Hollywood: Trick of the Light (1980)
**** (out of 4)
Wonderful episode in the series takes a look at, what the documentary says, are an actresses best friend and that is the cinematographer. This here is without question one of the best episodes because you really don't ever get to hear too much about the men actually holding the camera. In the early portion we take a look at those dangerous stunts that the stuntman got credit for but we must remember there was someone there holding a camera and cranking it. There are some great shots of stunts being done with cameramen on the side of things shooting it all. As the film goes on we turn to Billy Bitzer who really broke all the rules as he and D.W. Griffith were turning out one important picture after another. Lillian Gish is on hand to talk about what he had to do in WAY DOWN EAST once the cameras started to freeze and they couldn't shoot anything. We also get to hear how Bitzer and Griffith came up with the idea of blocking out reflections and making sure that the eyes could always been seen. One of the best moments happen early one with the filmmakers turn on a camera used in the silent days and show how loud it actually was and give us a detailed example of what one would have to do to be sure they weren't cranking too hard. I really had a lot of fun with this episode simply because you don't get to hear about these men too often. We learn about Mary Pickford and her favorite cameraman as well as Greta Garbo who refused to let anyone else photograph her.