Articles & Texticles

This is the sixth chapter in the ongoing series about Art Directors and Production Designers in British Film up to 1948, and the featured artist in this excerpt from the book is Ralph Brinton (1895 – 1975)

“In its widest sense I would say that my favourite medium as a designer is the moving picture provided by cinematography”.

`This Man In Paris´ 1939
.

`Odd Man Out´ 1946
.

`Uncle Silas´ 1947

The text follows after the fold:
RALPH BRINTON

“In its widest sense I would say that my favourite medium as a designer is the moving picture provided by cinematography. If you want me to say whether I prefer to use ink, charcoal colour, etc., for my sketches, I don’t think I can say.

Perhaps it is my misfortune that I try one medium after another and can never make up my mind on this point. For me, the choice of medium is largely settled by the subject.

There would always seem to be a danger that in sticking to one particular medium, results may lead to a mannered formula bearing little relation to the design as seen on the screen. Further, a series of two-dimensional illustrations would hardly seem to be enough by which to transmit one’s ideas to a director or producer.

A film consists of a series of two-dimensional illustrations in movement, thereby introducing a third dimension. The design, therefore, becomes three-dimensional and in essence largely a planning problem.

Having received my original training as an architectural designer,. I may perhaps be prejudiced in this matter, but the point I wish to make is that my medium is largely the medium of the drawing board and camera angle and that the sketch is only one stage, not necessarily the first, in my design”.

This comment on film decor by Ralph Brinton gives you the best picture of the man at work-it also shows a great understanding of this new medium – the film.

Brinton’s work on ‘Odd Man Out’ will be remembered as being exceptionally filmic in quality, the ‘perfect background to a beautifully directed film’.

Brinton went into private practice as an architect in 1928, after having trained and received the Diploma at the Architectural Association.

As an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects he has always remained an architect, but after his entry into films in 1933 he became a fervent believer in the future of the film as an art.

Between 1934 and 1936 Brinton art directed very many films for Sound City and Fox British.
Then in 1936 he made the designs for ‘Wings of the Morning’, followed by
‘The Last Adventurers’, 1937 (Director R Kellino);
‘Mikado’, 1938 (V.Scherzonger);
‘This Man in Paris’, 1939 (D. MacDonald);
‘Window in London’; ‘Arsenal Stadium Mystery’ (T.Dickenson);
‘Odd Man Out’, 1946 (C. Reed);
‘Uncle Silas’, 1947 (C. Frank).