tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6924668268143757716.post3587881156052246029..comments2024-03-11T16:51:36.636-04:00Comments on A<br> Mythical<br> Monkey<br> writes<br> about<br> the<br> movies: A Musical Interlude: Marlene Dietrich In The Blue AngelMythical Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330587602682498820noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6924668268143757716.post-18088760171965398132009-09-11T09:10:40.716-04:002009-09-11T09:10:40.716-04:00By the way, another reason von Sternberg may have ...By the way, another reason von Sternberg may have shot English and German versions of <i>The Blue Angel</i> is that it was also cheaper to ship a complete negative overseas than to print copies and ship <i>them</i> overseas. Safer, too, since nitrate film is highly flammable (see <i>Inglourious Basterds</i> for a primer on the subject).<br /><br />Yes, but why not just make a copy of the negative, you ask, rather than film a scene twice? Because the technical process of duplicating a negative hadn't been perfected yet -- copies came out kind of milky.<br /><br />And since most studios in those days owned rather than rented the cameras and had the crew and actors on straight salary rather than paying by the job, really all the producer was paying for was film. You could shoot all day for about $8.<br /><br />Back in the silent days, the practice of shipping a negative overseas was so common that two cameras sitting side-by-side filmed two copies of a scene simultaneously (if you've seen Marion Davies's <i>Show People</i>, at the end you'll see director King Vidor sitting next to just such a pair of cameras).<br /><br />There's an anecdote about one of Buster Keaton's films involving (as they always did) an elaborate and dangerous stunt that for some reason only one camera caught. "Europe doesn't get to see that stunt," Keaton said, refusing to risk his neck twice.Mythical Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11330587602682498820noreply@blogger.com