You Can't Fool a Camera (1941)

Release Date:

May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

This short starts out as a documentary. In a dramatization, Eadward Muybridge's photographic experiments prove that when a horse gallops...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Romance Of Celluloid | Tacoma Washington | Football | Camera

Cast

Pete Kmetovic	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joseph Ruttenberg	...	Himself
Ray June	...	Himself
Mervyn LeRoy	...	Himself
Karl Freund	...	Himself
Robert H. Planck	...	Himself
Norman Z. McLeod	...	Himself (as Norman McLeod)
George J. Folsey	...	Himself (as George Folsey)
M.J. McLaughlin	...	Himself (as Michael J. McLaughlin)
Clark Gable	...	Himself
Rosalind Russell	...	Herself
William H. Daniels	...	Himself (as William Daniels)
Clarence Brown	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Whitbeck	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Original Music by
Daniele Amfitheatrof		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Jackson Rose		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jack Ruggiero

Music Department
Nat W. Finston	....	music supervisor (as Nat Finston)

Other crew
John Arnold	....	technical cooperator
John M. Nickolaus	....	technical cooperator (as John J. Nickolaus)

Production Companies

• Loew's (as Loew's Incorporated)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1941) (USA) (theatrical) (as Loew's Incorporated)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD) (on "Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2")

Also Known As:

"A New Romance of Celluloid: You Can't Fool a Camera" - USA (series title)

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Movie Connections:

References Lady Be Good (1941)

Curious short about the camera's accuracy in capturing the truth...

There's nothing much to recommend this short from MGM, YOU CAN'T FOOL A CAMERA, except to say that it does prove the theory that all four hoofs of a horse are off the ground at some point in time during their running speed. A whole row of cameras attached to strings that set the shutters off enable proof when at least one of the B&W stills show a horse with all four legs in mid-air.

Then, having proved this and taking a look at a couple of other historical incidents captured on camera, the film goes on to show some of MGM's busy studio craftsmen behind the movie cameras or directing a bevy of films about to be released.

So, in essence, it's a promotional short for upcoming MGM features posing as some sort of documentary. Upcoming titles include some which never materialized as planned: for instance, Spencer Tracy in THE YEARLING or Rosalind Russell and Clark Gable in a film called STRANGE PARTNERS whose title was later changed to THEY MET IN BOMBAY. For the final shot, we get a glimpse of all the talent under contract to MGM at that time: everyone from Gable and Garson to Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald and Jean Harlow.

But still, not much to recommend it as anything more than passable interest.