:11:03
had landed in clover.
:11:05
Having replaced Erich von Stroheim
on Merry-Go-Round,
:11:09
which had also starred Mary Philbin
and Phantom leading man Norman Kerry,
:11:13
Julian was now the studio's star director.
:11:17
Dignified, sartorial,
:11:19
with an impeccable waxed moustache,
:11:22
he was very, very strict -
:11:24
and also very mediocre.
:11:26
Almost immediately, Rupert
alienated crew and cast alike.
:11:30
Phantom cameraman Charles Van Enger
:11:33
personally recounted the details
to film historian Rudy Behlmer in 1962.
:11:39
The eyes went heavenward,
:11:41
and he said that Julian and Lon Chaney,
after the film had started production,
:11:46
did not get along at all.
:11:48
And, in fact, it got to a point where
:11:51
Mr Van Enger was a kind of go-between,
:11:55
and the two of them didn't speak.
:11:58
With Van Enger the messenger boy,
Chaney sent word to
:12:01
"Tell Rupert to go to hell."
:12:04
Van Enger cautioned Julian to beware,
:12:06
lest an arc lamp
"accidentally" drop from the rafters.
:12:11
Norman Kerry, on horseback one day,
became so angry at Julian
:12:15
that he charged the director's platform,
riding down the cameras.
:12:20
Julian's wife, Elsie Jane Wilson,
punctured his pomposity constantly,
:12:25
endearing her to the crew and
smoothing production considerably.
:12:30
If the behind-the-scenes battles
were colourful, so was the film itself.
:12:34
The new two-colour Technicolor process
was used for scenes of spectacle.
:12:39
With over $500,000 spent and the New
York opening set for February 1925,
:12:45
a January preview was a disaster.
:12:48
Laemmle fired his general manager.
:12:51
Rupert Julian walked out.
:12:53
Director Edward Sedgwick, a Western
specialist, reshot 60 per cent of the film.
:12:58
Action and comedy would save the day.