[on directing
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)] Although I
was sparing with the big individual close-ups, I was tempted in the
scene where
Edith Evans' voice goes up three octaves on a
single syllable when she says the word "hanndb-a-g". On films, as you
know, voices haven't need to be raised to reach the back of the
gallery. We take care of that, and actors and actresses keep their
voices right down. In the case of Lady Bracknell, however, it was
different: she is a monster anyway and she is more than life-size, and
certainly Edith Evans IS life-size. I didn't try to modify
her performance in any way, because it seemed to me to be splendid.