CHAPTER XIII
FILMING THE FLIGHT—BY GEOFFREY BARKAS
THE scientific value of this chapter can best be gauged
by the fact that the writer was at no time during the
operations nearer to Everest than eighty miles from the
summit, and that he is, to this day, uncertain which of the
peaks that rocked to and fro in the field of his binoculars was
actually the Goddess Mother of the mountains.
However, an impression from the viewpoint of the film
party, to whom the scientific objects of the flight meant little
and the opportunities of making pictures much, will have a
degree of interest.
When the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation had secured
the rights to produce "Wings over Everest," the first point to
be decided was whether the Indian scenes should be "talkie"
or "silent." The difficulty was one of practice—not policy,
the box-offices of the world demand talk, or at any rate noise,
with their pictures. Could we successfully employ sound
cameras on such a task?
Nothing was to be gained by attempting to record sound
on "shots" of the Westland machines in the air. Engine noise
could be put on at any time. There remained the scenes of
preparation and the ground work prior to the take-off These
could be handled by sending a couple of camera-men to India
with silent cameras, and reconstructing all dialogue scenes in the
studios at home after the flight.
But two factors weighed heavily against this method.
Firstly, it was strongly felt that complete authenticity could
only be obtained by recording events as they actually hap-
pened—filming each incident from die "angle" that would
give it the correct dramatic perspective. Secondly, owing to
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