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Stanley Kubrick - Analisi
Macchina da presa
Arriflex 35 II
The Arriflex 35 II is one of the
most significant motion picture cameras of all
time
It was designed and developed by Arnold &
Richter, A.G. of Munich Germany, founded in
1917 as film laboratory equipment and accessory
manufacturers. The name ARRI derives from
the first two letters of each founder’s name
August Arnold and Robert Richter.
ARRI introduced their first camera the Kinarri
in 1924. 100 Kinarris were sold. After a great
deal of research and development, they developed
the mirror reflex viewing system in 1931.
After perfecting their mirror reflex system, ARRI
introduced the Arriflex 35 in 1937. It was the
world’s first 35mm reflex motion picture
camera. The mirror reflex viewing system it
introduced was so superior that it is used on all
professional motion picture cameras, in all
formats, to this date.*
The Arriflex 35 is built around a cast aluminum
shell of asymmetrical triangular design. The
front of the camera employs a three-lens rotating
turret, as did all cameras of the time. The
viewfinder is mounted in the film compartment
door, which is detachable. The motor mounts to
the bottom of the camera and acts like a
handgrip. The interchangeable magazines, 200, 400
and 500ft magazines mount to the top of the
camera.
The film transport and mirror shutter mechanism
was designed by Erich Kastner, ARRI’s chief
engineer, and August Arnold. It incorporated a
single claw acting on the perfs next to the 35mm
soundtrack area. The claw was actuated by a cam
that allowed the claw to dwell in the perf at the
end of the stroke, just long enough to stabilize
the film without the use of a registration pin.
The gate has a spring loaded side rail that
applies pressure to the film edge to effect
horzontal (weave) and vertical (jitter)
stabilization. This also design made the 35-II
compact and lighweight.
200 foot and 400 foot displacement magazines were
designed for the camera. These magazines had the
sprockets located at the magazine throat. Most
cameras at the time had the sprockets inside the
film chamber of the camera. The sprockets in the
mags kept the film loop constant. Once the mag
was properly loaded, it was very easy to thread
the camera’s film loop and start shooting.
This allowed for much faster re-loads when
shooting. The 35-II is one of the easiest to
thread 35mm cameras ever made.
The
Early History of the Arriflex 35
The
introduction of the Arriflex 35 took place in
1937 at the Leipzig Trade Fair in Germany. It was
originally designed as a hand-held newsreel
camera. It had the sad task of recording the rise
and fall of Hitler’s regime: the Axis pacts,
the invasion of France, the Russian disaster,
Musolini’s death and the Nuremberg trials. Many World War II documentaries include much
German material shot with Arriflexes.
American soldiers brought back captured cameras
introducing the Arriflex to the US.
The camera
was “knocked off” and the nearly
identical Cineflex PH-330 was made for the
US military.
The original ARRI factory on Turkenstrasse street
in Munich was bombed during WWII. The factory was
rebuilt after the war and production on a new
version of the camera, the 35 II, began in 1946.
The
Arriflex comes to Hollywood
The
first Hollywood feature film to use the Arriflex
was Dark Passage, 1945 directed by Delmer Daves,
who had tested the captured Arriflexes for the US
Air Force during his service in the war.
ARRI began to import the Arriflex to the United
States in 1947. Director Robert Flaherty used
them on the film Louisiana Story
1948. Soon the camera was so popular that ARRI
could hardly keep up with the orders. The 35 IIA
was introduced in 1953. The 35 IIBV introduced
the variable shutter option in 1960 and the 35
IIC introduced a larger ground glass, compatible
with the Anamorphic Cinemascope format, and a
larger diameter viewing system in 1964. The IIC
became the most popular model.
The Arriflex 35 II was adopted by the BBC, the
Italian RAI, Polish Film News, and all the film
units of the US Military. The new communist
government of China knocked off the camera and
began producing clones of the 35 II in Nanking,
China.
The 35 II was one of the very few 35mm reflex
hand-held cameras available at the time. As new
filmmaking styles emerged in the 1950’s and
1960’s, the 35 II became even more popular.
The camera was used extensively by all “New
Wave” filmmakers around the world, freeing
them from being tied down with heavy studio
cameras such as the Mitchell BNCR, which although
they were excellent cameras, required two men to
lift, making handheld filming impossible.
Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork
Orange, released in 1971, was shot almost
entirely on the ARRI 35 IIC. There are many
photos from the set of the film showing
35-IIC’s, both hand held and used inside the
ARRI blimphousing.
Kubrick shooting the famous "Singing in the
Rain" scene in A Clockwork Orange
with a
35IIC in 1970. He has used a IIC to some extent
on every one of his films since.
The original
Arriflex 35IIA. "If you design it right the
first time,
you don't have to mess with it much
afterward..."
Arriflex 35IIB. The magazine in this photo is
from a Cineflex.
With slight modifications,
Cineflex mags are compatible with the Arriflex.
Stanley Kubrick shooting his second film, Killers
Kiss, with an Arriflex 35IIA in 1954.
Arriflex 35IIC with 400' Magazine and Matte Box.
Over 17,000 35 II’s
were produced beginning in 1946 making this the
best-selling model ARRI has ever had. By comparison, only
about 1400 ARRI 35-3 models, which replaced the 35 II
were made, despite the fact that the 35-3 is an industry
standard worldwide.
The many
different models of the 35-II:
The
Arriflex 35-II is one of the most successful 35mm motion
picture cameras ever built. About 17,000 35 IIs had been
built when ARRI ceased production of them in 1978 (not
counting the 35-IIIC).
Arriflex
35: Original version, 1937, used in WWII
Arriflex 35 II:Manufactured in new ARRI factory
starting in 1946
Arriflex 35 IIA: 1953. 180º shutter
Arriflex 35 IIB: 1960. New transport claw design,
fixed 180º shutter
Arriflex 35 II BV: 1960. Introduced variable
shutter 0º-165º
Arriflex 35 II HS: 1960 high speed version (to
80fps)
Arriflex 35 II C: 1964. Improved viewing system
with larger viewfinder optics which allow veiwing of the
full anamophic format. Introduction of interchangeable
ground glass system. Viewfinder door with de-anamorphoser
available. Interchangeable eyepiece.
Arriflex 35 II C/B: Equipped with a single
stainless steel Bayonet lens mount on turret, the other
two mounts are ARRI Standard.
Arriflex 35 II CGS/B: Equipped with Pilotone
output and start marking system (obsolete system for sync
sound).
Arriflex 35 II CHS/B: High speed model, 80fps
maximum, with specially prepared movement and 80fps
tachometer. Used 32VDC motor.
Arriflex 35 II CT/B: Techniscope™ format
model. Uses 2-perf pulldown and half-height gate to give
Anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with normal lenses, and
reduces film use by half. Used to shoot THX-1138,
American Grafitti, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and
many other features during the late 60’s and early
70’s.
Arriflex 35 III C: 1982. Final refinement of the
35 II design. Featured PL mount (no turret). Hinged film
door with new optics, three viewfinders available:
Straight Door, Pivoting Door, and Hand-Held Door. Crystal
sync handgrip motor of new design, 12VDC, forward-reverse
5-50fps. Very few were made.
ARRI 35IIC Medical Camera: 1964. Designed for use
as a Cineradiology camera, the medical version of the
35-II was mounted to an X-Ray console and used to shoot
Black & White 35mm film records of moving X-Ray
images (used to diagnose heart problems, for example).
These cameras are usually either gray-beige or light
green in color and have no lens turret and no viewfinder
system at all. They are sometimes equipped with ARRI
standard lens mounts. This model was supeceeded by the
ARRITECHNO in 1970. These cameras cannot be used for
cinematography in their original state. CinemaTechnic
provides conversions to these cameras so that they can be
used for cinematography.
©2001 -
2003 Jorge Diaz-Amador
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