Memories of working on 'WHERE EAGLES DARE'
I have some interesting memories I would like to share of working on the film at MGM.
I was working as a projectionist at the Odeon, Elephant and Castle and I got a call, in March/April 1968, from the NATKE projectionist's union to attend an interview with Tom Howard at the MGM British Studios in Borehamwood, Elstree, Herts. There was a vacancy for a trainee in the Process Projection Department which was part of MGM's Special Photographic Effects Department of which Tom Howard was in charge. As a lot of you know Tom Howard's career goes back to the days of Alexander Korda and he worked on many British-based MGM films in the forties, fifties and sixties. "Village of the Damned", "The Haunting", "Gorgo", "2001" to name just a few. (MGM moved into the lot after the war and remained there until 1969. Besides MGM, Fox and the Mirisch Corporation shot some British productions there. Before the war MGM used Denham Studios where they made such productions as "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and "The Citadel". They were known as the 'MGM Unit').
>>I got the job and re-located to Borehamwood. MGM was the first studio I worked for and it was overwhelming. At every opporunity, I walked around the studio. On the backlot there were the remains of exterior sets of "Quatermass and the Pit", and "The Dirty Dozen", and a satellite dish - which was part of the Discovery in "2001" - sat rotting away. I met many veterans of MGM who had worked there for many years. One person in particular was Reg a carpenter (they are knicknamed 'chippies') and he described to me how he achieved and executed the effect of the 'bending door' in "The Haunting". I also recall visitng the property department and sitting high on a shelf at the back was Gorgo's head! (I regret not claiming it when I left, as it probably finished up in the trash when the studio closed).
At this time there was little work for us, but within a week or two Tom Howard came to us with some news that we would be starting on a production in June, which was "Where Eagles Dare". During the slow times we would have to service the projection equipment. Unlike regular cinema projectors, which were equipped with an intermittent sprocket beneath the picture gate, they were installed with a 'Mitchell movement'. The 'Mitchell movement', as it was known, was probably the most successful method of moving film through the gate at an extremely steady rate. It was designed, by the Mitchell Corporation in the US, many years before for the 35mm motion picture camera and was the standard throughout the film industry for many years.
The film we used, which was known as 'plates', was specially photographed by a unit on the production, or from a library of moving backgrounds photographed at various angles, which were projected behind actors in various set-ups, boats, planes, cars etc. These 35mm standard four-perf plates were specially color graded and utilised the complete negative area.
When the main unit arrived from Switzerland and Austria they immediately started filming on existing sets that were constructed on the various large sound stages, of which MGM had many. From memory, Stage 10 housed the 'Gold Room' where Burton and Eastwood' confront the Germans during a meeting. On another stage there was the interior of the cable car station which was located at the top of the castle. The station itself was built high up on the stage as several feet were needed for an approach and departure for two 'practical' (which means working) cable cars. The cables themselves ran several feet to the bottom of the stage.
The scenes that we were to prepare for were backgrounds for the plane on it's approach and escape from the airfield, the bus, the motorcycle, the cable cars and for odd close ups of actors.
Our very first set up was a shot of Richard Burton in the cable car unscrewing a light bulb while instructing on the timing of the explosives. On the many occasions where we utilised actors, we would have to wait, sometimes hours, to become available from the main unit.
On the cable car scenes, we utilised a front projection rig. What I described previously, 'rear' projection, was a method that was used throughout the industry for years.
This front projection rig was specially designed for Stanley Kubrick on "2001". It consisted of a method of projecting a static 10x8 positive/negative plate which was projected through a special 50/50 transmission/reflection glass plate mounted at 45 degrees onto a large glass bead coated screen, developed by the 3M company (now widely used). The image on the screen was amplified in light level by many times, reflected straight back into the mirror and reflected at a right angle into the lens of the camera which was attached to the same rig as the projector. The main benefit of this process was to pour more light onto the background image resulting in a more realistic illusion of the foreground subject being in the same location as the background. A problem which has beset rear-projection set-ups for many years.
Kubrick was so sold on the idea, that 3M had developed, that he planned to use it extensively on his next project which was to be "Napoleon". On my many visits to Tom Howard's office, he showed be a rough plan of how he and Kubrick planned to apply this material.
Tom Howard was one of the 'old school' gentleman, and very much a father figure to me. (I was only 20 at the time). He knew I was genuinely interested in what he did and was always eager to share it with me. The last time I saw him was at ABPC around 1977, almost eight years after MGM closed, and he told me of his plan to write a book called "From Korda To Kubrick" which I don't believe was ever published.
The front projection rig was only used for background shots behind exteriors and interiors of the cable cars, when leading actors can be seen clearly, as I do not want to discredit the incredible work of the stuntmen headed by the legendary Yakima 'Yak' Canutt and his team. Unfortunately, I did not meet Canutt at the studio as I think he left after the location work was completed. However, I did befriend Alf Joint who doubled for Burton.
The rear projection work on the bus was utilised by a method called 'triple head' projection. Looking toward the rear and the front of the bus three simultaneous images were required, one facing at the rear and one on each side. Three interlocked projectors were used. The shutters had to be phased with each other as well as the camera and each image was projected onto individual translucent screens. The motorcycle, airplane and car-crash sequences utilised the traditional single projector set-up. With rear projection, being located on the other side of the translucent screen to the camera and actors and crew, you couldn't observe the action being filmed. All you could hear was the director shouting instructions to the actors and the actors performing their lines and sometimes firing weapons, which were often extremely loud.
As I had mentioned previously, we would set-up the equipment and then sometimes sit around for a long time for the main unit to come over to the stage. If the set-ups involved using main actors, the main first unit would come to the stage, and I had the opportunity to get to know most of the crew. Brian G. Hutton, the director, was very friendly toward me. His background was as a Hollywood actor. He played 'bad' roles in "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and "King Creole". I believe this was his second film, I think his first was "The Pad" (1966).
Where the rear projection set-ups only used a portion of the stage, the art department built several sets. I had the oppportunity to watch them being filmed. Among the scenes I recall was a brief scene shot between Ingrid Pitt and Mary Ure in her bedroom. The underside of the bridge was constructed for the scene of Eastwood and Burton rigging it with explosives. On this occasion Liz Taylor came to visit the set one early evening.
We did do a front projection set up with Richard Burton retrieving his parachute. I recall the camera operator requesting Burton's hood not to be pulled too far forward over his face, immediately Burton snapped back that audiences would know who it was!
There was a mock-up of the snow covered roof of the cable car station. This was used for an insert of two gloved hands, where Burton reaches out to prevent Eastwood from sliding off the roof. Obviously, the actors were not needed for this shot, just two stand-ins with jackets and gloves.
After watching the first hour or so of the film last night, I was reminded of the contribution of the matte artist, Douglas Adamson, an MGM employee. I visited his department on one occasion where he and his lovely assistant Anne were painting on glass a long shot of the 'Castle of the Eagle' with the surrounding mountains. A large miniature was also constructed on the back lot. The painting can be seen when Derren Nesbitt accompanies Mary Ure and Ingrid Pitt in the cable car at night. The scene is made up of location, (the cable car station - at the bottom - when the cable car leaves) the POV's of the Castle which are the matte painting and / or miniature and interior studio when they reach the cable car station. Similarly, the sequence where Eastwood and Burton travel on the roof of the cable car, is a mixture of location with stuntmen, studio with actors and front projection set-up.
When filming was completed on the cable car station, the set was struck with the exception of the cables and the two cable cars. This was left for the shot where Burton leaps from one cable car to another after rigging it with explosives. The jump was done by Alf Joint. On the morning, I managed to go down to the stage to watch. Alf did it in one take successfully, but in the process he landed on the cable car and his caught his mouth on the rail, which ran around the rim on top of the car, and cut himself badly.
During the filming of the interior of the plane sequences, the costume or props department asked if I would be willing to put on Mary Ure's parachute, as at that age I was approximately her height, so they could check to see how it would fit and make necessary adjustments before she arrived on the stage.
I also recall that day several actors, such as Patrick Wymark and Peter Barkworth who were relaxing and reading, sitting in special prop chairs. One of my supervisors was always grumbling and complaining and on that day he raised his voice to me and I will never forget Wymark's expression when he looked up and frowned at him!
One morning when the crew were walking toward Stage 10 to film on the 'Gold Room' set, I noticed Derren Nesbitt in costume and a bandage over his eye. I did not realize until that evening or the next day, in the newspaper, that Nesbitt's eye was injured. Apparently a squid effect of him being shot by the squid somehow misfired and part of it went into his eye.
In late July early August 1968 filming was completed and, with no immediate work in sight, I decided to take a projectionist's position at Pinewood Studios. It was just a year later after the completion of productions such as "Captain Nemo", "Goodye, Mr. Chips" and "Alfred the Great" that MGM Studios were closed permanently. MGM continued to be represented in England for a few years, by name only when they collaborated with the Associated British Picture Corporation and became MGM/Elstree Studios. One victim of the closure of MGM was Fred Zinnemann's production of "A Man's Fate", of which much money had been spent including extensive exterior set construction on the back-lot.
During the completion time of "Where Eagles Dare", the new James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was readying to go into production. The climax to the new Bond Adventure was a fight between Bond and Blofeld on the roof of a cable car. When the Bond Producers heard of the fights aboard the cable car in "WED", they rewrote the end of their screenplay to a fight on a toboggan run instead.