The Omaha guide., 1944-09-16

WHICH is so StupenQOuS from a pre-
duction standpoint that screen stats
ticians gleefully grab their pencils
and beat a triumphant tattoo on the
xylphone Of facts and figures.
Such a film is Wilson" the screen
story of President Woodrow Wilson
and the first World War, which OAR
ryl Zanuck has produced in Techni-
color for goth Century-Fox. The log
book of the costliets PRODUCTION in the
history of the goth Century-Fox's
cavalcade is an almanac of broken
production records and studio "firsts"
Second oily to Gone With the
Wind in its length, Wilson" runs
two hours and forty-three minutes on
the screen and in that time introduces
14S actors with speaking roles and
giant mob scenes on which thousands
Of extras worked in a single scene.
More than $4,000 players appear in
the picture. Seven sound stages
were filled simultaneously with care
fully authenticated sets for the film
which ranges, in its locale, from a
football field at Princeton to rarious
rooms of the White House and the
Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Yer
sailles. A record number of sets (88)
were erected, so interior and 3S ex-
with the entire film in Techi-
these sets and their properties
had 10 be far more detailed in their
duplication of the famous original
scenes than is necessary for black
and white photography.
A sample Of the magnitude Of the
production and the myriad problems
that were met, was the cen depict
ing tie National Democratic Conven-
ton Of 1912 when Woodrow Wilson
was nominated for the presidency on
the 46th ballot by a great auditorium
full Of weary delegates whiting in a
Baltimore July.
Thousands of extras were engaged
to create the raucous, riotous atmos-
pher- CT a horn-locked convention.
Bands blared as noisily as in any
more recent conclaves in Chicago
Impromptu parades spilled against
each ether in the aisles. Straw hats
famed coatless, s~weltering shirts.
And all the excitement and pent-up
drama of a huge party pow-wow
were duplicated. Director Henry
King was assigned so special assist
ant directors just to ride herd on
that single mob scene and acted as
platoon leaders for the madly skirm-
ishing demonstrators.
AS a stage for this scene, Zanuck
hired the largest hall in the west, the
Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
1t was the biggest interior set ever
photographed and, with the added e.
le~ctricity required for the special
Technico1or lighting, used enough
power &c serve a city of 100000. Be-
cause the load on the electric circuits
was so great, arrangements were
made to tap the power lines Of a troll
ley CIR line which ran in front Of
this set, the traction company coop
Grated BY running only one out Of ev-
cry three scheduled trips on the
~street-car tracks. The greatest num-
Der CT motion picture electricians ev-
er assembled on a set, 600 Of them,
used this added juice to light the
scene.
Although not as big a set, nor fill
ed with as many players, the interior
set representing the House Of Repre-
sentatives in the nations Capitol, re-
CURED just as careful preparation to
insure historical authenticity. On
this set a President of the United
States is shown addressing a com
bined session of the Senate and
House, for the first time in a movie.
It was President Wilson's request to
Congress for a Declaration OF War
against Germany Of April 6, 1917.
Perhaps the Wilson sets which
will be remembered the longest, are
the richly furnished rooms Of the
White House; the famous Oval room,
the East Room, with its golden piano,
the Lincoln Room with its nine foot
bed, al meticulously copied down to
the last detail by Thomas Little,
head Of goth Century-Fox property
department, who spent three weeks in
the White House with Sketch book
and tape measure. Wilson" is a pic
ture you MUST SEEi