One-Eyed Jacks

Unlike most of the Hollywood eyepatch directors (Ford, Ray, Lang) who had two eyes, one impaired, André De Toth was genuinely cyclopean, like Walsh.

Yes! I am writing something this week about each of the eyepatch directors. I take the view that old-time directors had much in common with pirates, and this accounts in part for the plethora of patchwork.

De Toth came to Edinburgh Film Festival for a retrospective of his work. He was greeted by a festival employee, herself wearing an eyepatch. She had to explain that she really needed it and was not just taking the piss.

Adding to his unique appearance, De Toth sometimes wore a neck brace, the result of his twice having broken his neck. In Fragments, his quirky autobio, De Toth reports that the second time he broke it was the lowest point of his life, somehow implying that the first time was a cakewalk.

As if that weren’t enough, upon arriving at Edinburgh Filmhouse, the Great Man expressed admiration for the punky close-shaved haircut of the man operating the box office. “Who did it?” “I did it myself.” Whereupon De Toth had the guy shave his own head. So now he was monocular, neck-braced and bullet-headed. And Hungarian. Fearsome.

Though in his late eighties, he had an incredibly vigorous, forceful manner. You assumed he was totally fit, but my friend Andy Gonzalez saw him attempting to descend the three steps to the Filmhouse bar, with the aid of a handrail, and reported, “It took him fookin’ ages.”

Somehow both severe and charming, De Toth made an impressive guest, and I was much taken with the few of his films I managed to see — PLAY DIRTY is a very considerable war film, with the most extraordinary ending. There was always the hint that De Toth could be a tough egg, which was confirmed when I read here how he conspired to have Paul Picerni, his leading man in HOUSE OF WAX decapitated. I exaggerate, but only slightly.

‘Andre says to Frank Lovejoy, “For the next shot, Frrrank, you come in with the other policemen. You see Buchinski! He’s got Paul in the guillotine! […] You lift up the block of wood, you pull out Paul and, zoooom!, down come the blade! That’s the next shot! Light it!” I say, “Andre — excuse me. You’re gonna shoot this in separate cuts, aren’t you?” He says, “No, no, no! We do it in one take, one cut! Frrrank pulls you out, zoooom!, down come the blade!” Now, bear in mind I’m a young actor under contract.

‘I say, “Andre, I don’t wanna intercede on your job as director, but how do you propose to do it in one take?” He indicates Red Turner, the prop man. […] Andre says, “Red Turner will sit on top of the guillotine; he will hold the block of wood between his legs; when Frank pull you out, Red will release the blade. And we see it all in one take!” I say, “Andre — supposing Red drops the blade prematurely?” He says, “Only hurt for a second. Now don’t t’ink about it, it’ll make you nervous.” And he walks away!’

Read the whole interview at The Astounding B Monster, it’s an eye-opener. As Wallace Beery said to Louise Brooks, when she asked why he never did his own stunts, “All directors want to kill actors.”