see also #278
behp0466-gus-walker-summary
Interviewed by Rodney Giesler on 20.1.2000
SIDE ONE
Born 9.4.1913. Apprenticed carpenter/joiner. Went to London in mid 1930s for the building boom. Joined F.G. Minto and helped build Denham Studios. On completion joined the studio. Working nights earned £11 per week. A studio lot (city square) existed before studio was built. Dummies lying around from Things to Come. 500 carpenters working at Denham, mainly on nights. 11 films on the floor. Worked on Rembrandt and Knight without Armour. Studio manager Jack Oakie, brought over from America by Korda. Costs out of control. Fiddles and waste of material. Vincent Korda supervising art director. Set of The Drum built the wrong way round. Studio populated by migrant Scottish shipyard workers. Abuse stopped by Stapleton from the Prudential. Thief of Baghdad in production when war started. Memories of Marlene Dietrich and Elisabeth Bergner. Worked [on] Herbert Wilcox’s films. No shooting restrictions in those days. Wilcox and [Anna] Neagle always late on the set. Working on The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp when he called up for the Army. Built the destroyer for In Which We Serve. Death of an electrician. Great admiration for Noel Coward. With David Lean in Devon on Major Barbara. Crew took five weeks to reach the location for Four Feathers. Became assistant construction manager on return from the of war at end of 1946. Colour added greatly to the costs. Remembers Vivien Leigh. Deborah Kerr’s 21st birthday party on Blimp. Memories of Mountbatten from In Which We Serve. Royal visits. Conflicts between Freddie Young and Gabby Pascal. Recently returned to Dartington Hall, location for Major Barbara. Memories of Alfred Junge on Blimp. A great eye for camera angles. MGM brought efficiency to Denham. The death scene in Goodbye Mr. Chips. The athlete who held back for Robert Taylor. (46 mins).
SIDE TWO
Rank’s visit to the Stills Department. Admiration for Fred Zinnemann. Recollections of designer Roger Furse. A novel way of working on Spartacus. Remembers L.P. Williams. Tom Morahan: Working for Disney on Treasure Island. Worked on 2001 on the silent stage. Tony Masters and The Heroes of Telemark. Became assistant construction manager on return to Denham at end of war. Worked on Fame is the Spur. Duncan Sutherland the designer. Impressed by Teddy Dmytryck on Christ in Concrete. Challenges: the big head for The Thief of Baghdad, the aircraft for No Highway, and everything about Moby Dick. Problems with the ship and the whale. Borrowed all the interior train fittings from Wagon-Lits on Murder on the Orient Express. First worked with John Box on the Warwick Films. Recollections of Cubby Broccoli. Doctor Zhivago the biggest construction job of his career. Expensive tramcars. Working with Civil War veterans. Coping with Franco. (46 mins)
SIDE THREE
Vincent Korda’s magnificent sets for I Claudius. Remembering von Sternberg. Two hours’ notice. An opportune accident. Leigh and Olivier in Fire Over England. Korda used his friendship with Churchill to build Denham Studios. Other designers: [David] Rawnsley, Paul Sherrif, Vetchinsky, Ralph Brinton, Duncan Sutherland, Tom and Jim Morahan, Don Ashton. Working relationship between Designer and Construction Manager. Escalating costs of sets. Impressive standard of modern sets. Memories of Kubrick. Working on Nicholas and Alexandra. Studios demolished and studios built in Spain. Building a railway station in Paris for Murder on the Orient Express. De Gaulle’s double. Last film for Zinnemann with Jane Fonda (Julia). Worked with Micky Powell on The Spy in Black. Doctor Zhivago his most satisfying film. Superb Spanish plasterers. Building Zhivago’s house. Worked on Looking Glass War in Spain. Memories of Finlay Currie. Happy days until the accountants arrived. The benefits of the 1944 Agreement. Craftsmen always in demand. Final words on I, Claudius. (45 mins).
[END]
