by Mark Harris
“It was all done with these 16-millimeter cameras”: William Wyler interviewed at the American Film Institute in 1975, reprinted in George Stevens Jr., Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the American Film Institute (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).
“hanging out the window with a camera in [his] hand”: Herman, A Talent for Trouble, 256–57.
“Talked with Queen about 5 minutes”: William Wyler in his journal, May 25, 1943, cited in Axel Madsen, William Wyler: The Authorized Biography (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1973), 236.
“Bad show” . . . “a 5-mile run”: William Wyler in his journal, May 19, 1943, cited in ibid., 235.
on May 29—an extremely dangerous raid on Saint-Nazaire: The dates and destinations of all of the sorties in which Wyler participated are from a 324th Bombardment Squadron memo, May 29, 1943, file 777, WWA.
Wyler was awarded the Air Medal: “Major Wyler Wins Medal,” New York Times, June 12, 1943.
“Suggest brushing up Cathy”: William Wyler to Talli Wyler, June 4, 1943, cited in Herman, A Talent for Trouble, 259.
there had been some talk of plans: Letter from Lowell Mellett to Sam Spewack, January 15, 1943, Lowell Mellett files, Records of the Office of War Information, box 1446, NA.
Mellett then turned to his own deputy: Memo from Lowell Mellett to Elmer Davis and Gardner Cowles Jr., May 18, 1943, Mellett files, Records of the Office of War Information, box 1431, NA.
“it is certain to be more successful”: Memo from Lowell Mellett to Alexander Surles, June 22, 1943, Mellett files, Records of the Office of War Information, box 1431, NA.
“universally favorable”: Memo from Alexander Surles to Lowell Mellett, June 23, 1943, Mellett files, Records of the Office of War Information, box 1431, NA.
“The U.S. Army, which has consistently trailed”: Variety, July 14, 1943.
called the delay “deplorable” . . . “wasteful argument back home”: Theodore Strauss, “A Delayed Report—The Signal Corps’ Fine Film on Aleutians Was Held up by Lamentable Argument,” New York Times, August 8, 1943.
his suggestion that they conserve resources: Thomas F. Brady, “Government Film Chief on Hollywood Tour; Lowell Mellett Finds Opposition to His Anti–Double Bill Stand—Other Matters,” New York Times, November 29, 1942.
the Bureau of Motion Pictures fell victim: Allan M. Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942–1945 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1978), 70–71.
“unfinished business” . . . “a limited number”: Memo from Lowell Mellett to Elmer Davis, July 9, 1943, Mellett files, Records of the Office of War Information, box 1431, NA; also “Mellett Drops out as OWI Film Head,” New York Times, July 10, 1943.
Despite generous praise for Huston’s work: Doherty, Projections of War, 113–15.
Chapter 15: “How to Live in the Army”
when Darryl Zanuck went to Algeria: Journal kept by Darryl Zanuck, November 17, 1942, reprinted in Darryl F. Zanuck, Tunis Expedition (New York: Random House, 1943), 70.
carefully coordinated effort to reenact the North African campaign: John Huston tells this story in An Open Book (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), as does Brigadier General William H. Harrison in Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992; revised 2000), 483.
“the finest film of actual combat”: “The New Pictures,” Time, April 12, 1943.
“there is hardly a shot”: Nation, May 1, 1943.
“The casualties they suffered in its production”: David Lardner, “The Current Cinema: Westward Ho!,” New Yorker, April 17, 1943.
“The captious will certainly find room”: Variety, March 31, 1943.
Theodor S. Geisel: Judith Morgan and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1995).
“he has a remarkably good brain”: Letter from Leonard Spigelgass to Frank Capra, January 4, 1943, FCA.
“He gave me the tour”: McBride, Frank Capra, 474–75.
Capra teamed Geisel with a thirty-year-old animator: Supplementary documentary on Frank Capra’s the War Years: Two Down and One to Go video (RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, 1990).
With Mel Blanc providing voices: Phlip Nel, “Children’s Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P. D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943–46),” Journal of Popular Culture 40, no. 3 (2007).
they should “make it racy”: Michael Birdwell, “Technical Fairy First Class,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 25, no. 2 (June 2005).
“It’s so cold it would freeze the nuts off a jeep!”: Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel.
“I imagine you have seen Desert Victory”: Letter from Bob Heller to Frank Capra, April 1, 1943, FCA.
“Our . . . uniforms look like outing clothes” to “for ‘medicinal purposes’”: George Stevens journal entry, notebook #2, June 1, 1943, GSC.
“We are going to use some infantry and five tanks”: George Stevens journal entry, notebook #2, June 4, 1943, GSC.
“they didn’t know whether to send him”: George Stevens interviewed in 1974, in Paul Cronin, ed., George Stevens Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), 113.
“would always scream when you went through” to “to live in the Army”: Unedited transcript of George Stevens interviewed by Robert Hughes, 1967, file 3677, GSC.
His work is perfectly framed: Unedited George Stevens World War II footage, reel 6, Library of Congress.
“Although Gillette had agreed” . . . “too dumb to know its value”: George Stevens journal entry, notebook #15, June 14, 1943, GSC.
for him to move on to Iran: See the footnote on page 309 for a fuller explanation of Stevens’s assignment in Iran.
“25th Day—Escape From Algiers”: George Stevens journal entry, notebook #15, June 16, 1943, GSC.
“a foul, filthy little village”: George Stevens journal entry, unnumbered, July 8, 1943, GSC.
“The trucks have just been assembled”: Ibid.
at night, the officers would drink: George Stevens journal entry, notebook #15, July 5, 1943, GSC.
“Alright”: George Stevens journal entry, unnumbered and undated but apparently July 1943, GSC.
“Construct a celluloid monument”: Ibid.
“a cameraman on the most formidable”: Draft of letter from George Stevens to General Osborn, unnumbered and undated journal, GSC.
“We should have gone to [Pantelleria]”: Draft of letter from Geroge Stevens to Lyman Munson, unnumbered and undated journal, GSC.
“‘manufacture’ a North African film”: Huston, An Open Book, 102–3.
“We had troops moving up and down” . . . planes bombed the empty shells: Ibid.
“The work is getting more complicated”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, July 17, 1943, FCA.
“I set it up so that the fighters”: Huston, An Open Book, 102–3.
“Looking back on it”: McBride, Frank Capra, 484.
Capra and Huston were called back to Washington: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, August 16, 1943, FCA.
“The English were told that we had”: McBride, Frank Capra, 484.
Chapter 16: “I’m the Wrong Man for That Stuff”
“With a new wing and a patched-up tail” to “the tail gunner, was wounded”: “Big Bomber Flies Home from Europe; Scarred Veteran Still Has Original Crew,” Associated Press, June 16, 1943 (reprinted in New York Times).
Captain Robert Morgan, the bomber’s pilot: “Greets Memphis Belle,” New York Times, June 19, 1943.
their relationship ended almost immediately: “Major Morgan to Wed Texas Girl,” New York Times, August 12, 1943.
a six-week morale-building tour: Memo headed “Corrected Schedule for Memphis Belle Tour,” box 20, file 13, WWUCLA.
“DEAD (tired)”: Wyler’s daybook, May 20–23, 1943, cited in Axel Madsen, William Wyler: The Authorized Biography (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell,
1973), 237.
“I was standing in the door”: Talli Wyler oral history, file 751, WWA.
“I got the room number”: William Wyler interviewed by Catherine Wyler, 1981, reprinted in Gabriel Miller, ed., William Wyler Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009), 136.
“Fear,” he told the reporter: Transcript of William Wyler interview with Army Hour, late June 1943, box 20, file 14, WWUCLA.
“you’re inclined to worship the skipper”: Ibid.
where they themselves would record the comments: Letter from Captain Richard G. Elliott to William Wyler, July 19, 1943, file 326, WWA.
as he began to piece together: Thomas M. Pryor, “Filming Our Bombers over Germany,” New York Times, March 6, 1944.
“complete authenticity and [the] fact that Morgan” to more substantial film: Jan Herman, A Talent for Trouble: The Life of Hollywood’s Most Acclaimed Director, William Wyler (New York: Da Capo, 1997), 261, 263.
“very exciting air stuff”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, July 27, 1943, FCA.
“Just a last-minute note”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, August 12, 1943, FCA.
“is a tough job”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, August 16, 1943, FCA.
“Politically, the war is going stale”: Undated journal entry, sometime between August 5 and August 16, 1943, GSC.
“I didn’t even have time”: Lawrence Grobel, The Hustons: The Life and Times of a Hollywood Dynasty, updated ed. (New York: Cooper Square, 2000), 241.
“representation . . . of the part played”: Notes on a meeting by Jack Beddington, head of the film division, Ministry of Information, July 20, 1943, cited in Tony Aldgate, “Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra, the British Army Film Unit, and Anglo-American Travails in the production of ‘Tunisian Victory,’” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 11, no. 1 (1991).
“inadequate impression of [the] joint operation”: Cable from Samuel Spewack to General Surles, August 2, 1943, War Department Public Relations files, NA.
“said it was a swell picture”: This and all subsequent quotations in this chapter from the diaries of James Hodson are from Aldgate, “Mr. Capra Goes to War.”
“Something screwy here”: Diary labeled “Itinerary” kept by Capra, August 16, 1943, FCA.
“Dialectics” and “[British] film boys heartbroken”: “Itinerary,” August 17, 1943, and August 18, 1943, FCA.
“good, authentic material”: Grobel, The Hustons, 241.
“England was just wonderful during the war”: Ibid., 242–43.
they moved out of Claridge’s: Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992; revised 2000), 485.
“Party at John Mills’ house”: “Itinerary,” August 29, 1943, FCA.
“Shock of my life”: “Itinerary,” August 30, 1943, FCA.
“Now convinced we’re right”: “Itinerary,” August 31, 1943, and September 1, 1943, FCA.
a new and final deal was reached: “Itinerary,” September 3, 1943, FCA.
“Tough people, these English”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, August 22, 1943, FCA.
“[I] never cease marveling at British people”: “Itinerary,” August 29, 1943, FCA.
“doing a little fighting to prevent our picture”: James Hodson diary, September 21, 1943.
“so long that” . . . “but we’re 100% for that”: James Hodson diary, September 15, 1943.
“Please”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, September 16, 1943, FCA.
“This is the real thing”: “Itinerary,” September 16, 1943, FCA.
“war lost its glamour for me”: Frank Capra interviewed by Richard Glatzer, 1973, reprinted in Leland Poague, ed., Frank Capra Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), 122.
“unmoved and not very excited”: “Itinerary,” September 26 and September 27, 1943, FCA.
“really weary both physically and mentally”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, October 6, 1943, FCA.
“a bright [moonlit] night, cold as hell”: “Itinerary,” October 7, 1943, FCA.
“British big wigs”: “Itinerary,” October 8, 1943, FCA.
“Between his genius and his social life”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, October 3, 1943, FCA.
a high-level assistant in the British Army Film Service: Letter from M. Carsans, War Office, October 27, 1943, JHC.
“The idea, dreamed up . . . by Colonel Frank Capra”: Eric Ambler, Here Lies: An Autobiography (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985), 190–91.
preparation for two new training films: Memo from General Osborn, September 27, 1943, FCA.
“It was from one of the OWI people” to then for Naples: Ambler, Here Lies, 190–91.
throwing him a farewell party: James Hodson diary, November 4, 1943.
“Well the British have passed the opus” . . . “his particular little share”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, October 19, 1943.
“I’m the hatchet man”: Letter from Frank Capra to Lucille Capra, January 17, 1944.
“No war documentary can be made”: James Hodson diary, December 1943.
Chapter 17: “I Have to Do a Good Job”
“You come back or I get a replacement”: Jan Herman, A Talent for Trouble: The Life of Hollywood’s Most Acclaimed Director, William Wyler (New York: Da Capo, 1997), 263.
“thousands of theaters all over the country”: “Report on CU-12 Activities,” December 15, 1943, file 326, WWA.
happily chatted and flirted: Herman, A Talent for Trouble, 262.
they met with Wyler: “Daily Reports of Activities,” August 17–August 22, 1943, file 326, WWA.
punitive amendment to his contract: Amendment to contract between Samuel Goldwyn and William Wyler, August 25, 1943, file 170, SGC.
He got on a C-54 army transport plane: Herman, A Talent for Trouble, 263.
gave the director everything he wanted: “Report on CU-12 Activities,” October 6–December 15, 1943, file 326, WWA.
“The recording crew”: Letter from Major George Groves, OIC Sound Dept., to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Mantz, CO, AAF First Motion Picture Unit, December 9, 1943, file 326, WWA.
“recording sound to go over some of the scenes”: Written response from William Wyler, December 13, 1943, file 326, WWA.
“The co-pilot asks the pilot” . . . “that last assignment”: Full script draft by Maxwell Anderson, box 20, file 14, WWUCLA.
“How about my polishing up Hamlet?”: Ibid.
he had spent the last two months: GS notebook #15, entries from September 12 to October 23, 1943, GSC.
“When I am put on the ground”: George Stevens journal entry, undated, late 1943, GSC.
Eisenhower, “to keep me in my place”: Unedited transcript of Bruce Petri interview with George Stevens, 1973, GSC.
the men who would become his squad mates: George Stevens journal entry, November 5, 1943, GSC.
“I didn’t really know much about”: Ivan Moffat interviewed by Susan Winslow, 1982, file 52, FJC.
“When I first met him”: Gavin Lambert, ed., The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York, and Hollywood (New York: Pantheon, 2004), 217–19.
“We have, as you might know, been anxious”: Letter from George Stevens to Frank Capra, February 18, 1944, GSC.
“In some vague way”: Letter from Frank Capra to George Stevens, January 14, 1944, cited in Joseph McBride, Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992; revised 2000), 490.
the year’s best director for his comedy: “‘Watch on Rhine’ Voted Best Film,” New York Times, December 29, 1943.
“special, unique, irreplaceable”: Transcript of Sidney Buchman’s acceptance speech, January 21, 1944, file 2721, GSC.
“Miss you and my boy more than you can know”: Cable from George Stevens to Yvonne Stevens, February 7, 1944, GSC.
“sounds as if it
were written”: Letter from Eric Knight to Frank Capra, April 15, 1942, FCA.
“scissors and paste”: David Lardner, “The Current Cinema: Pro Bono Publico,” New Yorker, Novmber 20, 1943.
“for propaganda, always for the maximum”: “The New Pictures,” Time, November 29, 1943.
“the best and most important war film”: Nation, October 30, 1943.
“a real super-powered celluloid bomb”: Memo of the Cinema Section of the U.S.S.R. Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, March 25, 1944, FCA.
“the trustworthy old American movie magic”: Alfred Kazin, New York Jew (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996; originally published in 1978), 85–86.
“my one-man army throughout the war”: Lawrence Grobel, The Hustons: The Life and Times of a Hollywood Dynasty, updated ed. (New York: Cooper Square, 2000), 236.
“like a whore suffering from the beating”: John Huston, An Open Book (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), 107.
he found a “bit pretentious”: This and all subsequent quotations from Eric Ambler in this chapter, as well as the specifics of his and Huston’s time in Naples, Venafro, and San Pietro, come from his autobiography Here Lies, 198–209, 211, and 249–51, except as noted; Ambler’s is the most complete and detailed account of the first phase of Huston’s work on San Pietro.
“except for his snoring”: Huston, An Open Book, 113.
“one of the coolest men I’ve ever seen under fire”: Ibid.
San Pietro felt like the center of the war: Lance Bertelsen, “San Pietro and the ‘Art’ of War,” Southwest Review, Spring 1989.
“embarrassing”: A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax, Bogart (New York: William Morrow, 1997), 232.
Chapter 18: “We Really Don’t Know What Goes On Beneath the Surface”
“didn’t take one successful photograph”: John Huston interviewed by Peter S. Greenberg, Rolling Stone, February 19, 1981, reprinted in Robert Emmet Long, ed., John Huston Interviews (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001).
Louis B. Mayer had acquired the rights: “Screen News Here and in Hollywood,” New York Times, May 20, 1943.
he wanted to make it his next film: Garry Wills, John Wayne’s America: The Politics of Celebrity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 332.
