Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

When I got to Hollywood, I found that my old friend andsupervisor, Frank Davis, was the producer of Cargo oflnnocence, a filmabout the evacuation of Bilbao, and he immediately hired me as aconsultant, hastening to add that historical accuracy was not exactlyvital to the American spectator. I had just read the scenario and wasready to go to work when an order arrived from Washington, viathe Motion Picture Producers Association, forbidding any and allfilms on the Civil War, no matter which side the movie supported.I stayed on for a few months, watching my money dwindle awayand, since I couldn't afford return tickets, trying to find a job. I eventried to sell some jokes to Chaplin, but he didn't seem anxious tosee me. One of the gags, which had come to me in a dream, had todo with a revolver that shot a bullet so gently that it floated to theground when it came out of the barrel. Ironically, this same imageappeared in The Great Dictator, with a cannon instead of a gun; butit was a complete coincidence, since I hadn't had a chance to tellhim.Despite my efforts, it was impossible to find work. I went to seeRene Clair, now an internationally known director, who was franticallysearching for a script, terrified that if he didn't make a filmwithin the next three months, people would start calling him a"European phony." He finally made I Married a Witch and spent theentire war working in Hollywood.One of the nicer ironies, however, was receiving a letter fromthe de Noailles, while I was alone and penniless, asking if I couldn'tfind some kind of interesting work for their friend Aldous Huxley.At about this time, I learned that my category, my quinta, hadbeen mobilized for duty at the front. I wrote the Spanish ambassadorin Washington asking to be repatriated, but he replied that themoment was "inopportune," the situation confusing, and that he'dlet me know as soon as I was needed. A few weeks later, the warcame to an end.Since there was clearly nothing for me to do in Hollywood, Iwent to New York. Times were bad all over, but I was willing to