#esp as he rated charles and orson as the best directors he ever worked with

[idlesuperstar]

Charles Laughton as Inspector Maigret, alongside Franchot Tone and Burgess Meredith in The Man On The Eiffel Tower [1950], the first american film shot in colour (AnscoColor) in Paris. 

[Laughton] found it impossible to work with Irving Allen, the designated director, so Franchot Tone, whose company was making the film, decided to attempt a bold experiment in co-operative film-making: the actors would take over. Burgess Meredith would take overall responsibility and direct all the scenes he wasn’t in; Charles would direct all the scenes he wasn’t in and Tone would do anything left over. 

The director of photography was Stanley Cortez, Orson Welles’ cameraman on The Magnificent Ambersons, and he must have offered advice to all three tyro directors...’Everybody left Paris to catch a ship, leaving me and Charles behind to do the finishing sequences. That’s when I got to thinking Charles would make a good director,’ wrote Cortez later. ‘I saw Paris through his eyes, all of Paris; and he knew Paris better than most Frenchmen.’  - Simon Callow, Charles Laughton - A Difficult Actor. 

#charles laughton #burgess meredith #franchot tone #the man on the eiffel tower #simon callow thinks this is one of charles' worst performances #well let me tell you he is wrong #he's great in it #and the film looks amazing all the reds I don't know why ansco color looks different than technicolor but it does #who knew burgess meredith had such red hair #stanley cortez rocks #esp as he rated charles and orson as the best directors he ever worked with #new to me 2017 #*NF17 #my wee gifs