Heights of actors

Of all the put-downs Alan Ladd suffered for being average height for a man of his time -- 5ft-7 -- one of the stupidest I've seen is the story that while making this picture Alan Ladd had to stand on a crate and Barry Sullivan in a hole for their scenes together. It should be obvious to anyone who's watched many old movies that many, many scenes in many, many movies were subtlly shot from varying angles, and on variously crafted floors, so that one guy didn't seem to be towering over another and craning their necks in close two-shots. Supposedly in this movie it was a very thin crate, say 4 inches, and a very shallow hole, another 4 inches -- and I guess they just stood there static, for all their scenes, delivering lines to each other eye to eye. Too stupid for words. Another myth perpetuated is the one by TCM whenever they show Casablanca -- that "Bogart had to stand on a box" to appear taller than Ingrid Bergman. Well, he was actually slightly taller than Bergman so I have no idea why this would be necessary, unless allowing for the unlikely event that she went around in high heels in her movies -- and at 6ft (5ft-8 in bare feet) she would have towered over most men in those days (except, in Casablanca, the 6ft-3 Paul Henried and 6ft-2 Conrad Veidt).