Can scriptwriters make great directors? In the long history of cinema, there's no question they do, examining the great body of work from writers such as Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Ingmar Bergman, John Huston, Paul Anderson. One of Hollywood's most successful writers emerging in the early years of talkies was former reporter Ben Hecht and playwright partner Charlie MacArthur. They were given their chance at handling a full-blown production in August 1934's "Crime Without Passion." After delivering several highly entertaining scripts such as 1931's "The Front Page" and 1932's "Scarface," the two were offered by Paramount Pictures to try to rejuvenate New York City's film industry by handling their first movie.
"Neither Charlie nor I had ever spent on hour on a movie set," remembered Hecht. "We knew nothing of casts, budgets, schedules, booms, unions, scenery, cutting, lighting." But the two agreed to the proposition proposed by Paramount Pictures to chose their own script they composed and take charge of its filming. They hired Lee Grimes, an Academy Award winning cinematographer, to work the camera. Grime's agent called him with the writers' offer. "They don't believe in directors," said the agent. "They don't want to have the typical Hollywood director because somehow or other they don't feel that the stories they've written have always come off on the screen the way they should come off."
Grimes ultimately directed about 70 percent of the movie, which concerns a pompous lawyer, Lee Gentry (Claude Rains), whose specialty was to get his clients out of the electric chair by rigging up evidence exonerating them. Gentry treats his women as coarsely as any sadist would, and accidentally fatally shoots one, cabaret dancer Carmen Brown (Margo). Using his legalese expertise, he attempts to cover-up the killing.
The cameraman-turned-part-time director recalls starting each morning on the Astoria, New York City, set at nine with the two writers arriving two hours later. "They set the style of how they wanted the dialogue done," said Grimes, "and I would direct the whole physical side of it." The cameraman remembers Hecht and MacArthur playing backgammon in the back of the studio while the crew was setting up. They stopped playing once the action began. But if an actor made a mistake or blew a line, they would start rolling the dice to resume their game, signaling to everyone that a reshoot was in order. "This happened all the time," said Grimes. "They were really a couple of screwballs, but I loved working with them, every minute of it."
"Crimes Without Passion" was a hit for Paramount. The reviewer for The New York Times called it "a drama blessed with marked originality and photographed with consummate artistry." The movie was also famous for its opening montage of three female Furies who infest Gotham city with their sin and evilness. The special effects sequence was in the hands of Slavko Vorkapich, a Hollywood pioneering montage optical expert. The Serbian's early 1920s experimental short movies motivated movie studios to hire him as the go-to creative artist to come up with some mesmerizing sequences, including those in 1934's "Manhattan Melodrama," 1937's "The Good Earth," and 1941's "Meet John Doe."
Actor Claude Rains, in only his third film after his debut in 1933's "The Invisible Man," plays the devious lawyer. Sporting a thin mustache, Rains' role in "Crimes Without Passion" was his most sinister anlongside Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 "Notorious." His victim, dancer Carmen Brown, was played by actress Margo, shortened from her Mexican name María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O'Donnell, in her film debut at 17. The real-life wife of actor Eddie Albert (TV's "Green Acres"), Margo's career hit a bump in the road in the early 1950s when she was targeted in a sweep of Hollywood personalities for her progressive views and for her support for the 'Hollywood Ten.' She rebounded, albeit smaller roles, appearing in several movies until 1970's "Diary of a Mad Housewife." After "Crimes Without Passion," Hecht and MacArthur returned with Grimes for two more films, while Hecht and Grimes, without MacArthur, collaborated on another three. As film critic Richard Corliss noted, "All their collaborations are moody and oppressive, looking as if they were lit with a couple of flashlight batteries." The Hecht/MacArthur team are acknowledged as forerunners for producing movies containing many elements belonging to the future 'film noir' genre.
"Neither Charlie nor I had ever spent on hour on a movie set," remembered Hecht. "We knew nothing of casts, budgets, schedules, booms, unions, scenery, cutting, lighting." But the two agreed to the proposition proposed by Paramount Pictures to chose their own script they composed and take charge of its filming. They hired Lee Grimes, an Academy Award winning cinematographer, to work the camera. Grime's agent called him with the writers' offer. "They don't believe in directors," said the agent. "They don't want to have the typical Hollywood director because somehow or other they don't feel that the stories they've written have always come off on the screen the way they should come off."
Grimes ultimately directed about 70 percent of the movie, which concerns a pompous lawyer, Lee Gentry (Claude Rains), whose specialty was to get his clients out of the electric chair by rigging up evidence exonerating them. Gentry treats his women as coarsely as any sadist would, and accidentally fatally shoots one, cabaret dancer Carmen Brown (Margo). Using his legalese expertise, he attempts to cover-up the killing.
The cameraman-turned-part-time director recalls starting each morning on the Astoria, New York City, set at nine with the two writers arriving two hours later. "They set the style of how they wanted the dialogue done," said Grimes, "and I would direct the whole physical side of it." The cameraman remembers Hecht and MacArthur playing backgammon in the back of the studio while the crew was setting up. They stopped playing once the action began. But if an actor made a mistake or blew a line, they would start rolling the dice to resume their game, signaling to everyone that a reshoot was in order. "This happened all the time," said Grimes. "They were really a couple of screwballs, but I loved working with them, every minute of it."
"Crimes Without Passion" was a hit for Paramount. The reviewer for The New York Times called it "a drama blessed with marked originality and photographed with consummate artistry." The movie was also famous for its opening montage of three female Furies who infest Gotham city with their sin and evilness. The special effects sequence was in the hands of Slavko Vorkapich, a Hollywood pioneering montage optical expert. The Serbian's early 1920s experimental short movies motivated movie studios to hire him as the go-to creative artist to come up with some mesmerizing sequences, including those in 1934's "Manhattan Melodrama," 1937's "The Good Earth," and 1941's "Meet John Doe."
Actor Claude Rains, in only his third film after his debut in 1933's "The Invisible Man," plays the devious lawyer. Sporting a thin mustache, Rains' role in "Crimes Without Passion" was his most sinister anlongside Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 "Notorious." His victim, dancer Carmen Brown, was played by actress Margo, shortened from her Mexican name María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O'Donnell, in her film debut at 17. The real-life wife of actor Eddie Albert (TV's "Green Acres"), Margo's career hit a bump in the road in the early 1950s when she was targeted in a sweep of Hollywood personalities for her progressive views and for her support for the 'Hollywood Ten.' She rebounded, albeit smaller roles, appearing in several movies until 1970's "Diary of a Mad Housewife." After "Crimes Without Passion," Hecht and MacArthur returned with Grimes for two more films, while Hecht and Grimes, without MacArthur, collaborated on another three. As film critic Richard Corliss noted, "All their collaborations are moody and oppressive, looking as if they were lit with a couple of flashlight batteries." The Hecht/MacArthur team are acknowledged as forerunners for producing movies containing many elements belonging to the future 'film noir' genre.