The Sand Pebbles (1966)

[David Mullen ASC]

I watched "The Sand Pebbles" (1966) last night, just out of curiosity (I'm a fan of Jerry Goldsmith and had been listening to his score for this movie for years -- I watched "The Blue Max" last month for the same reason).  While a number of scenes were lit in a typical high-key studio manner of the time, I was struck at how dark and moody other scenes were. The cinematographer was Joseph MacDonald, ASC, who shot "My Darling Clementine" and "Viva Zapata" and you can really tell he enjoyed lighting in that hi-con b&w style when allowed to.  The movie was shot in Taiwan and Hong Kong and MacDonald lit some very large night exteriors on location with the 50 ASA film stock of the time (5251).  He was, along with Leon Shamroy, ASC, one of the top cinematographers under contract at 20th Century Fox and he shot their second CinemaScope movie, "How to Marry a Millionaire" (Shamoy shot their first, "The Robe").  "The Sand Pebbles" was Fox's first film to "officially" switch over to using Panavision anamorphic lenses though they had already been doing that on a few films, notably "Von Ryan's Express" (supposedly Sinatra hated the way CinemaScope lenses made his face look broader, the old "mumps" problem those lenses had where the squeeze ratio dropped below 2X when the lens focused close, but the expansion in projection was always a constant 2X so close-ups looked "fat".)

[Tyler Purcell]

Agree, it does push that envelope quite a bit for early anamorphic lenses. It's a pretty darn good movie too, one of my favorites from that period. Looks great, sounds great, really good cast and interesting story. 

[Uli Meyer]

Look at how those pillars in the last frame are straining under the weight, haha.

I wonder if in those days there was time to shoot exposure tests. Or was it all experience and metering?

[David Mullen ASC]

Sure, any studio feature back then would have shot wardrobe and make-up tests so the cinematographer would have also shot some basic exposure tests at the same time or during the camera prep.  I did it all the time even on low-budget movies that I shot on film.  But once you got into production, it was experience, metering, and knowledge gained from tests, plus modifying one's exposure approach as dailies came back and the printer light values were analyzed. Back then, Kodak was updating their 35mm color negative motion picture stock about once every five or six years so you had some stability for a time before you had to learn the next stock, but then starting in the 1980s you had multiple stocks to deal with.

[Stephen Perera]

Will definitely watch this I was not aware of this film of my year of birth 1966 haha….I will humbly give my opinion in due course if it please you my friends