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Freddie Young BSC
“There were no problems
really,” he shrugs. “It was 110
degrees, but it was dry heat so
you didn’t really sweat. As long
as you kept your hat on and did-
n’t expose your body to the sun
you were fine. We always kept the camera under a big umbrella with a wet cloth over it, and I kept any spare film stock in the caterer’s refrigerator. We lived in these excellent tents for about nine months, and had a servant who’d run us a bath at the end of the day, so we weren’t suffering at all.”
Offering an insight into the painstaking prepa- ration that Lean applied to all his films, Young explains how he always ensured he could not be second guessed by the studio executives, in spite of being stuck in the Jordanian desert, while the rushes were sent back to Britain for processing.
“David wouldn’t shoot much coverage,” Freddie chuckles. “In the old days MGM would always demand a great deal of coverage and dif- ferent angles so they could cut it all together later.
But Lean only shot what he actually wanted, so they and others couldn’t do much tampering about in the editing room and spoil his direction.”
This insistence accounts for one of the most extraordinary shots in the film - when Omar Sharif’s character first appears initially as a dot on the horizon, gradually coming into sharp focus to the bemused Lawrence and his frantic Arab guide. Using an 800 mm lens, Young shot over a thousand feet of film but the result was pure movie magic. Young won his first Oscar for the film, and went on to pick up another two statuettes for the next two David Lean films he worked on: Doctor Zhivago and Ryan’s Daughter.
These are the kind of films they simply do not make anymore, and one senses that Freddie, understandably, regrets this. Nowadays his film
watching is limited, and recently his only liking has been for that of Mrs Brown as meriting his approval.
“Most of them are a load of rub- bish,” he adds. “I get sent tapes of the Academy nominees, but very few
stand out. They’re such lousy stories, the script is the most important part of making a film. If you’ve got a good script you can’t go wrong.”
His contribution to the art of cinematography is considerable but, in an industry where so many play up the importance of their own contribution, it comes as a surprise to hear Freddie Young sug- gest that his was not the most important ingredi- ent in the movie making process.
“Good cinematography helps enormously, but if the script isn’t right then you’re lost. If you have a good script, the task then is to try and recreate the atmosphere from the page onto the screen.
Then and only then...,” and he wryly smiles the smile of someone who knows, “... then you’ve really got something.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Photos: With David Lean on Lawrence Of Arabia and Omar Sharif in Dr Zhivago (BFI Stills & Posters)