FILM FILM - University of Macau Library

A European in Hollywood – Name the Man and the Shift of Production Systems 33
emphasized their relative independence. The first issue under debate of course
concerns the different production practices. In this connection Bengt Forslund,
Sjöström’s biographer, describes how the director succeeded in realizing his individual
vision, “in spite of” or “fighting against” the restrictions inherent in
the production system. 21 All in the spirit of national self-confidence: the Swede
in America never compromised his European heritage, but returned to the
home country when difficulties became overwhelming.
Several facts support such a reading. Sjöström’s contract with Goldwyn Pictures
Corporation, signed in January 1923, guarantees him certain specific advantages.
22 The contract specifies the director’s right to approve the film scripts
selected by the company. He was also granted general charge of the direction of
the casts, assistant directors and cameramen, as well as of the cutting process –
which Sabine Hake has noted was very unusual for the period 23 –“but subject
to the supervision of Goldwyn”. In spite of these conditions, the model adopted
not only in Sjöström’s case, but also in several other contracts involving European
directors, seems to have preserved a number of “European” features within
the American system of production.
In this context, it is interesting to note that, to a certain extent, Sjöström
worked with the same production crew in Hollywood, just as he did in Sweden.
In Sweden, all his films were made with Julius or Henrik Jaenzon as cameramen.
From 1916 with Kiss of Death and onwards, the set designer is also indicated
as a specific function in the records; here, he worked exclusively with
Axel Esbensen. In Hollywood, the cameramen were changed from one production
to the next, with two exceptions. One was Percy Hilburn, with whom Sjöström
worked on Confessions of a Queen and his next film The Tower of Lies,
and Oliver Marsh, who shot both The Divine Woman and the following film,
The Masks of The Devil. When it comes to set design however, Sjöström – just
as in Sweden – worked with only one designer, Cedric Gibbons, on all productions
without exception, though in some cases (Confessions of a Queen, The
Scarlet Letter, The Wind and The Divine Woman), Gibbons was assisted by
different set designers. As concerns editing – as indicated earlier this task was
accomplished by Sjöström himself during the Swedish years – he was almost as
consistent. Thus, Huge Wynn did the editing work on the first Hollywood
films, The Scarlet Letter included. J. Haden replaced him on The Tower of
Lies, but then Wynn (with Conrad Nervig) resumed working as editor of the
remaining four films. A few comparisons with other directors show that this
might not be all that exceptional. For example, Ernst Lubitsch worked with the
cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl and the scriptwriter Hanns Kräly throughout
his whole German career. In Hollywood, Lubitsch continued to work with
Kräly, and worked with the same cameraman, Charles van Enger, in five films
from The Marriage Circle to Lady Windermere’s Fan.