American Cinematographer - December 1970 - 64

"FIDDLER ON THE ROOF"
Continued from Page 1207

moment everything stops and people
begin to sing and a big orchestra begins
to play. Reality disappears and it turns
into purely an entertainment form. Out¬
side of THE WIZARD OF OZ' and a
very few others, there are not very
many musicals which I've felt were
really successful as films."
"I'm inclined to agree with you," I
tell him, "but since you feel that way,
what makes you brave enough to tackle
something like 'FIDDLER ON THE
ROOF'?"
He laughs. "Now that I've shot down
the musical film form, that is a fair
question. I think it's because I don't
really regard 'FIDDLER' as a musical
comedy. To me the strength is in the
story, which I regard as a classic. The
music is probably as well integrated as it

out with Ossie Morris prior to the start
of filming.
"Well, we had an opportunity to
spend some time together in England
and also here in Yugoslavia, long before
actual shooting began-and, of course,
that kind of communication between a
director and his cameraman can't help
but pay off," he tells me. "We were
searching for a distinctive visual style to
use in this picture. We're shooting in
Panavision and, frankly, the Panavision
lenses are almost too sharp for my
tastes-especially when the story is not
contemporary. Modern life is perceived
sharply, but the moment you move into
a period it becomes, somehow, faded
and a bit hazy. Your references to it are
through old photographs and books and
things. You don't see it quite as clearly
as you see life today.
"Since the period of our story is
pre-revolutionary Russia, just after the

films, this picture calls for a simplified
camera approach and I'm trying to keep
it that way. So, every time I start to
lean on a zoom, or lift at the end of a
number, or do something else tricky
with the camera, Ossie sort of tugs me
by the coat-tail and says, 'Remember
what you told me.'
"I
think-and hope-that we're
achieving a very nice visual style, a look
that's peculiar to this picture. We've
taken out all the primary colors. There
are no reds, blues, yellows or whites.
We've gotten into earth tones for all of
the costuming and sets-so, the picture
is going to have a rather rich, earthy
feeling-almost a black and white feel¬
ing, but in color."
He tells me that on this project he
has been introduced to a few technical
tools that are new to him and very
useful, most notably the Panafocal lens,
which he describes as a "marvelous

(LEFT) The mythical village of Anatevka, ablaze with light provided by a bank of Brute arcs on high parallels, shown during night shooting. Though
Morris favors these large units for illuminating vast areas, he is gradually moving toward smaller, more compact quartz units for other types of
shooting. (RIGHT) The fog begins to envelope the chill Yugoslav night, making it necessary to avoid camera angles in which the beams of the lights
would be noticeable.

is in 'PORGY AND BESS' and, for that
reason, I consider it to be more of a folk
opera than a musical comedy, where
everybody in the village suddenly starts
to dance. I've cut down the choreogra¬
phy tremendously. The only dancing
that appears in the film now is the kind
that would naturally happen in life,
such as at a wedding, or when men get
drunk together. I love the music in this
show. I grew up on musicals when I
worked in television, and I think they're
marvelous in the television form. I did
nothing but musicals before I went into
film, but this is my first professional
contact with music in nine years. It's
kind of good to get back to it."
I ask him about his visual approach
to the picture in terms of camera, and
to what extent he was able to work this
1210

turn of the century, Ossie decided to
shoot everything through a brownish
gauze-a silk stocking, as a matter of
fact. I think he must have looked at
many ladies' legs before he finally came
up with the right shade of brown.
"Outside of that, we are attempting
to keep the camerawork very simple. I
want the audience not to be aware of
camera. A musical tends to force you to
fall into the use of a lot of lifts and
moves and crane shots and punctuations
with the music-all of which seem very
slick and very neat and very exciting on
the set. But when you cut them to¬
gether, you find that they have nothing
whatsoever to do with advancing the
story. Unlike 'THE THOMAS CROWN
AFFAIR' (which was very high-styled
cinematically) and some of my other

crutch" because it helps him keep com¬
positions trimmed up without having to
move the camera.
"We can slide in without the audi¬
ence being aware of it and, thereby,
keep the frame full," he explains. "You
always have that problem when working
with the anamorphic aspect ratio. It's a
very unusual shape and not the easiest
for a director to work with when he's
trying to stage action gracefully and
keep the frame full at all times. Being
able to zoom within the short range of
50mm to 95mm with the Panafocal lens
has been a great help to me in this
respect."
As we have been talking, the Yugo¬
slav night has grown very cold (34
degrees Fahrenheit, I'm later to discov¬
er), but the crew doesn't seem to mind

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, DECEMBER 1970

American Cinematographer - December 1970

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