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I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies

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Nick Ray has been forgotton by many and only remembered as 'the guy who directed "Rebel Without a Cause"'. True, "Rebel..." is a great film, but it is by no way the best of Ray's films. This book gives a new-comer to Ray an intriguing glimpse at his moments of genius from the inside out, giving them a taste of his films and then making them desperate to see them. For a more informed veiwer it embellishes Ray's work, giving personal insight into the complex films. Ray shows that his belief in serious film making (which the French Cahiers du Cinema critics lauded as auterism) was committed and honest. The resulting films are wonderful and unique, as is this book, which is informative, fascinating and sometimes tragic. Read it.

Ill be honest. I signed up for a course on Nick Ray and Orson Welles course because Orson Welles fascinated me, and I figured that Ray guys film Rebel Without a Cause was pretty good, so I could deal with that side of things as long as I got my Welles fix. I can only assume that, while many people can readily acknowledge the importance of Welles, few would express more than a blank face upon hearing Rays name. In that regard, this book had the difficult task of making me personally see the importance of Ray.

While Ray impressed me through his own passion for his work, it unsettled me a bit that his wife was the one who convinced me of his importance. This is not meant to be a sexist statement, it unnerves me because Susan was not really around for the majority of Rays career, and I normally would not weigh the opinions of her or anyone else in her position too heavily. Shes a bystander! A biased bystander! But while she could have heaped praise and adulation upon her deceased husband, she didnt. And I appreciated that. Susans sincere account of her time with her husband left me with more of an impression of the troubled filmmaker than any straightforward, three-times removed scholarly production of a biography ever could. Facts and figures are all well and good and, sure, they are necessary to outline the where and when of the filmmaker, but Susans personal account was able to do what no fact could, and that was bring the man to life. I only wish that she had been around Ray for a longer period of time, giving more insight into his life as a youth working on films and what he was like in his heyday, but then, I wish for a lot of things.

In fact, Susans portion of the book may have spoiled me. I found it a bit difficult to make it through the other authors areas, with Eisenschitz providing that aforementioned facts and figures version of a biography. Straightforward, to the point, void of emotion. Eisenschitz does not even necessarily look at Ray as a man, but more as a figure of production, with the results of his life taking precedence. An account such as this tends to distract from the human aspect of creation and creativity, and without Susans or Nicks own accounts, I would have left feeling quite unfulfilled. I was reminded of when I learned about historical figures in high school, thinking of them more as lifeless characters who did specific things rather than human beings who lived their lives.

Then there was Rays section.

I had trouble trying to make something of Rays own accounts, his diary entries giving me that same voyeuristic feeling I felt while reading the Welles/Bogdonovich interviews. I am wholly grateful that these words were given an opportunity to hit the page, for no one can talk better about themselves then, well, themselves. I wonder what it would have been like to be a student of Rays, and I found myself thinking back to the days when I was more involved in acting and theatre, and how effective a teacher such as this would have been on me. For all of his quirks and deviations from the norm, Rays tutelage would have undeniably been priceless. However, despite some of the more personal touches within Rays part, I still felt as
though Susans was much more powerful and enriching.

The three authors of the text both elevated and hindered it. It gave readers the ability to see the filmmaker from a variety of
perspectives, even using Rays own words, but at the same time it fragmented the story so to speak, making it difficult at times to follow smoothly.

I may have fell for the Welles, but Ill stay for the Ray.

A great read for Nicholas Ray fans. A nice glimpse inside the man - his thoughts, his philosophy of film, and his battle with cancer. Highly recommended.

Nicholas Ray has long been one of my favorite directors, with They Live by Night) my favorite film. I have been carrying around this book of essays and class notes since graduate school. At that time, I read in the volume out of order-- jumping from chapter to chapter to find the pieces holding the most interest for me. So this is the first time that I sat down and read the book cover to cover.

First of all, if you're studying Ray and his ideas, this is an invaluable resource. For a couple of reasons, I'm not wild about his wife Susan writing his 'autobiography' at the beginning. Even still, that chapter has good background and interesting material. The Class Notes are where you can really dig out the ideas behind the works. I will warn you that reading them can take some patience.

I'm not sure how useful this would be for someone who has never known Ray as a director-- it isn't as valuable as a general book on film. Happily, I know most of Ray's body of work. I've just ordered Johnny Guitar to watch with my husband; he's never seen anything more than Rebel Without a Cause.