Shooting 007: And Other Celluloid Adventures (26 page)

Although I cannot recall the exact wording, I confess that the letter was rather cheeky in its day, addressed to 2 Soho Square, London – then the ACT Union office – in the hope that it would be forwarded to the cinematographer. I never received a reply from Mr Cardiff or even something to say that the letter had been passed on or not; however, all was not lost when my wish to work with the great man himself would eventually be realised on
The Prince and the Pauper
.

A year later I would once again be working with Jack, this time on
Death on the Nile
, which was directed by John Guillermin, whom I had first worked with many years earlier on
Guns at Batasi
; his cinematographer at that time was Douglas Slocombe. Filming at Pinewood Studios and Salisbury Plain in the early days of CinemaScope, two focus pullers were required on the camera crew on
Guns at Batasi
, with Jimmy Devis claiming the camera assistant’s role while I would be relegated to working the anamorphic element, which was fine by me as this gave me more time to watch the director at work from the sidelines.

On
Death on the Nile
Bette Davis and I shared a great respect for each other – it works better that way!

When John Guillermin came under my discreet observation, I remember the first impressions that I had of his forceful directing manner, his endless energy matching his aggressive approach to filming, his skill in handling actors with his positive directing. Another opportunity now came my way to learn from this animated director, particularly of his handling of the many star ‘names’ in Agatha Christie’s
Death on the Nile
. However, this time Jack Cardiff would be the cinematographer with me as his camera operator. I never dared to ask Jack if he received my letter, but with my good fortune of working with the great man I could add yet another fine-looking credit to my ever-growing CV.

Death on the Nile
would enjoy an international cast including Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, David Niven, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, George Kennedy, Simon MacCorkindale, Maggie Smith, Jack Warden, Sam Wanamaker, Olivia Hussey, John Finch, Lois Chiles and Jane Birkin, with I.S. Johar as the captain of the Nile boat
Karnak
which featured in the story. The names alone would make this an interesting experience where in all probability more than half the budget was spent on the actors’ contracts alone, but what did come as a surprise from this amazing cast was that in the background there lurked a quiet conspiracy in the shadows throughout our filming, where unseen scheming proved that even film stars are human beings after all.

As this cold atmosphere on the set slowly built, I felt uncomfortable about all of the nonsense going on; after all, I am the director’s camera operator – his ally. However, tight-lipped actors trying not to be overheard held whispered conversations near the apparent refuge of the camera – where I exist – resentful of the director. I unintentionally found myself listening in to a conversation between David Niven and Peter Ustinov.

‘When Bette gets here she’ll sort him out!’

A nod in response confirmed that our director was not popular with several members of the cast.

From this I assumed that the conversation was about John’s aggressive style and directing manner, which it would seem was not appreciated by everyone. I wondered if this could be a deliberate strategy on John’s part to establish exactly who was running the show with all these ‘names’ around. I remembered it as being John’s style when directing
Guns at
Batasi,
with which I had been impressed. Even so, I doubt that many in the
Nile
cast would have chosen to discuss this issue with John, preferring instead to wait on David’s prediction for Bette Davis to ‘sort him out’! Miss Davis, of course, had a reputation for standing no nonsense from anyone, although in my humble opinion I admired John’s energetic style of directing, even if it was not to everyone’s taste.

John would set an equally high standard on himself, and his relationship with his crew which would be challenging too, starting with our filming in Cairo. With the help of Egyptian porters we climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid at Giza, carrying the heavy camera equipment needed for a short scene with Simon MacCorkindale, Mia Farrow and Lois Chiles. It was a hot, oppressive Egyptian summer as we slowly climbed to the summit in the heat of the day, the perspiring actors with their make-up running and a frustrated crew with an impatient director. A dreadful atmosphere was slowly building, all of which would be unhelpful to good relations. The director now set a challenge for the construction manager John Paterson, who would be required to build a tracking platform overnight which would allow the camera with me operating it to ‘float’ over the pyramid’s surface – the construction manager achieved the eighth wonder of the world for so little gain.

All this unnecessary aggravation was reminiscent of filming in Australia with its stifling heat, where it had been necessary to tread carefully with Harry Waxman and remain alert to his ever-changing moods. It would seem that John was having the same problem and it would only be a matter of time before he too exploded.

Travelling down the Nile in the steamer
Karnak
, we stopped off to film at various well-known tourist sites, including Cairo, Aswan and Luxor – all atmospheric locations carefully selected for this film of the Agatha Christie novel where Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) sets out to catch the murderer. It was around this time that Bette Davis finally arrived to join the cast on board
Karnak.
The ‘queen’ of Hollywood would now make her grand entrance. As she arrived on board all of the artistes eagerly gathered around Miss Davis, introducing themselves to this Hollywood icon – a little phoney, I thought at the time – with the director playing his part by offering his hand, in what could easily be a scene from our script.

John Guillermin

Welcome, Bet!

A pause, with the new arrival curiously studying the director

Bette Davis

(Aloof)

My name is Bette, or Miss Davis!

Filming Mia Farrow on the river steamer
Karnak
, with director John Guillermin. Standing behind me, making sure I don’t fall into the Nile, is my long-time grip Chunky Huse.

With those few words the lady immediately slotted into the character which David and Peter had portrayed. To their joy, John had been put in his place, though in the end it would not work out quite as they had predicted.

Unperturbed with all this, John kept to the script in keeping Christie’s game of suspicion alive. One particular scene would require a point-of-view shot of one of the suspects running up a long, narrow stone staircase, with the echoing footsteps adding to the drama; it sounds easy but almost impossible to film with a handheld camera – Steadicam had yet to be invented. The problem would be resolved with John suggesting I should sit on Frank Elliott’s shoulders, operating the camera while he ran up the narrow staircase. Although Frank was a strong lad I was not too keen on this idea; even if it did work, my effort operating the camera would look dreadful and, should he trip, I would find myself tumbling back to the bottom – a long way down. Nevertheless the director insisted, so we tried. Frank staged this impossible act twice, for which he gets much of the credit.

With no let up coming from the scorching overhead sun and temperatures rising, John was clearly unhappy with everything that was going on around him, the disturbing signs of his frustration now making it necessary for everyone to keep their heads down or, better still, stay clear of his eye line altogether. The lucky ones could discreetly melt into the background – out of sight, out of mind – but the camera crew, always in the front line, had nowhere to hide.

There came an occasion when Frank and I were sitting on the camera dolly, quietly taking note of all this nonsense going on around us; filming that day had not gone well for John, who needed to vent his frustration on someone – anyone would do. Unfortunately it happened that I was nearest to him on this occasion, so today’s target would be Alec Mills. However, even the director’s trusted ally was not about to take any disrespect from this very rude man, nor would I allow myself to become John’s whipping boy!

After all this time I cannot remember what John’s problem was, but something or someone triggered off his latest outburst, allowing him to let off steam. With the director launching his verbal abuse directly at me it required an immediate response. John’s rudeness was offensive and totally unacceptable; what is more, he was completely wrong, so it was necessary to sort this out there and then. Jumping off the camera dolly, I hurried to confront this arrogant, rude-mannered man face to face. Rude words – very rude words – were exchanged; my dad would have been proud of me! John was clearly out of order and well he knew it, which in the aftermath would leave a pointless sulking atmosphere through to the end of filming.

Most of the actors appeared uneasy with John, with the possible exception of Mia Farrow, who had also worked with him on
Guns at Batasi
; the no-nonsense Bette Davis was also quite unruffled. John seemed content to live with the consequences of this dreadful atmosphere which he alone had created. Thinking about it later, I believe John deliberately set out to make it clear to his heavyweight cast and crew that he was the one directing the film, not them. I just happened to be in the way at the wrong time.

Although my confrontation with John came out the blue, let me say that I was not proud of my reaction to his rudeness. I am a mild-mannered person so it would take a great deal for me to react in this way, particularly to a director. However, one can only take so much unwarranted, unnecessary disrespect before one reacts. This regrettable incident was over and forgotten in minutes – at least by me – but sometimes there was as much drama behind the camera as there was in front of it.

After a period of sulking, John returned to his usual unpredictable self, his eye line now carefully avoiding me, leaving an uncomfortable relationship between us through to the end of filming. This unpleasant incident would come back to haunt me in the distant future.

As for Bette Davis’s reputation of standing no nonsense from anyone, in the end there would be no question of her ‘sorting John out’, as David Niven had confidently predicted. That would never happen. As for myself, I found Bette – sorry, Miss Davis – to be polite and really quite charming, if a little scary!

Looking back on Agatha Christie’s plot of murder with bizarre relationships, the growing sense of conspiracy, the whodunnit atmosphere and, of course, the real-life loathing with the anti-John plot – this is where I would have been among the suspects, had the murder really happened.

In spite of it all, John achieved his goal both on screen and off, creating a wonderful film. Be that as it may, I doubted that John would ever want to work with me again.

Two interesting years had passed since I had last had the pleasure of working with James Bond and Lewis Gilbert. This time, however, the UK’s tax regime meant that, with the exception of the model unit Moonraker, the unit would be based in Paris, away from Eon Production’s natural home at Pinewood Studios.