San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

CLAUDE JARMAN: (LAUGHS) This was the first feature film that was made entirely in Esperanto.
There were English subtitles. And somebody said, “God, it was the best film ever made in Esperanto.”
Only at a film festival could you show that.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Years before Mel Gibson.
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: What else?
CLAUDE JARMAN: What were the great films that year? We had films from George Cukor, Jack
Warner. The Shop on Main Street was one. Mark Robeson—
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Talk about that, because you had worked with him, right?
CLAUDE JARMAN: I was actually in his first—I guess he made one other film before. He wasn’t
George Cukor. He wasn’t somebody who had that history, although at that time he was still a very able
director. He was doing some interesting things. Roman Polanski, Arthur Freed, Fred Astaire—Who
actually got up and did a dance with Albert. I mean, it was one of the great tributes of all time. It was
fabulous. We also had—who was I going to tell you? Oh, I think Walt Disney came up that year,
because we showed—was it Snow White?
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: I’m not sure. I don’t have that in my notes.
CLAUDE JARMAN: I think we showed Snow White. Barney Conrad went down to pick him up, and I
guess the film hadn’t shown up. And Barney went down and said, “Mr. Disney,” and he got in the car
and he said, “Where’s the goddamn film?” He was like, “Oh my God, we found the film,” but it was
like—
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Don’t piss off Walt Disney. (LAUGHS)
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