Remembering Film Editor Jim Clark

Remembering Jim

by John H. Myers

At the Bafta awards the other night on BBC Television they had a segment in which photos of those members of the film community who had died in 2016 were flashed on the big screen.  Among them was the film editor Jim Clark.

   It's likely that you've never heard of Jim Clark but within the movie industry he was highly revered.  I had the privilege of knowing Jim and helping him write his memoir Dream Repairman all about his illustrious career as a Bafta and Oscar winning practitioner and champion of the art of cinema.

   He was also one of the nicest and funniest people I ever met.  I remember him describing his friendship with the late Vincent Price as someone he was very lucky to know as he was a hilarious and original wit who, along with his wife Coral Brown would spin very funny sentences out of the ether, never quoting others.

   Jim only directed a few films, one of which was Madhouse starring Vincent Price.  Making the movie was a fraught and unhappy experience as his producer was constantly undermining everything he tried to do but one compensation was his friendship with Price and his description of it is how I feel about my friendship with Jim.  He was one of those people in my life that I was lucky to know.

   When Jim and I were in the early stages of discussing his book he showed me a photo of Price asleep on the set as Jim stood, smiling over him.  The actor autographed it saying:  "Dear Jim.  Another fine example of your marvelous direction."

   After finishing his job on Madhouse Jim flew to Los Angeles to join John Schlesinger as his editor on the film Day Of The Locust.  From that day forward he remained almost exclusively in the cutting room.  His first job with Schlesinger had been Darling in 1965 and they became close personal and professional friends.  Jim was always John's first choice to cut his films though sometimes it didn't work out.  One thing I learned while going through Jim's history was just how complicated the convergence of schedules can be in the movie-making process.

   He was unable to cut Far From The Madding Crowd for John as he was directing a documentary but when John rang him with news that the studio wanted to fire the editor they'd agreed on, Jim dropped tools and joined him in the cutting room, taking over all the action sequences and the editor wasn't fired.

   Equally important to Jim as his career was his family and they were all in evidence at the memorial event held in his honour last May at the Roof Gardens in Kensington just around the corner from the house he and his family lived in for many years.

   I acted as MC for the event and it was, for those in attendance, a memorably moving occasion.

   The room was comfortably crowded and Jim's family was represented by his wife Laurence, daughters Kate and Sybil, son in law David Caines and grandchildren: Kate's daughter Lily and Sybil and David's sons Jackson and Dylan.  After an hour of people having drinks and chatting, the speeches began with Jim's wife Laurence kicking things off with a very well received speech.

   Laurence Méry-Clark is a French film editor who met Jim in Paris on Stanley Donen's movie Charade which starred Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  Although Jim was the editor, the French union required the film to hire a local stand-by editor which was Laurence.  In actual fact she had met him previously when he had gone to Paris with Muir Matheson to view the rough cut of Once More With Feeling, another Stanley Donen film on which Jim was assistant to editor Jack Harris.  It was Jim's memory that he asked Laurence if she would meet him for dinner after the film and that she accepted then stood him up.  Laurence, however, did not recall this detail and simply remembers meeting him on Charade and being pleased that he was young.

   Next to speak was Jim's eldest daughter Kate who told us that, after the difficulties of being a teenager had passed, she and Jim developed a strong friendship in which she was able to learn from her father about music, books, film and art.  She had a long list of highlights which included: "Singing show tunes around a piano; The joy in his voice when I told him I was going to have a baby; Watching old movies; Taking Lily to Golden Gate Park when she was two months old; Driving around a post Katrina New Orleans taking photos; The limo ride to the Oscars; The drag show I took Dad to.  He was a great film editor but more importantly he was a great man who led a great life and shared it. We are all better because he lived."

  Following Kate was Artie Schmidt who told the story of how he met Jim when he was assigned to assist him on the John Schlesinger film Marathon Man and of the real friendship which soon developed between them.  Artie told us how it was Jim who, tired after too many films, had declined the offer to cut Coal Miner's Daughter for Michael Apted and recommended Artie for the job, earning him his first Academy Award nomination.  He since has won two Oscars for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forest Gump, both directed by Robert Zemeckis.  He also shared the story of co-editing The Last Remake Of Beau Geste which was directed by the late Marty Feldman.  Because a difference of opinion had developed between Jim and Marty Feldman, Universal wanted Jim to do one version and Artie to work with Feldman on his, but Artie refused to do this because he knew it would damage his friendship with Jim which was more important to him.  He went on to say that whenever he got into a tight spot, editing-wise, he would always ask himself: "What would Jim do?"

   The next speaker was costume designer Ruth Myers who only ever worked on one film which was cut by Jim. It was Sherlock Holmes's Smarter Brother directed by and starring Gene Wilder.  What she had to say though was nothing professional but how overwhelmed she was by the generosity of spirit she felt when she visited Jim and Laurence at their home in Kensington Square.  She said that they made her so welcome that they became close friends for life.

   It was my turn to speak next and I read out an email from director Don Boyd whose delayed flight meant he couldn't make it.  I then said a few words about Jim's modesty which was impressive in light of the egomania which dominates the movie business.  For a man who had a great deal to boast about, I never heard Jim boast about anything.  Ever.

   One person who was unable to attend was novelist, screen writer and director William Boyd who sent a message from Australia which I read out.

   I remember the day Jim rang me, more than a bit concerned that William Boyd had insisted on taking the first draft of Dream Repairman home to read after having dinner at Kensington Square.  The cause for his concern was that, in the book, Jim was critical of the casting of A Good Man In Africa which Will had written.  All turned out well as both Will and his wife Susan loved the book and over a Soho lunch made suggestions to improve it.  Will also wrote an introduction to it and was very helpful in getting it to various critics who all gave it good reviews.

   Composer Howard Blake was the next to speak and I remember Jim telling me about the score he composed for Agatha which Vanessa Redgrave, for some reason, had taken against and insisted on another composer being hired.  Jim's opinions on music, I found over the years, were always considered and intelligent and he said that Blake's score, which he thought was marvelous, was in the style of Miklos Rozsa.

   The next speaker was Jim's grandson Jackson Caines. Earlier in the evening I heard Jackson playing beautiful renditions on the keyboard of songs from the Fred & Ginger dance movies of the 1930s which were among Jim's favourites. 

   When he got up to speak, Jackson described what a joyous experience it was to have Jim Clark as his grandfather.  His passions for music, photography, literature as well as film and travel were infectious and rubbed off on him.  Most eleven year old boys would be happy just to go to the movies with their granddad, but his was intimately and expertly involved in the making of movies and his opinions were always enlightening and entertaining. 

   Bryan Oates was the next speaker and he began by reading out messages from director Roland Joffe and producer David Puttnam.  Jim worked with both these men on The Killing Fields (for which Jim won his Oscar) and The Mission.  Jim also joined Puttnam as a vice president at Columbia Pictures during his tenure as head of that studio.

   Bryan told his story of how he had targeted Jim as someone he wanted to work with in the industry and, having achieved his goal, became a lifelong family friend.  He was Jim's assistant on several pictures including the ill fated Young Toscanini which starred Elizabeth Taylor and was directed by Franco Zefferelli.  Having a three week window in his schedule Jim agreed to spend that time in Rome cutting the movie but should have viewed the film before agreeing to work on it as it was in too terrible a state to salvage.

   The next speaker was director Mike Leigh who Jim had cut two films for: Vera Drake and Happy Go Lucky.  One theme about Jim which emerged in the speeches was his impatience with the length of so many films.  I remember him telling me about going with Laurence to see a film produced by his colleague Art Linson which was directed by Sean Penn.  When Linson introduced him to Penn, he was asked how he liked the film.  "It's too long," said Jim.  Sean Penn turned around and walked away.

   One comment I remember Jim telling me he made to Mike Leigh was that he could have taken half an hour out of Leigh's Gilbert & Sullivan picture Topsy Turvey.   Presumably he said this more than once because Mike alluded to it in his speech and capped his friendly remarks off with an opinion of Jim's book: "After all his criticism what could I say but that it was too long."

   The last speaker was composer, pianist and vocalist Denis King with whom Jim and Bryan Oates had worked on the film version of his show Privates On Parade.  I knew that Jim and Denis had been friends for years and, like everyone there, spoke fondly of him.

   It was a joyous occasion for people who knew Jim Clark.  For those who didn't, his book Dream Repairman is still available.