Movies, Movie Making and The People Who Made Movies

"To begin with, the sound film was in essence a photographed stage play."  In Search of My Father, pg. 34

"...he carefully avoided falling into the mill and being ground to the uniform size." In Search of My Father, pg. 21

"If he disapproved of their methods, yet took advantage of them, this was felt by some to be a rather snide way of biting the hand that fed him." In Search of My Father, pg. 22

"If Leslie was, inevitably, to become a star of this older system of the personality cult he was not really of it—nor had he any attraction to it—in fact, the reverse. He deplored the absurd postures of some successful actors and their vanity about themselves which frequently affected production adversely. He was always modest about himself and disliked affectations in others, or any pretence of grandeur. He expected actors to take advice and listen to the director's interpretation—not supply their own. On the other hand he didn't think actors should be moulded slavishly like plasticine. They should be encouraged to contribute their own personalities—that is what they were employed and paid for—to an intelligent illumination of the roles they were assigned. Primarily actors were interpretive—not creative—though they could create in their plastic natures very vivid effects. But they must not try to capture audiences out of context by being encouraged to perform 'star-turns.' They must remain a disciplined part of the pattern.

"Unfortunately, the basic trouble with many plays and films of the twenties and thirties was that they were constructed for just that purpose—to show off one or two stars to effect and the producers, playwrights and script-writers connived at it, so that the director simply became the tool of the 'star-system.' And of this Leslie strongly disapproved for he knew, instinctively, that actors should not control the system in this way." 

In Search of My Father, pg. 32

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