|
| |
A Dialogue on Film With George Cukor
From: American Film Institute
| By:
George Cukor |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
Though his films created some of the greatest roles for women in American cinema, George  Cukor (1899-1983) deplored being labeled a "woman's director." Throughout his 50-year career, Cukor (right) directed such acclaimed actresses and actors as Katharine Hepburn,Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, John Barrymore and Laurence Olivier, and directed such memorable films as My Fair Lady and The Philadelphia Story.
In 1978, Cukor spoke with Fellows at the American Film Institute's Conservatory, and his discussion was published later in American Film magazine. |
 avin Lambert once noted that George Cukor was a survivor, a term that somehow seems inadequate to describe a man with one of the longest and most distinguished careers in American film. Born in 1899, Cukor began working in 1919 in the New York theater, first as a stage assistant and later as a successful director. By the late 1920s, Cukor had become a dialogue director in Hollywood, where the advent of sound pictures had prompted raids on Broadway for directors who knew how to deal with the spoken word. By 1930, Cukor was directing films.
Whether Cukor was a woman's director or an actor's director or an anonymous craftsman (he has been called all three) is less important than the fact that he was able to adapt himself over the years to the varying conditions of the film industry. In the process, he directed not simply a string of entertaining pictures but an astonishing number of memorable films. Cukor's studio films of the '30s and '40s employed the resources of the finest talent available--actors, designers, technicians--with his skillful touch blending all of these elements with taste and discretion. |
|
Transcript of a 1978 interview with George Cukor about his filmmaking career. |
|
The roster of impressive films begins with Katharine Hepburn's screen debut opposite John Barrymore in Bill of Divorcement, the all-star repast Dinner at Eight and adaptations of such classics as David Copperfield, Little Women and Camille. It continued through fruitful collaborations with two gifted comediennes: Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story and Holiday, and in several films with Spencer Tracy; and Judy Holliday, first as a supporting player in Adam's Rib and later as the lead in Born Yesterday and The Marrying Kind. |
In the early '50s, the Cukor filmography took several sharp turns, as the stability of the studio system weakened and finally broke down completely. There were musicals (A Star ls Born, My Fair Lady), backstage dramas (The Actress, Les Girls) and adaptations of material more idiosyncratic than his sources in the '30s (Justine, Travels With My Aunt). Whatever flaws plagued these films, they were consistently handsome; Cukor may have directed more good-looking films than any other filmmaker. |
Two films at opposite ends of Cukor's career illustrate the consistency of his approach. In 1936, Cukor directed Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Sylvia Scarlett, a picture that attracted a devoted following. It was a tale of thieves, not the mobsters of so many '30s films but rascals and rogues of another time and place. The film boldly dallied with sexual disguise (Hepburn played the first half dressed as a young boy), but the tone rarely strayed from a sophisticated and lighthearted level. In 1975, Cukor directed his first film for television, Love Among the Ruins, with perhaps the greatest of all his screen matches: Laurence Olivier and, once again, Katharine Hepburn. The story was a trifle: a woman of wealth and position hires for a delicately personal case a barrister who years ago was in love with her and has never forgotten their brief, youthful romance. Again the Cukor touch was evident, and the performances and material sprang to life under his steady hand. |
Asked in 1978 which young directors he admired, Cukor mentioned George Lucas. As it happened, Cukor was most fascinated with Lucas's ability to dodge publicity, to maintain a low profile in an era of relentless personality reportage, and to allow his films to speak for themselves. "No one knows what he eats for breakfast," Cukor said with a chuckle, "and I like that." |
What Cukor ate for breakfast remains a mystery. But in a time when directors' reputations are made on the basis of one or two films, it is refreshing to consider the career of George Cukor, who did not merely survive over the long haul. He triumphed. |
|
| |
