Michael E Briant

child actor

Shortly after returning from location filming in France and at the beginning of the studio shooting at Pinewood studios I contracted Typhoid Fever!  (Think I got it in St Malo or Dinard) Didn't do a lot for the production as they were all potentially contagious!

Didn't do a lot for my part either!    I was in hospital unconscious for a week then another couple of weeks recovering and then had to keep having blood tests to prove I was no longer infectious!  My studio part got smaller and smaller.  Still it was interesting to work on big(ish) movie out on location in France and the Hamble River where years later I kept my own boat. The money I earned from this production was enough to purchase a Palliard Bolex 8mm cine camera.  Wonderful - still have it - I then started making little films - sort of drama always - the editing was pretty basic and the projector which I had got from appearing in Rainbow - an 8mm Specto is still projecting today.  This all probably helped an academically challenged person to end up as a jobbing freelance TV an Movie director.

True as a Turtle may not be the best remembered movie ever but it certainly laid down the tracks for my future career.  Very grateful to it!

I wonder how that has changed with video/digital equipment which is so easily available to-day?  The best way to learn how to make movies is to make movies.