American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

Camerette 16/35 CLOSEUPS = Notes jand H editorial comment = by the editor . . . . The Most Versatile Camera In The World . . . The CAMERETTE is the ONLY reflex motion picture camera with adjust¬ able shutter, 200° to 40° . . . Ability to use short focal length lenses. Divergent three-lens turret accom¬ modates 18.5mm to 300mm lenses. Fully automatic quick change maga¬ zines 100 foot and 400 foot . . . AND The 16/35mm CAMERETTE is the ONLY motion picture camera able to photograph with both 16mm and 35mm film, black and white or color . . . The CAMERETTE is a precision-built, professional motion picture camera, light-weight, dependable, versatile, with a complete line of accessories for all types of photography. Write for illustrated folder and price list. Manufactured by Ets. Cine. Eclair, Paris for descriptive brochure write U.S. representative Benjamin Berg Agency 1360 Mo. Van Ness Ave., Hollywood 28, (alif. Christmas is not the only thing they’re getting ready for in Hollywood. There are the forthcoming Academy Awards presentations to be preceded by nomina¬ tions, deliberations and final voting. All this bestirs Hollywood film folk this time of year when plans are accelerated to put into release before the traditional December 31st deadline those as yet un¬ released pictures which the producers are hopeful stand a good chance for nomination for one or more Awards. From the point of photography, there already has been released a greater number of pictures having nomination possibilities than in any previous year, and this is going to make the final selec¬ tions quite a chore for Academy mem¬ bers. There still are a number of top notch productions, wonderfully photographed, yet to be released before the December 31st eligibility deadline. Among these are : “Come Back Little Sheba,” (Para¬ mount) photographed by James Wong Howe, ASC ; “The Bad And The Beau¬ tiful,” (MOM) by Robert Surtees, ASC; “The Jazz Singer,” (Warner Bros.) by Carl Gutherie, ASC; “Hans Christian Andersen,” (Goldwyn) by Harry Stradling, ASC; “Member Of The Wedding,” (Columbia) by Hal Mohr, ASC; “The Four Poster,” (Columbia) by Hal Mohr, ASC; “Stars And Stripes Forever,” (Fox) by Charles G. Clarke, ASC; “The Star.” (Thor Prods.) by Ernest Laszlo, ASC; “Limelight,” (Chaplin) by Karl Struss, ASC; and “My Cousin Rachel,” (Fox) by Joseph LaShelle, ASC. ★ The nominations period which precedes the Awards usually finds the major atten¬ tion concentrated on selecting nominees for best acting, best picture, and socalled major awards, with too little at¬ tention given to the industry’s technical achievements. However, it is significant that at the moment the industry’s two outstanding attractions are Cinerama, and Natural Vision 3-dimensional films, both the result of outstanding achievement con¬ tributed by technical crafts of the mo¬ tion picture industry. Both Cinerama and Natural Vision are essentially pho¬ tographic achievements embracing new and daring cinematographic innovations which have won wide public acceptance and therefore are likely to have farreaching effect on the future of motion pictures. ★ The value of the Academy Awards comes up periodically for debate, usually fol¬ lowing the presentation of awards each year. All the major studios contribute to the support of the Academy. After the presentation ceremonies have be¬ come just a memory, sometimes a period of retrospection sets in when the studios’ brass wonder if the big annual Awards event really justifies the cost. Well, putting aside any considera¬ tions relating to the prestige a Best Picture or Best Actor “Oscar” would give their product, how about the boost to the morale which the Awards give to studio personnel? We wonder if studio executives ever measure the Awards event in terms of incentive — the incent¬ ive given a cameraman to do a better job, or for an actor or actress to give a superior performance, hoping there might be an “Oscar” in it for them come the following March? That in¬ centive, we think, is easily worth the annual Awards cost. ★ Few people realize that one of the busiest motion picture production centers in North America, outside of Hollywood, is located in Montreal, Canada. Here Associated Screen Studios have been established for many years, turning out newsreels, short subjects and industrial films. This studio is presently celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its most successful product — the Canadian Cameo series of theatrical short sub¬ jects, which are distributed interna¬ tionally. Hollywood joins with other world film production centers in hailing Associated’s success, and wishes them continued success in the future. ★ Correction: Last month, editorial grem¬ lins caused a transposition in the last line of the caption under the lower righthand illustration on page 482, relating to Hal Mohr’s story on use of the Garutso lens. It should have read: “The Stan¬ dard lens graph line is indicated by 0, the corrected lens by x.” —A.E.G. amerette patents coutant-mathot 516 American Cinematocrapher December, 1952