Jacques Tourneur by Chris Fujiwara

Author:Chris Fujiwara
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2013-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Stars in My Crown (1950)

[A]t once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously—I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

JOHN KEATS, LETTER TO GEORGE AND THOMAS KEATS, DECEMBER 1817

Tourneur invariably referred to Stars in My Crown, the first film of the post-RKO stage of his career, as his favorite, or at any rate one of his favorites, among his films. He accorded it a special place in his personal myth: the only film that he fought to do, Stars in My Crown was also the one that almost ruined his career.

His involvement in the project began when his friend Joel McCrea, who had been cast in the film, gave him the novel (by Joe David Brown) on which it was based. Tourneur “fell in love” with the book and set about trying to get the assignment to direct it.

I went to see the producer [William H. Wright] at MGM and I said, “I want to make this picture.” He said, “Jacques, I’m sorry, it’s a B picture, a quickie, and we’re going to put a contract director on it.” So I went to see Eddie Mannix who was the boss. He said the same thing: “It’s a little B picture. We can’t pay your price.” To which I said to Eddie, “I’ll do this picture for nothing.” He said, “Do you mean it?” “Yes. Now that’s cheaper than your contract director.” He said, “I’ll call you Monday.” Well, he called me Monday and he said, “We’re not allowed to pay you nothing because there’s a Guild and we’ll have to pay you the minimum.” So I said, “Fine. Pay me the minimum.”1

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