Evening star., 1947-07-27
1t Isn't That Bob Montgomery Hates All Music, But.
The
Necessarily OF Realism EveryP
HNJJ,YWOOD

When Screen Actor Robert Mont.
lgomery turned to directing his owr
tpictures the ballyhoo boys begar
talking up his new" approach.
But Montgomery said he WASH
trying to be fancy, only natural
innovation in Hollywood, ther
Montgomery is doing something new
At any rate, he's finding fault with
a number of cinematic traditions.
When was making The Lady
in the Lake they told me I'd have
to have a musical score" he related
by way of illustration. This was
a mystery picture and I needed a
full-blown symphony orchestration
about as much as needed hole In
the head.
But they kept pushing about 81
musicians at pe, anyway. 1t seems
it's traditional to have an elaborate
score and q lot of violins, even in
the middle of a murder. finally
worked out a compromise used
voices for mood music"
A Straight Course.
:. That was the picture in which the
camera viewed the action through
Montgomery's eyes. This meant
that much of the time the cast
emoted directly into the lens. 1t
meant also (disappointingly to
many that very little was seen of
Montgomery himself.
Now Montgomery is directing and
starring in Ride the Pink Horse.
Here, he says. he is taking a more
STRAIGHTFORWARD course except tina
all characterization will be develope:
on the screen.
There will be no preliminar!
buildup for any individual by others
of the cast he explained. Each
player is introduced in natural Sc
quence, without preamble. This is
an experiment, and it remains to be
seen If it is successful. We are about
80 per cent certain that it will be-
Leans to Realism.
Montgomery is highly literate
but unpretentious man who can re-
lax easily for an hours discourse on
anything from movie makeup to
criminology. He gives the comfort
ing impression of having forgotten
that every other minute of his day
is absorbed by the multitudinous
duties of his dual assignment.
The efforts of this sensitive and
seasoned actor toward more real
istic cinema storytelling extend
even to scenes spoken wholly in
Spanish. The Pink Horse" con-
Germs a gunman who fees to a
small town in New Mexico, where
a majority of the population act
ually uses Spanish. Pantomine and
inference make the meaning of
these sequences clear to audiences
who do not understand that langu-
age, he says.
Il have often wondered why
foreign tongues are stunned in
Hollywood films. This is about as
absurd as requiring an actor to
use an accent while portraying
non-English speaking character in
his own land. Usually it would be
much better to let the players speak
the language they would use in real
life-at least enough to lend cred
ence to the story"
Varied Response.
Montgomery said the reaction to.
his camera-eye technique in Lady
in the Lake" was mixed.
"The letters were quite interesting.
Some wrote that they liked it, others
complained that I had failed to do
anything new. never said was
going to do anything radically new;
only that this approach was being
used for the first time throughout a
feature-length American film.
Raymond Chandler, author of the
original story, indulges in what I
call literary tap dancing: the con-
slant injection Of irrelevant matter
to keep the readers mind of the
plot. To place the audience i'm
mediately behind the camera. to
show the action through the eyes of
the leading character. seemed to me
the only honest way to relate his
story on film
A Pet Grievance.
The misplaced audience viewpoint
is, in fact, one of Montgomery's
favorite grievances. Hollywood has
made hundreds of musical films, for