imagination on how the murderer it, especially the adult audience. imaginations. This lets them vicariously
carved up his victim. And the more While children are honestly and out- enjoy what they see on the screen
horrid the thought the more macabre spokenly cruel, adults have learned to because they are in no way responsible
the idea the better the audience likes control their emotions, if not their for what is happening.
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THROUGH DESERT HEAT, MOUNTAIN COLD . . .
The amazing performance of Atlas products
is constantly being proved under all ex
tremes of weather, in countries round the
world. Such field tests demonstrate the
superior wearing qualities of Atlas Tires!
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IF IT'S "ATLAS," IT'S MET EVERY TEST!
Whether it's an Atlas Tire, Atlas Micronal
Oil Filter or any other Atlas product, it must
pass the stiff analyses of Atlas Automotive
Specialists. So, for proved superiority, look
for the Atlas label.
ON A LABORATORY "TORTURE RACK" AT 200. . .
This "tire ply adhesion test" and many others go on continuously
not only on Atlas products, but on competitive products, too.
Every year thousands of tires, batteries and accessories are com
pared to insure that Atlas gives you the very best in performance,
safety and value.
it,
RECOMMENDED AND SOLD BY 38,000 SERVICE STATIONS!
More service station dealers sell Atlas products than any othe
brand. Ask your local dealer to show you the famous writfcn
guarantee on Atlas Tires and Batteries. It's honored on the spot
at over 38,000 service stations in all 48 states, Alaska, Canada.
YOUR GUARANTEE OF PROVED TOP VlUE
U.S. Fit. Ol. Ccpyrigltt Kit Atlmt Supply Comptnr, Nnik i, H. J.
But how wonderful the feeling of
relief is when the problem is solved!
It makes everything that's happened
before twice as rewarding. However, if
you don't come to the inevitable end,
if you let the audience hang in midair,
they get angry. They were very upset
with me for one of my first pictures,
when I showed a small boy carrying a
time bomb across London. I cut to the
boy's feet, to the bomb, had him ride
a bus through the streets of the city, -cut
back to the bomb, showed him
playing with a cat, then the bomb--whipping
up excitement as the ex
plosion time approached. The audience
could anticipate the inevitable pail of
water in which the bomb was to be
dropped at the last moment.
Only I didn't give it to them.
I let the child carry the bomb three
minutes beyond the time it was set,
then let it go off, blowing him and
everything around him to bits.
After the premiere, one of the lead
ing critics nearly hit me in the face.
"How dare you do this to us?" she
cried out. The other critics were not
much more kind.
From then on I've always tried to
work out the climax to everyone's sat
isfaction and relief.
Fortunately, for the success of my
type of pictures, fear itself is a basic,
obvious, ordinary, and very enjoyable
characteristic.
Take a group of people riding
a roller coaster. Their terror-filled
screams as they are whisked up and
down and around the steep railways
are very real, although they'd scream
differently if the coaster would actually
jump the tracks and go over the side.
A person rooting for his favorite
baseball team yells because he wants
to see it win and because hes afraid
they might lose!
Yet from a director's point of view,
there is a subtle line where he must
stop depicting fear. The audience wants
to be entertained, and they love to get
scared but they don't want to be
antagonized.
In making a picture it is very im
portant to remember that the audience
realizes that what they see is not per
manent, not actually happening to
them, and thus they can enjoy it even
though the real thing revolts them.
Being "typed," as I am, has certain
disadvantages in both my private and
professional life. I once made a film
with Ingrid Bergman which caused one
critic to protest that he had to wait 105
minutes for the first thrill. There was
no thrill intended in the picture.
Likewise, I've long been considered
a horrid creature by people who don't
know me. Particularly women. Once,
when the wife of a producer met me
at a party, she confessed that she had
no idea I was such a nice, inoffensive
person. And, confidentially, I'm not so
sure this was a compliment if I am to
believe my own theory that people
enjoy nothing more than the horrid,
macabre, fearful kind of a thrill I try
to give them in m jicturc.
O
O i5f! Weekly. July 13, O 13