Member of the Crew

I have long been an admirer of the work of Freddie Francis, and when I learned that he was about to begin work on his first film as director in nearly a decade, and the first project over which he had a real measure of creative control, I contacted him immediately. I was pleased and surprised to receive an extremely kind letter in return, telling me that I was more than welcome to come over to England and cover the filming of his new work, The Doctor and the Devils. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Dylan Thomas, and Francis had been trying to get the project off the ground for quite some time.

Although the budget was small by American standards (roughly $5 million), the film represented a landmark for Francis. He had been working for years as a director of photography, and quite profitably, too. Films like Dune, The Elephant Man, the TV movie of Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song, and other projects had made his life comfortable but, I sensed, somewhat unfulfilling. I knew from acquaintances that Francis intensely disliked being typed as a horror auteur, and that he had for years ducked any interview because he hated being cast as one of Hammer Productions’ directors. I resolved to conduct the interview from a neutral angle, and find out how Francis wished his past works to be viewed. The results were surprising.

Before I proceed, however, a little background on Francis’s considerable accomplishments is in order. Francis was born in London on December 22, 1917, to what he describes as a “relatively impoverished” family. His mother was a housewife, and his father worked at a variety of jobs for what is now known as British Rail, and later as a bookmaker for a London betting firm. Francis was an indifferent student in school until the age of 13, when he suddenly developed an all-consuming interest in photography. Earlier on, he had thought that perhaps he might become an engineer, but “I had an uncle who was sort of an amateur photographer, and I used to play around taking pictures and processing them. Then when I was fifteen I managed to scrounge a visit to a film studio. And that’s when I got hooked ... just hooked.” Francis left school at 16, and apprenticed himself to a still photographer. He worked in this position for one year, until he learned that British International Pictures was looking for a clapper boy. He applied, and got the job. By 1939, he had graduated to focus puller, but just as he was on the verge of being promoted to camera operator, World War II broke out.