A CLOSE SHAVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1938, Page 4

A CLOSE SHAVE

Charles Boyer and Johnny Downs faced real danger while, making Walter Wanger’s “Algiers,” which comes to the State Theatre on Friday, December 30. The star and Downs appeared together in a "close shot" inside an open window, while a bullet from the street below shattered the plaster of the wall just above their heads. Here, of course, was an instance in which no doubles could possibly be used, since the two players stood in the.- immediate foreground. Accordingly the studio enlisted the service of Capt. William Preston, former Texas Raffger and now one of Hollywood’s crack shots. Stationed just outside the view of the camera, Captain Preston, at the prop&r instant in the scene, placed a rifle shot at a designated spot in the wall, which had been "backed” with several thicknesses of heavy planking to stop the bullet. The scene was filmed three times before it was satisfactorily recorded, with a new section of wall moved into place after each trial. “No one could blame us,” said Boyer afterward, "for wincing a little and revealing a tiny bit of strain, as if we were expecting something to happen. We really were, you know.”