John Ford’s Technicolor classic, The Quiet Man (1952), is one of my favorite movies. It usually shows up on TV around St. Patrick’s Day, and this year was no exception. Despite some of its corniness and clichéd depictions of the Irish, it can always be counted on to hit a gratifying spot between the fanciful and sentimental.
This time around, at about thirteen minutes in, I noticed something interesting during a short scene set in a chapel. As you watch the clip, pay close attention to the ways John Wayne and the other actors move. There’s something off about them, something stilted and clumsy. At first, I thought the shot had been taken with the camera running in reverse, but that made no sense. On closer inspection, the cause of the issue became clear.
The camera was running at a slower shutter speed – perhaps twelve or six frames per second – rather than the standard twenty-four frames per second!
The reason for this no doubt had to do with getting the proper exposure. The determining factor would’ve been the limited amount of light passed by the large stained glass window in the center of the frame. I’m not quite sure why this was a challenge. If they were shooting on a set, it would’ve been easy to pump in as much light as was needed. Being on location would’ve mitigated against that approach. Between the extremely slow emulsion in use (ASA25) and the demands of the beam-splitting prism inside the Technicolor camera, principal cinematographer Winton Hoch, ASC needed a key light measured in the vicinity of 800-1600 foot candles! This had to have been a major challenge. By undercranking the camera, he gained an extra stop or two of exposure.
We all know that running the camera slower than twenty-four frames per second will result in speeded-up action when projected on screen. To compensate for that, Wayne and the other actors were instructed to slow down their actions to match the different timing. It was probably a bit of a hit or miss effort to get it right, but the effect as we see it works well enough. I’m certain no member of any audience on earth noticed what I’m addressing.
Hoch’s efforts on The Quiet Man earned him a shared Academy Award with his Second Unit Cinematographer, Archie Stout, ASC. An interesting aside: The actual statuette one of them received is on display in the President’s Office at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood.
Great catch!