If I Couldn't Read, I Couldn't Live.

If I Can Say One Thing For My Pictures, It Is A Certain Craftsmanship. A Thought Which Has Gone Into Every Angle. There Is Nothing There Without An Optical Reason.

Throughout My Pictures I Employ A Lighting Which Is Not Naturalistic.

My Idea At This Time, Which Was Slowly Developing, Was To Create A Comedie Humaine With Little People, Average People - Samples From Every Period In American Life.

I Was Making Films About American Society, And It Is True That I Never Felt At Home There, Except Perhaps When My Wife And I Lived On A Farm In The San Fernando Valley. But I Always Wanted My Characters To Be More Than Cyphers For The Failings Of Their World. And I Never Had To Look Too Hard To Find A Part Of Myself In Them

Yes, I Was Hired By Universal Because They Needed A Comedy Director. They Had Seen Scandal And Liked It. I Saw An Opportunity Even In Those Comedies To Begin My Project Of American Films.