Camera #153 - a 1928 Survivor
In 1928, The Mitchell Camera Company
had ramped up production to meet the demand of their popular and modern Mitchell
camera to an average of one camera per month which would more than double in the next year. National had been an early convert to Mitchell Cameras and Jack could
see the advantage of staying with one standard camera for his new operations.
The early VitaPhone features were all shot with Bell&Howell 2709 cameras but due to the added stress of
the dual sound drive systems, these cameras were nearing an early end and
becoming expensive to keep in repair.
Amidst the chaos, Warners produced 86 feature films of which would only
continue to be a near constant for many years. #153 was most certainly a major
production asset well into the 1950s at Warners. At this point in the
story, let us take a brief look at the VitaPhone system and its importance to the sound film development.
In the Warners lot, The recording building was completely separate
from the sound stages to avoid any vibrations to the delicate wax disk
recorders. The cameras and recorders were controlled from the recorder room which featured a main motor that would drive the speed
of the recorders and camera located far away on the sound stage in the early
sound booths. Because of the extreme difficulty in editing the sound, the
system was able to drive up to 4 cameras at the same time with each camera
getting a different shot — wide, medium and specific actors closeups. cutaways and reaction
shots could be shot later without the need for sound. The films were edited to
the sound. Soon, cameras got out of the booths into sound housings or blimps
and gained some mobility but multiple cameras remained a more efficient method.
In the 1950s and 1960s
few of the 1920s cameras were working cameras and mostly for special effects but
because of the still dependable features and rock-solid registration of these
cameras, they were surplussed and found their way
into the growing independent and commercial animation
With a bit of bench time
and TLC as well as replacement of the turret and addition of normal accessories, this tough 1928 VitaPhone survivor and industry workhorse is back in close to the way it was for many
years — if showing that age
just a bit. It has found a good retirement along with other
classic Mitchell cameras in the HeavyIron productions collection.
 "The Camera That Filmed
Hollywood"   |
