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A European in Hollywood – Name the Man and the Shift of Production Systems 31
reappears in his working diary, especially in relation to his first American film,
Name the Man. Among the points developed is the comparatively bigger economic
responsibility for the individual film project in the United States. There
follows an exhaustive examination of different moments in film production,
with its point of departure in Sjöström’s remark on the Hollywood system that
“within film production, organization has, so to speak, become over-organized”.
16 The art director and his scenographic work is mentioned in relation to
architects and building workers. The script clerk, who was discussed in positive
terms in Märta Lindqvist’s account as a “very important functionary”, is in retrospect,
from the point of view of his later working diary, also discussed with a
certain touch of irony: the task of the clerk is among others to:
[E]stablish a report of what happens every minute of the day. [...] The boy or girl in
question walks around with a stop-watch, noting everything that happens during the
shooting, and the result might approximately be like this:
9-9.06 Mr Seastrom had talks with the cameramen
9.06-9.28 Rehearsal
9.28-9.37 Waiting while Miss So-and-so’s dress was fixed.
9.37-9.45 Waiting for Mr So-and-so, who had left. Reason unknown, but had Mr Seastrom’s
permission, etc. etc. 17
Only the cutter, who in Hollywood not only keeps the film strips in order but
also is responsible for the first, rough cut, and whose role thus differs considerably
from the Swedish production system, is excepted from Sjöström’s critique.
In Märta Lindqvist’s description this function, possible only within a sufficiently
big production apparatus, is indeed presented as an advantage:
A great deal of responsibility rests with the cutter, who is in charge of all the film
negatives and positives. Each morning, he has to show up with the previous day’s
work, ready to go into the camera and be shown to the director. Since every scene is
taken with two or more cameras, the director can choose the most appropriate shots.
The cutter then holds onto the selected material. As production proceeds, he cuts time
and again so that a rough cut is already available by the time the shooting is over.
According to Sjöström, the cutter takes an enormous load off the director’s shoulders.
In Sweden, the director does the cutting himself, and simply keeping track of all the
different film strips is incredibly time-consuming. In that respect, the American approach
is incomparably more methodical. 18
The production director, assistant director and production manager are then
covered by the analysis of technical differences, such as the lighting appliances
or the special effects – the latter, in the phraseology of the time, called “excellent
machines” –and the number of technical assistants required to handle all these.
Later, in the manuscript of Sjöström’s informal reminiscences of his Hollywood