginning more or less, wasn't it ... he was very innovative in his film making, and the variety of films ...?
O: Oh, yes, yes ... and so, we used to go through the sort of battling a bit with it. Then let me tell you another story: we had a complete composite house built on the stage, because in those days the equipment was so bulky we couldn't take in the houses. So, we chose the facade of a house in Borehamwood, which we did the location work on. He rebuilt that in the studio but we prized in ... the front door was in the middle with a hall and a room either side ... and we prized it open in design - sort of like that ... so we could get the big crane in, and move around. The whole thing was built, but it had no front on it at all.
B: Did you, with him, create some new cameras, or ...?
O: Well, what we did do, which he claimed was his idea, is tracking through walls from room to room ... Shelley Winters and James Mason - she's showing James over the house because he's thinking of renting it, and we go from room to room. Now, ideally today with a lightweight camera, the camera would go through the door ahead of them - you couldn't do that with these cameras. So we had to go through the wall - the doors there, there, and there's a wall and we have this end open and we're doing it this way, going through room to room - you see, and he invented that, but I have to tell you, this is recorded in the American Academy documentary that was made of him, that I'd done this before, but he thought it was ... and we used to have battles and he'd say 'now I want this room to look as though it's lit with a 60 watt lamp'.
B: Did you work with him with just the one film?
O: Only the one film, yes. Yes, he only did films ... every 2 or 3 years.
B: ... fantastic, thank you.
The End
These extracts were from an independent interview. For further reading about Ossie, there is Ossie's 2006 book (written with Geoffrey Bull) called 'Huston, We Have A Problem' (published by Scarecrow Press, in the USA). It is available in the UK.
I'll leave the last words to Ossie, which I've transplanted from within the interview, to the end:-
B: Another question is ... If you hadn't gone into films what do you think you would have done?
O: I've never even thought about it ... it was never any question. My Dad, originally, when I was younger, said he wanted me to be an architect - no way would I ... I was quite good at drawing, he thought, but no way would I do that.
All of the interview is Copyright © Oswald Morris & Barrie Gordon 2008.
Ossie (O): 'Dark Crystal' ... was my last film, that really was quite something.
Barrie (B): In what way?
O: Well, because it was something completely new. It was ... Jim Henson's idea to do this with ... it's all, all puppets, but they're full-size - some of them had two men inside, one on the back of the other, and they have a television camera inside - can't see anything, and all these wonderful animals ...
B: That was quite something, very different.
O: Quite something, yes, it really was. That took a lot of time, but it was Jim's money. It was his one film he wanted to do and in a way from my point of view it was a bit boring because we had to wait so long for them to get in and out of these costumes - because you couldn't leave them in these costumes for any length of time ...
B: Tell me ... any other particular films you've enjoyed ... these are the films to watch, that are really fantastic. Any films ...
O: ... I lived at Ruislip ... there was only a small cinema in Ruislip. There was a bigger cinema in Harrow and occasionally my parents would allow me to go and see a film there. Now, the cinemas were still nothing like the modern ones, but it was a bigger one - they got the films earlier on in the circuit. I went there once and saw a film called 'Zoo in Budapest', and I've never forgotten this film. It was photographed by a wonderful ... American cinematographer ... absolute classic called Lee Garmes, and I thought the photography was wonderful in my naive way and I've never ever forgotten that. The only other film I was ever allowed to see, apart from the odd Charlie Chaplin film, was a Bulldog Drummond film. It was the first talkie, I think. I think I saw that before seeing 'Budapest' ... with Ronald Coleman playing the part - was it Raffles in Bulldog Drummond, the detective?
B: ... don't know I'm afraid.
O: ... that was the only other one I was allowed to see, but 'Zoo in Budapest' was the one I'll always remember.
B: Was there a director that you would have liked to have worked for ... with, I should say?.
O: Offhand ... if I went away for 48 hrs and thought it through I might come up with something, but offhand No, but you know, the ones I ... the fresh ones I enjoyed working with ... Marty Ritt of course, Tony Richardson ... the first films, and René Clément, the french director - we learned so much.
B: What was the film with René Clément?
O: Called 'Knave of Hearts' with Gerard Philipe.
B: ... one of the films you worked on, was 'Lolita' by director Stanley Kubrick. If you can tell me a bit about that, and about Stanley.
O: Well I don't know how I was picked on to photograph the film, that's never been known - all I know was, that my agent said Stanley was going to make 'Lolita' and he wanted me to photograph it. Well, I talked to Stanley as I would with any other director, and I said 'how do you want the picture to look?' and he said 'this is a very risqué story' and he said 'I want the visuals to be totally different to the story', and I said 'well, can you give me an idea?' and he said 'well, you remember the black & white film from MGM during the pre-war, war time, and immediate post-war years ... that gloss they used to put on to the black & white ... I want that, because it will take the drama away from the visuals - but let the drama come out in the performance and the story'.
B: But when we were talking, we were only talking at that time about black & white, weren't we?
O:That's right, black & white, yes. And, err, so - I did some research and I found that they ... all the MGM contract cameramen ... they were all under contract, used a special filter. A shiny filter it was called - they weren't available in England, and I asked Stanley if he could get me a couple of sets and within, oh, 4-5 days they arrived, and then we also discussed the lighting of the sets, and he said 'you know I'd like the windows to burn out and the practicals to be very bright which was exciting for me because ...'
B: What does that mean the 'practicals'?
O: Well, they'd be very bright in the picture. Normally because the directors wanted the audience to look at the actors, you didn't have bright lights behind them because that would detract from their face, but Stanley wanted to do that, and I thought what a wonderful idea it is, so of course the lighting at the MGM films always had a gloss about them, even the biggest drama, there was no kitchen sink. Kitchen sink ...
B: Pretty?
O: Kitchen sink wasn't a word in America - you mentioned that and you were out on your ear. So it was a wonderful chance to do this, and I did this. Stanley used to come on the set, to make absolutely sure ... he wasn't going to get a surprise ... I'd get him to look through the camera, at the lighting. ... so 'Stanley, come and have a look at this' ... 'do you like the look of this?', and Stanley would look through, and they'd be a pause. He said 'do you think that light in the background's a bit bright?'. I'd say, 'well it is bright Stanley, but that's what we agreed'.
B: Yes, what he wanted ...
O: 'Can you take it down a bit'. So, I said 'yes, sure', and I'd tell the sparks to take it down a bit (it's on the dimmer), take it down a bit, and he'd said 'I think that's better there now, don't you?'. I looked through - I said 'well, no Stanley, it's not what we agreed. Now, are we going to stick to that or not?'.
B: Was he working for his own studio then, because ... ?
O: Oh no, he was working for himself. Nobody dictates to Stanley what he does.
B: I think from the beginning more or less, wasn't it ... he was very innovative in his film making, and the variety of films ...?
O: Oh, yes, yes ... and so, we used to go through the sort of battling a bit with it. Then let me tell you another story: we had a complete composite house built on the stage, because in those days the equipment was so bulky we couldn't take in the houses. So, we chose the facade of a house in Borehamwood, which we did the location work on. He rebuilt that in the studio but we prized in ... the front door was in the middle with a hall and a room either side ... and we prized it open in design - sort of like that ... so we could get the big crane in, and move around. The whole thing was built, but it had no front on it at all.
B: Did you, with him, create some new cameras, or ...?
O: Well, what we did do, which he claimed was his idea, is tracking through walls from room to room ... Shelley Winters and James Mason - she's showing James over the house because he's thinking of renting it, and we go from room to room. Now, ideally today with a lightweight camera, the camera would go through the door ahead of them - you couldn't do that with these cameras. So we had to go through the wall - the doors there, there, and there's a wall and we have this end open and we're doing it this way, going through room to room - you see, and he invented that, but I have to tell you, this is recorded in the American Academy documentary that was made of him, that I'd done this before, but he thought it was ... and we used to have battles and he'd say 'now I want this room to look as though it's lit with a 60 watt lamp'.
B: Did you work with him with just the one film?
O: Only the one film, yes. Yes, he only did films ... every 2 or 3 years.
B: ... fantastic, thank you.
The End
These extracts were from an independent interview. For further reading about Ossie, there is Ossie's 2006 book (written with Geoffrey Bull) called 'Huston, We Have A Problem' (published by Scarecrow Press, in the USA). It is available in the UK.
I'll leave the last words to Ossie, which I've transplanted from within the interview, to the end:-
B: Another question is ... If you hadn't gone into films what do you think you would have done?
O: I've never even thought about it ... it was never any question. My Dad, originally, when I was younger, said he wanted me to be an architect - no way would I ... I was quite good at drawing, he thought, but no way would I do that.
posted by Barrie Gordon at 10:27 AM
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