Runaway Hollywood | Daniel Steinhart

[Paul Malcolm] This series was inspired by a new film history, ah, titled, "Runaway Hollywood, Internationaling Post, Internationalizing Postwar Production and Location Shooting," by film historian, Daniel Steinhart. Daniel has been a great friend, ah, of the Archive for many years. He was, I think he got his PhD, well, he did get his PhD here at UCLA. So we've known Daniel for a long time. We've been tracking this project for a long time. As soon as we knew that he was working on it. So when we knew that it was coming out, ah, we just had to have Daniel curate a program based on his history. You will see out in the lobby, we have a book signing tonight. Well, Daniel will be back here tomorrow signing books. So, ah, if you, he's gonna come up and introduce some of the films tonight. So, um, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. It's actually a really, amazing, deep dive into the production histories of these titles. Ah, and sort of sheds light onto an aspect of this era of postwar filmmaking, that I think, um, we really haven't, I mean, we're all aware that these films were made, ah, in Europe or in Japan or in Mexico in the postwar era. But, Daniel does a really amazing job of contextualizing them and digging out the production histories of these films. So, I highly recommend you pick up the book. Um, Daniel curated this program and I just wanted, well first of all Daniel's here, so, let's have a round of applause for Daniel Steinhart because he is fantastic. [Applause] We gave Daniel to, free rein to draw from here, the films that he, ah, writes about and he put together what I think is a really fantastic program. Tonight we have, "Roman Holiday," and "Three Coins in a Fountain," which represents, you know, there's these classic Hollywood films. These amazing, sort of, iconic films from this period. But he's also mixed it with some of the deeper cuts from this period. Tomorrow night's program, "Decision Before Dawn," and "Berlin Express," both of which will be presented on 35 millimeter are some amazing postwar thrillers. Ah, we've got, ah, "Anatahan," by Josef von Sternberg, which was shot in Japan. And, ah, "The Fugitive," John Ford's film shot in Mexico, "Veracruz," which is a fantastic, ah, Robert Aldrich film. So, we've got some deep cuts and some Hollywood classics. I think Daniel put together a really amazing mix. So, please, ah, for every one of these screenings, Daniel will be here in person, for most of the screenings throughout this series, introducing each film individually. So, he'll come up and say a few words about, "Roman Holiday," and then after the intermission, he'll come back up and say a few words about, "Three Coins in the Fountain." So, please help me welcome to the stage, Daniel Steinhart. [Cheers, applause] [Daniel Steinhart] Um, thanks so much Paul, for that really, ah, generous introduction, ah, and I, I just want to give a big thanks to Paul and the Archive staff, um, for supporting this series and, um, doing all the logistical work to make it happen. Ah, they really do a heroic job, ah, to track down these films, especially the film prints. Um, I also want to give a shout-out to, ah, Chris Horak, the Director of the Archive. Um, I took some of his classes when I was a student here and I'd say really, some of the seeds of this book, originated in his classes. Um, and so it's a real thrill to be able to come back and, um, do this series, um, because the Archive, I think, in many ways shaped my film education. Um, and now that I don't live in Los Angeles anymore, I, you know, I really, ah, realize what a great thing you, you all have in this city, so, um, it's exciting to be here. Um, so I, want to take no more than five minutes because I know we got two films ahead of us. But I want to give you some, um, industry background, ah, on, "Roman Holiday." Um, and maybe a little bit of background on this series, um. So, I think one of the goals of this series is to present the wide range of movies that were, ah, shot overseas. You know, you have things like, ah, romantic comedies, ah, like, "Roman Holiday," war pictures like, "Decision Before Dawn." Ah, you have epic films like, "Mutiny on the Bounty," um, and musicals like, "Funny Face," which we'll show next week. I think another goal of this series, and really my book, is to highlight that, ah, Hollywood's shift overseas had a major impact on, [clears throat] Hollywood labor groups. Um, which actually coined this term, ah, runaway production, which is where the series and my book, ah, take their title from. And this term referred to films that were being shot overseas, ah, for financial reasons and so Hollywood unions really tried to fight this trend. Um, and they waged different campaigns to stop it, ah. Unfortunately, sometimes relying on a lot of anti-communist rhetoric. Their efforts ended up meeting pretty mixed results. Um, but Hollywood would really never be the same. Ah, production jobs would always, be tied to companies that were always searching for the best financial incentives. And I think more and more, Los Angeles would become, ah, decentralized as a production hub. So, in some ways it kind of lays the groundwork for the the Hollywood that we have today. As for, "Roman Holiday," ah, you know, there's so many things I could talk about this film, ah, like Audrey Hepburn's, ah, star-making performance for which she won an Oscar. Um, I could also, you know, talk about how the film's credited writer Ian McLellan Hunter, was a front for, ah, blacklisted screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, ah, who won an Oscar posthumously. Ah, but I actually want to focus on why this film was actually shot in Rome. And I think, it's an important issue because it really, um, sheds light on why Hollywood in general started to make so many movies around the world after World War II. So, the first reason why, ah, this was made in Rome, has to do with frozen funds. Um, immediately after World War II, ah, Europe had a lot of fragile economies. Ah, and in order to force Hollywood companies to invest in European film industries, ah, Hollywood's foreign earnings were frozen. And of course, Hollywood is very savvy, so the studio's figured out that they could actually invest those frozen funds in their own productions that they started to make overseas. And on, "Roman Holiday," ah, Paramount Studios did just that. They actually, invested their frozen lira, ah, in hiring very skilled, ah, Italian crew members and also renting out Cinecitta Studios. Ah, where, ah, which served as as kind of a production headquarters. Ah, the second reason has to do with taxes and I know, I, I, I risk losing people when I start talking about taxes, but, um, it's, it's an important issue, um. So, end of World War II, the income tax was very high, around 77 percent, for high earners. Um, think about that compared to today. Um, and, you know, so the high earners were Hollywood stars, ah, and directors and these individuals tried out various strategies to lower their taxes. Some created their own production companies. But there were a handful that realized that if you worked overseas, for seventeen out of eighteen months, your salary would not be taxed. Um, so that's what, ah, the director of, "Roman Holiday," William Wyler, and the star, Gregory Peck, did. They took advantage of this loophole. Um, and I'd argue that, you know, Wyler would not have made this film in Rome if it hadn't been for that tax loophole. Ah, the third reason has to do with realism and this is something that you can really see on screen. Ah, at the time producers believed that shooting in authentic, ah, locations, especially, ah, spectacular overseas locations, would attract audiences and be a way to compete with television. Ah, and so, I think, you'll see in, "Roman Holiday," that the, that Rome, really becomes one of the stars of the film. And one thing, I think, that's worth paying attention to is the way that Wyler, ah, shoots Rome. In, in particular, the way he captures Rome through deep focus cinematography. Um, and so this just refers to the way that the foreground, middle-ground and background are, ah, in sharp focus. And this was a style that Wyler really perfected, um, in Hollywood in the 1940s on films like, "Little Foxes," and, ah, "Best Years of our Lives." Ah, which were, for the most part, shot on a sound stage, where you could pump in a ton of light to be able to get that sharp focus. But here we have, Wyler, now working on location, and he was able to harness the bright sunlight to achieve that same style. That deep focused style. Um, and, I think, you'll see, you know, he does some really interesting things with the interplay between character and background. Um, so that's something to look out for. But, you know, I will just say, ah, some people will have talked about these, ah, film as being kind of neo-realist in its use of locations. But I think it's not, you know, I think this is really a Hollywood's attempt to capture locations. It kind of treats Rome as this magnificent set and a playground for its characters. Um, so I'll leave it at that, um, I'll come back, give a brief intro for, "Three Coins in a Fountain," but, um, thank you so much. And I hope you enjoy the film. So, ah, with this next film, "Three Coins in the Fountain," ah, we're gonna jump one year ahead to 1954. This is a movie directed by, Jean Negulesco. Um, and, I think there's two noteworthy things that I want to mention about the movie. Um, first is that this movie really, um, solidifies this postwar cycle of movies that focused on stories about Americans abroad and especially, ah, American women abroad. Um, and these films tend to treat Europe as a kind of American fantasy of ro, romance, and, um, relationships between different nationalities. The second thing I want to mention, is the film's use of, ah, widescreen. And this for me, this movie is all about the CinemaScope widescreen. So, "Roman Holiday," I think, proved that, um, filmmakers could make Hollywood style movies abroad in ways that would use locations in interesting ways. Um, but, what would filmmakers do as soon as you introduced a new wide, widescreen system like CinemaScope? Ah, "Three Coins in the Fountain," was the first CinemaScope film to be shot in continental Europe. Ah, so you can see that it's really highlighting, ah, both the Italian locations, but also the, the dimensions of the widescreen frame. And it also became a chance for the director, Jean Negulesco, to work out a lot of the problems with the CinemaScope system. Ah, his previous film, "How to Marry a Millionaire," ah, was the first CinemaScope film, ah, to be shot. It wasn't the first film to be released, first CinemaScope film to be released, it was the first one though, to be shot. Um, and he encountered all these different problems on that film. Ah, like there was image distortion. Ah, it was very difficult to block the actors in front of the camera. Um, but on, "Three Coins in the Fountain," a lot of these problems were actually fixed. In part, because it was shot on location. Ah, one of the things that you needed, if you were to shoot in CinemaScope, was a lot of light, to be able to, ah, register a sharp image. Ah, and of course, you know, shooting on these, ah, authentic locations, um, ah, Negulesco was able to achieve these images. Um, so I encourage you to really pay attention to how the widescreen images capture, ah, locations, especially in the film's opening, ah, travelogue montage. I feel like the opening is kind of training us how to watch CinemaScope. Ah, and how to really appreciate the dimensions of the frame. Ah, but you know, what often happens when you have a technological innovation is you sometimes, you have a stylistic step backwards. Um, so you'll see on this movie, and a lot of other international productions that were shot, ah, um, during this period, Um, that, ah, the film would be shot both on location overseas, but also they would, you, do studio work back in Hollywood. So, this was also a shot, ah, partly at Fox Studios, using a lot of process shots. Um, and I think this is really apparent in a lot of these early widescreen films. Um, but for me, I think, you know, pairing this with, "Roman Holiday," ah, made just a year before, really shows you how, stylistically eclectic, ah, Hollywood was in the 1950s, and for me, that's why Hollywood in the Fifties, is so interesting. So I'll leave it at that. Um, I hope you enjoy the film. Thanks.