20 AFV Winter 2013.pub - Federation of Australian Movie Makers

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URBAN LEGENDSFACT AND FICTIONBy A Film FanWhat I like about movies is that they engage you on so many levels. You can be transported to anotherworld, excited by a story, entranced by scenery, fall in love with a hero or heroine or be fascinated by specialeffects all in the space of a couple of hours.But there is another level which interests many of us, sometimes for decades after the movie has finishedits run; the urban legend.These tales are often funny, sometimes intriguing and frequently macabre. They may have little more thana nodding acquaintance with truth but they fascinate and captivate us. Is it, I wonder, the idea of being inon a secret that makes us so interested in what might have been unexpectedly recorded? Or is it that someof these stories cut our heroes down to size? Who knows?Could there really be a ghostly image of a child in the background of a scene in “Three Men and a Baby”?Many think so and have spent hours running the DVD in slow motion to prove it. The studio’s answer isthat a prop – a cut out figure - was inadvertently left on set. However, the photos supplied as evidence donot really back this up with little resemblance between the “child” image and the cut out figure. Spooky!Reports of scenes where stunt men have died being included in the finished product are popular in theworld of the movie urban legend. Two that immediately come to mind are “How The West Was Won” and“Ben Hur”. Stories have circulated for decades about both these movies. It is true that stuntman Bob Morgan,husband of Yvonne De Carlo, was seriously injured and lost a leg during a break in filming a gunfighton a moving train. Chains holding logs on a flat-bed car broke, crushing Morgan.Anyone who has seen “Ben Hur” would wonder how no one was killed, but that is due to the cleverness ofthe special effects department. According to those who know, no one was killed in the version filmed in1959. However, an earlier version was filmed in 1926 and it is generally believed that at least one stuntman died during production and that the footage was included in the end result. The second-unit director B.Reeves Eason was known for his ruthlessness and uncaring attitude towards stuntmen. No Health andSafety in those days!Of course, some urban legends are merely wishful thinking. For example a rumour went round that thehoverboards used in “Back To The Future II” were real and would be available for sale shortly. What kid(or, let’s be honest, adult) wouldn’t want one? When they didn’t appear the story was expanded to includean accident that had delayed production. Perhaps an overzealous publicity department at work?Today we consider urban legends to be of minor interest or a bit of fun, however in earlier days before theterm was coined they had a darkly insidious side – they were believed as Gospel truth. Several careers wereended because of rumour and innuendo, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle being a notable example.In 1921, at the peak of his career, he hosted a party where a young woman died. Roscoe was accused ofmanslaughter and put on trial three times. Newspapers published lurid innuendo in an effort to generatesales and this swayed public opinion to such an extent that a fair trial was impossible. The first two trialsresulted in hung juries but by the time the third one came around, public opinion had calmed down and hewas acquitted with the jury deliberating for six minutes, five minutes of which were spent composing thefollowing:Page 8 AUSTRALIAN FILM & VIDEO—VOL 20 WINTER 2013
"Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him. Wefeel also that it was only our plain duty to give him this exoneration, under the evidence, for therewas not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. Hewas manly throughout the case, and told a straightforward story on the witness stand, which we allbelieved. The happening at the hotel was an unfortunate affair for which Arbuckle, so the evidenceshows, was in no way responsible. We wish him success and hope that the American people willtake the judgement of fourteen men and women who have sat listening for thirty-one days to the evidence,that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free of all blame."Although he was blacklisted by Hollywood for next eleven years, he did pop up in a couple of silent films.He also directed several films under assumed names and eventually after an article in a motion picturemagazine called for him to be given a break, Jack Warner signed him to six two-reel comedies in 1932.Sadly, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle died of a heart attack after a night of celebrating his newly acquired contract.From the late 1940s the United States Committee for Un-American Activities conducted what is nowknown as the McCarthy Witch Hunt which was aimed at removing perceived or real Communists from positionsof influence.Many actors, directors, screen writers and other behind the scenes personnel were blacklisted on as littleevidence as a rumour. Many were forced, on pain of being blacklisted themselves, to divulge names. Theblacklist was huge and included such noteworthies as Actors Eddie Albert and Jose Ferrer, Oscar winningscreenwriter Ring Lardner Jnr and Musicians Leonard Bernstein and Burl Ives. Who knows how manylives, reputations and careers were ruined by jealousy and spite? So much for being the Land of the Free!Further reading:www.silent-movies.com/Arbucklemania/home.htmlwww.snopes.comwww.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_West_Was_Won_(film)REAL or FAKEA photo of a fossilized mermaidskeleton discovered near the BlackSea in Bulgaria. Real or fake?Check it out at Urban Legends.http://urbanlegends.about.com/AUSTRALIAN FILM & VIDEO—VOL 20 WINTER 2013Page 9
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20 AFV Winter 2013.pub - Federation of Australian Movie Makers

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