American cinematographer (Aug 1935)

334 American Cinematographer o August 1935 James Wong Howe, A.S.C. James Wong Howe —An Uncommon Artist by Harry Burdick J AMES Wong Howe, by big odds, is probably the most colorful cinematographic celebrity of Hollywood. The remote province of Kwongtung, Chino, gave him birth. Ten formative years of his boyhood were spent on on Oregon form with foster-parents who ore Irish. Match that, if you con, os background for on oce cinematographer. While engaged in the practice of his profession, he is wholly American. Delightfully democratic and popular, he is “Jimmy" to everyone. He utilizes the same U.S.A. lenses and chemicals and technical equipment as the most rock-bound Yankee. But you'll note he proudly includes his Chinese sur- name, Wong, in his signature. And the straight strains of celestial blood that course his veins dictate his theories of screen art. In other phrases, his mind and his hands are pure American; his eyes and his heart are of China. Plus the item, as Richard Boleslawski aptly puts it, “There's plenty of Irish, too, in Jimmy." Since 1917, when he first captured the images of Mary Miles Minter in his camera on the old Vine Street lot of Famous Players, Jimmy has been giving deep, philosophical thought to his profession. His technique is founded on fundamentals amazingly well-defined, sharply-stated and progressive. He looks into the immedate future with much hope and confidence for his profession. He feels that cinematography to come will escape from its current emphasis of stereotyped photographic technical perfection and graduate into realms of realism. Prevailing stress on technicalities—of light and balance and exposure—freezes out the humanness and naturalness from finished works. They become too exactly nice, too mechanically perfect, with elaborate studio prep- aration too evident. The true artist always conceals the effort. He takes his technical perfection for granted; and it becomes but a means, not the end itself. It is as the concert pianist who plays compositions requiring extreme technical skill and impresses his audience with his exhibition of mechanical deftness, compared with the artist who with no noticeable exertion to divert his audience makes sweet music. Screened photography, to Jimmy, should never be ob- trusive, it should not screamingly clamor for notice. Its perfection should be so unassumingly perfect as not to pull audience attention from the unfolding drama. It should be as a well-dressed woman—reticent, confident, unobtru- sive in her appearance. It should not be conspicuous either for being over-dressed nor under-dressed. Jimmy wants a scene to look humanly and naturally real, rather than being only a demonstration of the scien- tific perfection attained by chemists. With the new, faster and better lenses, film and lights available, he can see scenes photographed under actual lighting; a candle-lit table actually lit by candles. Giving truthfulness and fidel- ity of reproduction from life to the screen. But don't for a moment hold opinion that Jimmy is a radical or a dreamer. To the contrary, he is amply able to deliver, upon request, celluloided images as mathemat- ically accurate as any of his confreres. His recent work “Flame Within" is an instance. The story is placed in apartments and offices that are gems of interior decora- tion, each piece precisely placed. The cinematographic treatment is in keeping. It is as though each and every scene had been shot after lengthy consultation with rules and regeulations of exposure book and meter. Each is in perfect balance. Each frame of it is technically accurate. But it is his current work that warms Jimmy's heart and provides scope for his uncanny artistry. It is a circus picture, “O'Shaughnessy's Boy." The majority of scenes are under canvas and it's an actual tent, not a stage set. Jimmy has not exactly designed sets on which to paint mathematically determined shadows. He shoots against that drab gray background ond lets the canvas make its own natural shadows. He has no elaborate superstructure of top lights, and is happy indeed, because he is forced to handle his lighting in a natural, lifelike manner. There's a tendency toward too much back-lighting, anyway, he feels. There's not that much in actual life. He is letting detail fall away and permitting his com- ing audiences the enjoyable privilege of using their imag- ination. He is using no long revealing shots of crowds. In- stead he is using close shots, catching the crowds in sec- tion; cutting out these sections just as a newspicture cam- era might. Continued on Page 341