American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1952)

EE Model 11 EE I A Tp1IL^ 1 CAMERA I EE for TV, Newsreel EE and commercial For tough and trying assign ~ — — ments, ARRIFLEX 35 is in a ^ ~ class by itself. Reflex focusing ~ — through photographing lens EE while camera is operating — E: == this is just one outstanding ^ ARRIFLEX feature. ~ EE Equipped with bright, right EE ~ side-up image finder, 6V2 x ~ EE magnification. Solves all par EE — allax problems. 3 lens turret. ~ = Variable speed motor built ^E — into handle operates from = lightweight battery. Tachom EE EE eter registering from 0 to 50 ~ = frames per second. Compact, = EE. lightweight for either tripod ^ or hand-held filming. Takes ^ EE 200' or 400' magazine. Write EE ~ for free folder. — Cinematography | REVIEWS Hollywood Last Month BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY — Pho¬ tographed in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager, ASC, for 20th Century-Fox. Produced by George Jessel and directed by Harmon Jones. A solid Damon Runyon story, Mitzi Gaynor and Scott Brady as the stars, and George Jessel to produce it, are just about all anyone could ask in a color musical. Add to this superlative Techni¬ color photography by Edward Cron¬ jager and the result is a swell package of pictorial entertainment. This also is probably one of the most skillfully lit and photographed color musicals to come out of Hollywood dur¬ ing 1952. From the very first scene the photography demonstrates a quality of warmth and vitality that sparks the gay mood which prevails to the final fadeout. Here is real “painting with light,” a skill which is particularly demonstrated in some of the dance numbers where light changes show slick coordination between gaffer and crew and the director of photography. It’s a known fact that the pictorial quality of a scene or subject often de¬ pends on placing the light source at pre¬ cisely the right distance away. Cronjager apparently has mastered well this tech¬ nique, as indicated by the pleasing rich tone and color quality of his medium and closeup shots. Students of cinematography can learn much from a careful study of this picture. • ROAD TO BALI — Photographed in T echni color by George Barnes, ASC, for P ar amount Pictures. Produced by Harry Tugend and directed by Hal Walker. Needless to say, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour are the stars of this Technicolor musical farce, as they have been in all the other “Road” films that have preceded it. This time George Barnes directs the photography and, as he would put, “it’s a routine job of color photography — nothing special.” Art directors Hal Pereira and Joseph McMillan have provided lavish color in the settings and Barnes has done a mast¬ erful job in lighting and photographing them, bringing them to the screen with all the splendor of the sound stage cre¬ ations intact. Students of motion picture photogra¬ phy will be particularly interested in the special photographic effects of Gor¬ don Jennings, ASC, and Paul Lerpae, ASC, and the process photography by Farciot Edouart, ASC, — especially the matt shots in which a beautiful dancing girl emerges magically from a cobra basket to the music of a native’s flute. The changing size of the girl, as she rises from the basket, was accomplished by starting the shot of the girl against a backing with the camera mounted on a dolly at the top of a ramp, then mov¬ ing down progressively closer until she appears full size. The result was then combined with the basic scene through the usual matt technique of double printing. e THE MURDER (May later be retitled “ Angel F 'ace” ) — Photographed in black-and-white by Harry Stradling , ASC , for RKO-Radio Pictures. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger. RKO was well repaid for the extra sum it cost them to get Harry Stradling to decer a long-awaited vacation in order to direct the photography of this picture. Stradling has embellished the pro¬ duction with his well-known style of mood lighting and a special photogra¬ phic treatment of Jean Simmons, who co-stars with Robert Mitchum, but who actually is the dominant character in a drama of a twisted mind that stops not at murder to fulfill its romantic desires. Never before perhaps has Miss Simmons been so carefully photographed as to reveal her true personality and to bring out her best physical and histrionic qualities. It is also interesting to note how Stradling frequently employs a precise camera angle to point up mood or to motivate or sustain some dramatic point in the story. Among other photographic highlights are the two automobile crash scenes, which were not done in miniature or by process. The crashes are real. Five diff¬ erent cameras were employed in filming the action. In one crash, one camera was almost totally destroyed by the hurtling automobile, indicating to what lengths director Preminger went to get utmost realism in this production. Reviewed here each month are new Hollywood feature film releases which demonstrate noteworthy photographic tech¬ niques of interest to students of cinema¬ tography. Unfortunately we cannot review all new releases, and failure to review a particular film implies no lesser photo¬ graphic achievement. 518 American Cinematographer December, 1952