Even the Desert Has Camera- Hogs

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20910, 15 September 1939, Page 4

Even the Desert Has CameraHogs

One of the greatest difficulties encountered by Zoltan Korda while filming “Four Feathers,” the Alexander Korda technicolour feature, was in keeping the stage and background clear of spectators. When the filmmakers were certain they had hidden every mule, every camel and every unneeded native and had given the signal to “roll ’em,” at least fifteen heads would pop up from behind a rock. Also, a casual native would appear from nowhere and stroll carelessly across the front of the camera. Since It was ineffectual to curse a man in a language he doesn’t understand, one of the film-makers would be despatched to find the headman or sheik and an interpreter, who would take at least ten minutes to explain that a picture was being made and the scene had to be cleared for action. During these ten minutes of course, some other natives would appear on the scene, not to mention a few camels and a few youngsters.