Ophuls reported to work on Monday, June 21, with a fever and body sores; he was suffering from herpes zoster. By the beginning of July, his condition remained unimproved, so the studio reluctantly terminated him.
His replacement was John Berry, an alumnus of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater who had previously directed four pictures. Berry's salary was more than twice the rate Ophuls had received, underscoring the plight of foreign talent at the American studios.
Teamed with Barry was Lee Garmes, ASC, the celebrated American cinematographer behind Zoo in Budapest (1933), which some connoisseurs rate as the finest black-and-white work extant (see AC April '95). Garmes had co-directed and shot seven notable pictures with Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, in addition to directing and/or producing several other films as well. He was a lover of the "north light" school of painting, and applied this technique to many of his own movies. For many directors, Garmes was a godsend one whose singular "touch" could make a good picture great.
Berry definitely did not want a collaborator, however. The director had strong ideas about cinematography and wanted them followed without question, right down to the choice of lenses.
The film's principal photography commenced on July 14 with Mason not yet committed (he signed a contract on July 28) and Ryan unavailable. Both Mason and Bel Geddes balked at working with Berry due to his unknown stature, but eventaully relented and signed onto the film. Due to the production company's financial crisis, the budget was cut almost in half and the schedule trimmed to just 36 days, fewer than any other Enterprise project.
From the onset, Berry and Garmes argued incessantly. When Garmes made suggestions that he felt would improve a scene, Berry accused him of overstepping his bounds. (In fairness, several other directors had butted heads with Garmes for the same reason.) Robert Aldrich, the unit production manager and a longtime friend of the director, sided with Berry, further alienating Garmes. Scribe Laurentz, Garmes, executive production manager Joe Gilpin and especially executive producer Reinhardt were all disturbed because they saw that Berry intended to make a starkly realistic story about a tough gold-digger, instead of the romantic drama originally envisioned.
Berry actually filmed several sequences, including exteriors in Los Angeles and Pasadena, and scenes at a charm school with Bel Geddes, Frances Rafferty, Marcia Jones, Natalie Shaefer, and Sonia Darren. By the tenth day of production the director had fallen five days behind. Much to the shock of cast and crew, Reinhardt dismissed Berry and brought Ophuls back to the studio a few days later.
Aldrich claims that the producers had made a secret deal with Ophuls to fire Berry as soon as Ophuls could return to work, and that he "would guess that somewhere between a third and half of the film is Berry's." The American director received much more money than Ophuls because Enterprise continued his salary until the close of production, but Berry was denied screen credit.
As in most situations where a director assumes a picture begun by another, Ophuls wanted to reshoot all of Berry's work. Some scenes were written out by Ophuls and Laurenz; others, including the charm school sequence, remained because the new budget wouldn't permit them to be restaged. Rafferty, a former MGM starlet, originally had an important role as Bel Geddes' roommate, who commits suicide after becoming pregnant. This subplot was eliminated and Rafferty's name was dropped from the credits, although she still has dialogue in two scenes. Also excised were Marcia Jones' scenes as the second roommate; the two female characters were merged into one, played by Ruth Brady.
To Garmes' horror, the cameraman found that he had underexposed the Pasadena scenes badly; to minimize the error, he had the rushes printed on blue stock. Ophuls told him that the scenes were still very good, which became a moot point because the sequence was dropped during script revisions. The director and cinematographer soon became close friends, and worked together without friction. Garmes had brought with him an outstanding dolly grip, Morris Rosen, along with the original model of the superb crab dolly that Garmes, Rosen and Steve Krilanovich had designed for Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case. The contraption was kept very busy in Caught, due to Ophuls' fondness for long takes with unusual camera moves. There was an inside joke that "Max would go nuts" if deprived of big sets, dollies and cranes; at the same time, the picture is full of the type of locked-down, artistically-composed shots for which Garmes is noted.
The most impressive set and the setting of the film's major dramatic confrontations was Ohlrig's huge game room, built in California Studios' cavernous Stage 5. One wall was lined with a row of windows extending some 40' to the ceiling. Despite these expansive panes, the room remained dark, with practical sources such as a fireplace, lamps and chandeliers providing localized illumiation. The single wild wall was behind the bar, the area where most of the action took place. The camera made numerous moves in this room, traveling without tracks over the smooth floor. Many scenes, such as the confrontation between Ohlrig and Quinada standing at opposite ends of the bar of the game room, were staged for depth in the manner of Citizen Kane.
The extended sequence of Ohlrig's "fatal" heart attack near the end of the film is particularly notable both photographically and for Ryan's virtuoso acting. The striking shot is composed in deep focus, with the top of the bar in the foreground and Ryan some distance away when he's hit by the seizure. He lurches toward the camera, zig-zagging erratically as he fumbles for the life-saving pills in his pocket. The camera follows him closely, with the moves becoming increasingly violent as he arrives close to the camera and scrabbles desperately for liquid to help him down the pills. He finds an ice bucket, dumps meltwater into a glass, gulps it down and gasps for air. Ryan achieved the harrowing effect by holding his breath throughout the torturous walk.
Upon hearing Ohlrig's cries, Leonara comes downstairs to find him lying on the floor, partially obscured under an overturned pinball machine. The camera views the scene from floor level, with the hard-lit Ohlrig lying on his back close to camera, begging Leonora, who's seen full-figure in a white nightgown, to call a doctor. She watches dispassionately before turning away and ascending the stairs.
Another tricky sequence, in terms of both lighting and camera moves, reveals Ohlrig screening movies of a new project to his associates. Leonora giggles at a whispered comment by Gentry (Wilton Graff), whereupon Ohlrig halts the screening. After furiously accusing the two of laughing at him, he orders the man to leave. When Leonora walks out, Ohlrig angrily dismisses everyone. This is technically an intricate scene, reminiscent of the screening-room opening of Citizen Kane, with a large dark room fitfully illuminated by the flickering light of a film projector. Garmes used a wide-angle lens to emphasize Ohlrig's dominant bulk in the foreground and Leonora's minute size in the lower part of the frame. After an unusual reverse angle in which the close and distant figures are placed in the same positions (with the close figure at left in both angles), the camera returns to the first angle. As Leonora leaves, the dolly moves left while the camera pans right to follow her.
[ continued on page 3 ]