Directed by studio stalwart Irving Rapper and photographed by Ernest Haller, ASC, this film is another in the long list of Betty Davis extravaganzas. It’s not exactly my cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some interesting things to be found in it.
Haller turned in his usual superb work, but in the clip below you’ll see a moment during which someone on the electrical crew was a few beats late on the dimmer. Keep your eye on Davis’ dark side as she comes to a stop before her scene partner, Paul Henreid.
I wonder if there was hell to be paid for the mistake or if Haller just said, “Ah, close enough.”
It’s a shame that we’ll never know!
Sh*t Happens!
Funny thing is that since she walks into that fill, and it’s flagged off of him, it probably didn’t need to be dimmed up, it could have just been on the whole time… unless in a longer take he crossed that area earlier. Who really knows, it might have also been a last minute light that Betty Davis wanted.