William 'One Shot' Beaudine
(1890-1970)
Not a movie... A director... but a director who definitely deserves some recognition here. One Shot's entire career can be summed up in one small quotation. While making a film for Monogram film studios, Beaudine suddenly found himself facing a deadline and exclaimed in total disbelief, "You mean someone out there is actually waiting to see this?"
'One Shot' wasn't just a nickname... It was his creed! Virtually every scene in his over 150 movies were filmed in a single take! Never mind that you can see the rubber bat hanging from a very visible string. Never mind that an actor screws up a line and looks off-screen, scrunching his face while someone cues him. Never mind that a cowboy villian is shot and dies with a smile on his face. Never mind that he has one eye open as he looks around to see who is going to step on him. Never mind that he scoots out of the way. Never mind... 'One Shot' printed it anyway... No re-takes!
Beaudine got his start in the 1920's directing silent movies for children. His phenomenal ability to direct the expressed emotions of the actors proved to be so successful that it carried on throughout his career. Even into the sixties, his actors were instructed to roll their eyes in frustration, cover their mouths with the backs of their hands in horror, clasp their hands in joy, and clutch their hearts in moments of passion. For many of his movies, the soundtrack is merely an annoying distraction to an otherwise delightful silent film.
Billy The Kid Versus Dracula was William's second to last film and starred acclaimed actor John Carradine (as Dracula, none-the-less!). It was very easy to see that the master craftsman (Beaudine) had lost none of his magic with the camera. When a young gypsy girl is suddenly awakened to find Dracula looming menacingly over her, William directed her to lie there with her mouth wide open and her tongue dangling out the side. But, to be certain that the audience can 'feel her fear', Beaudine then offers two more shots of the same mouth and dangling tongue from different camera angles. Later, we watch as Carradine walks through a dark mineshaft with a torch in his hand. An off-screen stagehand was supposed to shine a light in front of Carradine's face in order to simulate the light from the torch. Instead, the light travels around the set, shining behind Dracula, over his head, directly in his face, and everywhere else except the place it's supposed to be. Any other self-respecting director would have taken one look at the scene and either re-shot it, or cut it entirely from the movie. Not Beaudine... After all, he had a reputation to uphold! And he upheld it to the end!
The scene stayed.
For those of you who are interested in becoming William Beaudine fans, keep your eyes open for such 'One Shot' gems as: Get off My Foot (1935); Windbag the Sailor (1936); The Blonde Comet (1941); Blonde Ransom (1945); Blonde Dynamite (1950); The Ape Man (1943); Voodoo Man (1944); What a Man! (1944); Spook Busters (1946); Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952); Billy The Kid Versus Dracula (1966); and his final film, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966).
Just don't say I didn't warn you!
