{"id":248,"date":"2014-10-03T18:03:56","date_gmt":"2014-10-04T01:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hollywood-nobody.com\/blog\/?p=248"},"modified":"2014-10-03T19:31:16","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T02:31:16","slug":"dam-buster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hollywood-nobody.com\/blog\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"DAM BUSTER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dam_Busters_1954\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A round bomb skips like a stone across the surface of a lake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It slams into the backside of a dam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dam goes up in a sudden blossom of flame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And I, fourteen or fifteen years old, stand up and cheer. The Brits have done it! Dealt a devastating blow to the German cause in Europe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must have watched The Dam Busters<\/em> on television half-a-dozen times back in the late fifties. It was one of those special films that inspired my obsessive love of the movies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Little did I know that many years later, its director\u2014Michael Anderson\u2014would welcome me into his circle of friends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Childhood heroes encountered later in life almost always disappoint.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The man is never as large as the myth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not so with Michael.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Compact, dapper, strikingly handsome, eyes full of merriment, he is warm, charming, funny\u2026and one of the world\u2019s best storytellers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You should hear the one about the time he won an entire year\u2019s production of a Champagne vineyard\u2026in a drunken poker game! And you will<\/em> hear it because Michael is currently writing the story of his life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But I have another of his stories I\u2019d like to share here\u2026because it provides such insight into the difference between the studio system under its founding fathers and the studio system today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After Around the World in Eighty Days<\/em>, Michael was golden. In fact, he was Jack Warner\u2019s favorite director. Now Jack wanted Michael to do a certain film. Michael had no interest in the project, and one day, in Warner\u2019s private office, he summoned the courage to tell him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Warner stared at him, pressed a button on his desk, and a concealed door swung open, giving the studio head\u2019s favorite toady access to the office.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYessir?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cGet me Michael Anderson in London,\u201d Warner roars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut sir,\u201d the toady timidly replies, \u201cMr. Anderson is standing right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cGET ME MICHAEL ANDERSON IN LONDON!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYessir.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A pause as the toady dials the overseas number. Then\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no answer, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNEXT!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Michael never did work for Jack Warner again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the old studio system, everything was up close and personal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In today\u2019s corporatized studios, everything is remote and bureaucratic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under the old system, decisions (and pictures) were made quickly and\u2026well, decisively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under the corporations that control the studios today, decisions are deferred, bucks are passed, and pictures almost never get made.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

None of this is to suggest that the old studio barons were fair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They were not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact, the Jack Warners and the Harry Cohns inspired as much fear as admiration. Michael\u2019s story is convincing evidence of that. But these men knew the movies, knew them because they\u2019d invented them, and<\/em> they knew how to get them made.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was, I\u2019m sure, more than a little challenging to be a laborer in the film factory and to bend to the will of the despots who ran it, but you did have the satisfaction of seeing your work on the screen, satisfaction denied many of the talented folk doing hard labor in reinvented studios of today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Anderson worked successfully in the studio system, in the independent revolution of the sixties and seventies, and in the corporate shambles that followed. If you have any interest in the history of film, watch for his memoir. I guarantee a great read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AND NOW FOR THE PART<\/strong><\/p>\n

YOU\u2019VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

MICHAEL ANDERSON\u2019S COMMENTS ON <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

CONFESSIONS <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

OF A <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

HOLLYWOOD NOBODY<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“a compelling book\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201ca must-read\u201d<\/p>\n

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>