It's a hell of a life but not a bad living: a Hollywood memoir (1978), Edward Dmytryk.

 Associated Press photo of Edward Dmytryk (centre rear) and other members of the "Hollywood Ten."

Here are Edward Dmytryk's rules for movie-making: "I prune the script until I think it is right for shooting.  When we rehearse and film each scene, further cuts are almost always in order.  Later, in the cutting room, I find I can slice still more.  If I see the picture again months later, I kick myself for leaving some scenes too long."  Dmytryk started as a "cutter" in the silent era and witnessed much of the technological changes from this spot.  His better films impress me because of their beautiful thrift.  Dmytryk moved from editing to directing - B movies, at first - which in his autobiography he lauds as the perfect university of filmmaking.  "One learns more from Bs," he writes, "There is less to work with - less time, less film and less artistry - so more ingenuity is needed to arrive at something passable....The poor clod who takes hack material, ineptly staged, inexpertly played, unimaginatively shot , and puts it together with sufficient skill to ensure its later playing as a 'Movie of the Week' on a major television network:  he's the genius." 

Dmytryk's autobiography is just as economically written.  I was captivated by his insights into the crafts of editing and directing.  Likely driven by the same philosophy towards storytelling in film (don't condescend) he doesn't shy away from describing the technical end of the business, explaining creative decisions and the mechanics of the tools of the trade (how to effectively light a stage to mimic sunlight, or how to edit a poorly acted scene into oblivion).  His description of a disintegrating MGM in the mid-50s (where he directed Raintree County) is priceless.  "Like most tottering empires, it exhibited an opulent exterior which concealed some very anachronistic, profligate, and inferior practices... The equipment was a travesty, obviously designed during the silent era.  It was immovable and so noisy that no dialogue could be directly recorded... Money was spent recklessly.  Elizabeth [Taylor's] wardrobe demanded a large number of elaborate antebellum (and postbellum) hoopskirts.  In spite of the fact that nobody could finger cloth on the screen... only the finest materials were purchased, even for concealed petticoats."  I've always had a secret love for Raintree County, even though it's a very uneven film.  (And weird:  Elizabeth Taylor's obsession with her charred dollies).  While I had heard the story of Montgomery Clift's spectacular car accident before, Dmytryk goes beyond this incident in describing the many challenges he faced in getting this project to completion.

Dmytryk was one of the "Hollywood Ten," a group of industry professionals who refused to testify to the House of Un-American Activities Committee.  He scooted to Europe hoping to keep earning, and eventually served time in two prisons; he ultimately named names in 1951 and was released back to Hollywood.  I need to read more HUAC history but as a Canadian I don't fully understand why Americans never developed their own indigenous alternative to the Communist Party (something analogous to our Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, now known as the New Democratic Party).  I do feel that HUAC was a pretty useful way of ensuring no real left-leaning alternatives took root, arresting a lot of meaningful left-wing activity for decades.  Dmytryk is unapologetic about his decisions, but also seems to "cut" from his story, moving us swiftly from one scene to the next with the principle goal of telling a good yarn (he expanded on his HUAC experiences more in another biography, Odd Man Out, A Memoir of the Hollywood Ten in 1996).

Only later in his career, while directing The Caine Mutiny, does Dmytryk express regret at being unable to indulge.  In love with the novel, he wanted to bring it all to the screen: "it should have been three hours long," he sighs.  However, studio execs decided a shorter movie meant more screenings a day and hence more tickets sold.  Two hours was the absolute maximum!  How the industry has changed and what different products they create today.  Dmytryk's story is incredible even in how his own life spanned multiple key eras in Hollywood:  from silent, sound, studio to independent filmmakers and the revival of the industry in the 70s.  A great read.