CHAPTER XVIII
filming at pozières and contalmaison
Looking for "Thrills"—And How I Got Them—I Pass Through "Sausage Valley," on the Way to Pozières—You May and you Might—What a Tommy Found in a German Dug-out—How Fritz Got "Some of His Own" Back—Taking Pictures in What Was Once Pozières—"Proofs Ready To-morrow."
Things, from my point of view, were slackening down. Plenty of preparatory action was taking place, and here and there small local engagements, but the fact that they were local made it very difficult for me to get to hear of them. None of the Corps Commanders knew exactly when or where the nibble would develop, or, if they did know, they were naturally chary of giving me the information. On occasions too when I did know I had not sufficient time to make my arrangements, I had to be content with scenes which unfolded themselves after the action had taken place.
This was getting rather monotonous. The aftermath of one attack was to all intents and purposes an exact replica of the previous one, except that the surroundings were different. There was the return of the attackers; the bringing in of prisoners, the wounded, the dead; and to vary these scenes to make my pictures generally interesting required a lot of thought and a careful choice of view point.
In the course of the "push," which began in July, there were hundreds, I might almost say thousands, of incidents that to the eye were of enthralling interest, but to have filmed them with the idea of conveying that interest on the screen would have been so much wasted effort. Even the kinematograph has its limitations.
Over my head all the time, like a huge sword, hung the thought of British public opinion, and the opinion of neutral countries. They would accept nothing unless there was great excitement in it; unless the pictures contained such "thrills" as they had never seen before, and had never dreamed possible. Once I had secured that thrill I could then—and only then—take the preparatory scenes, depicting the ordinary life and action of the men and the organisation which are necessary to run the war. Such scenes—interesting as they undoubtedly are—without that "thrill" would have fallen flat, would have been of no use, from the exhibition point of view, and I had always to bear that fact in mind.
I have spent many sleepless nights wondering how and where I was to obtain that magnetic thrill, that minute incident, probably only ten per cent of which would carry the remaining ninety per cent to success. One that would positively satisfy the public.
I had been filming a lot of stuff lately, but when I looked through my list, excellent as the scenes were—many of which I would probably never be able to get again—they struck me as lacking "thrill." That was what I required. So I set out to get it.
The Australians had just captured Pozières, and hearing that the Bosche were continually "strafing" it I decided to make for that quarter with the object of getting a good bombardment. If possible, I would also get into the village itself where there ought to be some very good pictures, for the capture had only taken place two days previously.