Uncredited director claims...

[alicefaye]

In reading Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel, I came across two mentions that interested me. The first was that Victor Fleming, uncredited, contributed some direction to A Star Is Born while Wellman was sick; the second was that Wellman, also uncredited, did some work on Gone With The Wind including the burning of Atlanta sequence while Fleming recovered from exhaustion.

I flipped through the sources list in the back of the book and found proof enough of the latter - there's also a picture showing some of Wellman's family in a buggy rescued from the production - but there's no sources given about the claim that Fleming worked on A Star Is Born. Wikipedia, TCM, and IMDB only list Jack Conway as uncredited director, which makes perfect sense to me as he was a contract MGM director and not any sort of artiste. Fleming, on the other hand, was putting "A Victor Fleming Production" on his movies when Wellman was still stuck making fallen women pictures for Warners, so it's strange to me that MGM would have loaned him out to Selznick for assistance in the first place.

So, I'm very curious if anyone knows anything regarding this. Did I perhaps miss some information out there online? (Most of what I can find amounts to glorified puff pieces about the 2018 A Star Is Born, with very little detail about the original version beyond the whole Barrymore/Gilbert thing.)

Also, I'd be interested to know of any other such unsubstantiated claims as these. I had Journey Into Fear in mind as well, but Welles did go on record to say that he worked behind the camera.

[Lamar]

From the notes section of the AFI catalogue (via TCM database): "According to Hollywood Reporter news items, production was halted on December 7, 1936 when Wellman developed a case of the flu. He was replaced by Jack Conway until 19 Dec. A modern source states that when Wellman viewed the rushes of the funeral scene (which the modern source states was directed by Victor Fleming), he decided to reshoot it to have Janet Gaynor scream at the scene's conclusion." http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4843/A-S ... notes.html
Not sure who/what is the "modern source." Fleming listed as one of the directors by AFI here:
https://fest.afi.com/1987/programs-from ... r-is-born/

[alicefaye]

Thank you! I somehow missed this information from TCM. It appears to be quoted from Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, so perhaps there may be more details on this oh so mysterious "modern source" in the back of that book? I suppose I'll just have to get the thing and see if anything is extrapolated upon.

[Jay Salsberg]

the second was that Wellman, also uncredited, did some work on Gone With The Wind including the burning of Atlanta sequence while Fleming recovered from exhaustion.

The burning of Atlanta was the first scene in GWTW to be filmed. Although Selznick was micro-managing everything, I think Cukor had already been assigned to the film by that time. In any event, the burning scene was basically second unit stuff, so it could have been directed by any one of a number of second unit directors (Menzies, Eason...). Fleming wouldn't be hired until after Cukor had begun principal photography.

[alicefaye]

The burning of Atlanta was the first scene in GWTW to be filmed. Although Selznick was micro-managing everything, I think Cukor had already been assigned to the film by that time. In any event, the burning scene was basically second unit stuff, so it could have been directed by any one of a number of second unit directors (Menzies, Eason...). Fleming wouldn't be hired until after Cukor had begun principal photography.

It certainly makes sense to me that Cukor - rather I should say one of the second unit directors - would have supervised the sequence, but the book says differently:

Well into the production schedule, Fleming was near exhaustion and suffered a nervous breakdown. He left the picture four weeks before returning. To keep the project on track, Selznick hired a long list of talent to direct various scenes: Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin, B. Reeves Eason, Chester Franklin, also production designer William Menzies, editor Hal Kern, special effects supervisor Jack Cosgrove, and William Wellman.

All of the aforementioned individuals' names appear on daily production reports except the name of William Wellman. This omission is written about by noteworthy authors and historians claiming that Wellman did not work on GWTW.

Bob Thomas, in Selznick, writes, "Sam Wood was hired to take over for Vic Fleming. A versatile craftsman, he stepped in and began directing without delay. Sidney Franklin and William Wellman directed other dramatic scenes."

This author [William Wellman Jr.] was present with his father at an afternoon party at David Selznick's Beverly Hills home in 1956. [...] Selznick was pontificating on all the films that he and my father had worked on together. When he finished, my dad piped up with, "Don't forget, I burned down Culver City [the burning of Atlanta] for your Gone with the Wind." Selznick responded immediately, "And that too!"

On December 11, 1938, a month and a half before the actual start date, the burning of Atlanta sequence was shot. [...] Seven Technicolor cameras were positioned to cover every possible angle. It would have to be shot in one take only.

[...]

George Cukor was reported to be on hand while Wellman worked his technical skills.

The book goes on to detail how Wellman noticed an old buggy that was to be burned, decided to take it for himself, and had it cleaned for use by his family. There is, as I mentioned in a previous post, a photo of the buggy, fully restored with a horse hitched to it, with his three oldest children sitting inside and his wife holding the horse's reins.

As I interpret this part, it seems to state that rather than substituting later for Fleming, Wellman rather came in to utilize his ability to direct larger moments - as shown in Wings etc - in lieu of having Cukor helm the burning sequence. Or he was simply brought on as a temporary second unit man. I did misremember and somewhat exaggerate saying "some work" originally, as it seems Wellman didn't film anything else for the picture.

These sorts of minutiae fascinate me, even if we'll never truly learn who filmed what, who was there, and who was not.

Oh, and the other book I personally have in my library regarding anything GWTW is Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master - which does not utter a peep regarding the burning sequence at all. Wellman's name is mentioned, but in conjunction with other matters, such as Louise Brooks opining that Fleming was a classier version of "Wild Bill".