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Clip description
Rupert Kathner (Ben Mendelsohn) is having trouble selling his film to production houses. As unimpressed studio executives watch his film in the cinema, Alma Brooks (Victoria Hill), a secretary, enters with cups of tea and eagerly watches the footage. Brooks meets Kathner for the first time and she soon helps him retrieve his film out of the lab by dubious means.
Curator’s notes
Brooks was obviously the right kind of person to partner up with Kathner – she was used to wheeling, dealing and trying to get money out of people by unscrupulous means. Brooks became his camera operator, stuntwoman, muse, mistress and partner in crime.
There is a reminder in the scene in the cinema of how things were for women at the time. The men frown because Brooks is laughing at Kathner’s film then, when she turns around after serving the tea, one of them pats her bum. She turns back and upsets the cup he is holding while an interview voice-over says ‘the trouble with Alma was that she never knew her place’. Brooks would use anything to get her way but, on the other hand, wouldn’t tolerate sexist behaviour. She was a fascinating woman for her time.
