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Jacques Tourneur's age kept him from later jobs as a director
Screenwriter Richard Matheson explained the unfounded doubts about Tourneur's directing ability.
Being an accomplished screenwriter comes with a lot of perks, including the ability to be a bit choosier with the people you work with. As the screenwriter of some incredible films like The Raven and The Legend of Hell House, Richard Matheson had shown his prowess as a horror screenwriter.
For his film Comedy of Terrors, Matheson was delighted to work with Jacques Tourneur. The pair worked so well together that Matheson continued to ask for Tourneur as director for his later projects. However, Matheson explained that his desires were usually stonewalled by those higher than him.
"I am constantly amazed at the lack of sense in the people who make films in that they refuse to use directors of proven worth simply because they are past a certain age," said Matheson during an interview with Cinefantastique. "Tourneur is a perfect example. He is in France now and I hope he is happy but he really should be in Hollywood, making incredible films. He is the master of the form, but I spent many fruitless years trying to talk people into hiring him to direct my films."
Why those higher-ups were reluctant to hire Tourneur is anyone's guess, though Matheson claimed that he had his own suspicions. "Bert Granet hired him to do one of my Twilight Zone episodes and it was revealing in the following way. Every time I mentioned Tourneur's name before he got the Twilight Zone assignment, the answer I always got was something like 'Oh, well, yes, a great director but he's too old, he's used to taking too much time, we can't afford that sort of thing anymore.'"
However, Tourneur's age also pointed to a wealth of experience and a great deal of skill. Matheson explained that those misgivings about hiring Tourneur were in vain.
"So what does Jacques Tourneur do but shoot, to my knowledge, the shortest shooting schedule ever managed on a half-hour Twilight Zone segment," said Matheson. "The man is so organized he couldn't possibly take too long."
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