Mr Zee 1907 - 1997
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Mr Zee 1907 - 1997 |
I worked on three pictures for Fred Zinneman and, like many others, count myself fortunate to have done so. The first of these was 'A Man For All Season', when Ralph Kemplen called me to help Harry Miller with the dialogues. This was just prior to mixing, and I was kept quite busy, but I was soon aware that FZ had very firm ideas of what he wanted, and also of the deference and respect with which he was regarded. I didn't exchange many words with him, being somewhat overawed, but he was always very courteous and friendly, and in any case working on such a film is reward enough.
Later I sound edited 'Julia' and 'Five Days One Summer', two films that in different ways meant a lot to him personally. On 'Julia' I learned a lot more about Mr Zee's ways of working, his likes and dislikes. On the floor, his quiet but tight control earned him the nickname 'the Iron Butterfly'. Nevertheless he allowed Walter Murch, the editor, all the time he needed to produce the first cut which took some five and a half weeks to materialise. It was a remarkable display of patience on Mr Zee's part, which was fully justified when the first screening was a great success. As the editing progressed and evening and weekend work became necessary, he heard about it and called me over to his office, where he asked if it would help to postpone the mix for a week. Of course I said yes, and five minutes later it was done. It all went very smoothly, even when he decided that he did not want the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare over their trademark, and called a percussion player complete with timpani to the music stage at Elstree where he devised a simple drum beat to take its place. The mix with Bill Rowe and Ray Merrin was very happy and relaxed, the resulting track excellent, and Julia a great success in all respects.
'Five Days One Summer' was in several aspects much more of a problem than Julia, not least with the music. During editing, Mr Zee brought in a disc of Schubert's F Minor Fantasia for Two Pianos, and we temp mixed it on three of four scenes, where it seemed to work exceptionally well, conveying perfectly the sadness of impossible love. However, abruptly, he said that he did not wish to continue this experiment, much to my disappointment. Subsequently the first score, by Carl Davies, was not liked and a second was written by Elmer Bernstein and used in the final mix.
More than a year later Mr Zee asked me what I had thought of the final music. I said that it was OK, that it provided music where we needed it and did not do any harm. "Yes", he said, "but it was just film music. I wish I had stuck with the Schubert". He explained he had felt that Schubert was too important to use in a film. Five Days also meant a lot to him because of his passion for mountain climbing. On 'Julia' he had asked if I could spare him a couple of weeks. I was somewhat baffled until he laughed and said "I really would like to go and climb a few mountains and in two weeks most of the snow would be gone". I think he was 72 at the time.
I was sorry 'Five Days' wasn't a success, as it was so personal for him and turned out to be his last film. Nevertheless he remained busy and maintained his interest in films and the people who worked on them. I was able to call upon him from time to time, being careful to make an appointment first. This formality over, he was warmly welcoming and always friendly and interested in my family and what I was doing. He would sometimes half seriously threaten to make another film so his friends would be working again.
He was a very civilised man of great integrity, in all senses a good man, and on occasions a man of unexpected wit and humour. My only regret now is that I did not know him longer.
LES HODGSON