Visions of Light, 1992, AFI/NHK
Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1947)
dp Guy Green
The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
pd Stanley Cortez
How Green was my Valley (John Ford [AA], 1942)
dp Arthur Miller (AA)
Peter Ibbetsen
1935
Charles B. Lang
Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith, 1915)
dp Billy Bitzer
The Cameraman
1928
Elgin Lessley and Reggie Lanning
The Crowd
1928 (camera down slippery-dip)
Henry Sharp
Way Down East (D. W. Griffith)
1920 (ice-floes)
Billy Bitzer
Ben Hur
1926 (chariot-cam)
Karl Struss
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene)
1919
Willi Hameister
The Last Laugh
1924
Karl Freund
Sunrise
1927 (back projection; hand-held?)
Charles Rosher, and Karl Struss
The Locked Door
1929 (mike in flower vase on table; cf. Singin')
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
1931 (pan etc.)
Karl Struss
Applause (Reuben Mamoulian)
1929 (track thro backstage)
George L. Folsey Jr
The Cocoanuts
1929 (camera on dolly)
George L. Folsey Jr
Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy) [choreog. Busby Berkeley]
1933 (fluid camera)
Sol Polito
What Price Hollywood?
1932 (machine shops, labs)
Charles Rosher
The Sea Hawk
1940 (dwelling)
Sol Polito
The Story of Irene and Vernon Castle
1939 (tracking on dance-floor)
Robert deGrasse
Possessed (Clarence Brown)
1931 (train passing)
Oliver T. Marsh
Jezebel (William Wyler)
1938 (dominance of star [Bette Davis])
Ernest Haller
Red Dust (Victor Fleming)
1932 ([Jean Harlow])
Harold Rosson
Camille
1936 ([Greta Garbo])
William H. Daniels
As You Desire Me
1931 ([Greta Garbo])
William H. Daniels
Queen Christina
1934 ([Greta Garbo])
William H. Daniels
Shanghaii Express
1932 (more light [Marlene Dietrich])
Lee Garmes
Desire
1936 ([Marlene Dietrich])
Charles B. Lang
Midnight
1939 (Claudette Colbert: one side of her face)
Charles B. Lang
Midnight
1939
Charles B. Lang
The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
1942 (studios vs DOPs)
Stanley Cortez
How Green was my Valley
1942
Arthur Miller
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
1940
George Barnes
The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, starring John Wayne)
1940 (Sven Nykvist discusses)
Gregg Toland
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
1940 (light of a match)
Gregg Toland
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
1941 ('all the rules he could break'; deep focus)
Gregg Toland
The Killers (Robert Siodmak)
1946 (film noir; road: car-cam; 'basic visual information')
Woody Bredell
Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
1947
Nicholas Musuraca
Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz)
1945
Ernest Haller
T-Men
1947 (sketched)
John Alton
The Big Combo
1955 (cigarette falls; very little grey; final shot ... silhouette; cf. Casablanca)
John Alton
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
1958 (hand-holding seamless)
Russell Metty, Philip Lathrop, camera operator
The Wizard of Oz
1939 (colour)
Harold Rossen
The Red Spectre
1907 (painted frames)
Intolerance (D. W. Griffith)
1916 (blue/red colour filters)
Billy Bitzer
Mystery of the Wax Museum
1933 (two colour process)
Ray Rennahan
Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian)
1935 (three colour process)
Ray Rennahan
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz)
1938
Tony Gaudio and Sol Polito
Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming)
1939 (long pole, derrick: like crane; philosophical adaptation; b/w=>colour)
Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan, Lee Garmes
Meet me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
1944 (colour)
George L. Folsey Jr
Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
1955 (b/w [Lilian Gish])
Stanley Cortez
Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
1957 (newspaper [Tony Curtis])
James Wong Howe
Hud (Martin Ritt)
1963 ([Paul Newman])
James Wong Howe
Picnic (Joshua Logan)
1956 (technique)
James Wong Howe, Haskell Wexler, second unit (helicopter)
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean)
1962 (Cinemascope; camels)
Freddie Young, BSC (AA)
Jules et Jim (François Truffaut)
1962 (nouvelle vague; doco feel; free camera)
Raoul Coutard
Napoleon (Abel Gance)
1927 (steadicam; ropes; dollies; cranes)
Jules Kruger
The Graduate (Mike Nichols)
1967 (new tools [Dustin Hoffman, Ali McGraw)
Robert Surtees
The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
1969 (use cinema of the period)
Vittorio Storaro, AIC
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper)
1969 (fast country...pictorial elements)
Laszlo Kovacs
Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg)
1967 (flaring the lens)
Conrad Hall
Fat City (John Huston)
1972 (so little light...no eyes)
Conrad Hall
Day of the Locust (John Schlesinger)
1975 (windows blown)
Conrad Hall
The Professionals (Richard Brooks)
1966 (day for night [Burt Lancaster])
Conrad Hall
In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks)
1967 (b/w; rain on window onto face [Robert Blake])
Conrad Hall
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Mike Nichols)
1966 (realistic light like doco)
Haskell Wexler (AA)
McCabe and Mrs Miller (Robert Altman)
1971 (desaturated colours like faded photos; flashing)
Vilmos Zsigmond
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
1968 (telephone around corner)
William A. Fraker
Young Man with a Horn (Michael Curtiz)
1950 (New York style)
Ted McCord
Naked City (Jules Dassin)
1948 (new lights; no arcs)
William Daniels (AA)
On the Waterfront (Eliz Kazan)
1954 (great blacks)
Boris Kaufman
Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger)
1969
Adam Holendar
Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
1975 (energy; semi-doco look)
Victor J. Kemper
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
1976 (New York style; dark look; overhead shot; art film [Paul Schrader script])
Michael Chapman
The French Connection (William Friedkin)
1971
Owen Roizman
Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
1977
Gordon Willis
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
1972 (lighting directed by makeup: can't see Brando's eyes in darkness)
Gordon Willis
The Godfather II (Francis Ford Coppola)
1974 (under-exposing; drive-ins need light light levels)
Gordon Willis
Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
1974 (hand-held in bathroom; lighting like doco; 2.35:1 anamorphic; hand-held key-light: voyeuristic look)
John Alonzo
Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
1975 (most expensive hand-held movie [no Steadicam then]; sea-level cam)
Bill Butler
Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)
1978 (sunset: magic 20" of day, romantic; light from electric bulbs in lamps)
Nestor Almendros (AA)
Sunrise (F. W. Murnau)
1927 (lights are props; diffusion-fog filter)
Charles Rosher
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)
1980 (like Life photos; long take; overcranking: 24/48/24 frames ps)
Michael Chapman
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
1979 (communal art of lighting dp; dir overall artist; light: sharp/soft, warm/cold, nat/artif)
Vittorio Storaro
The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci)
1987 (analogies light=life, red=born, yellow=consciousness, green=knowledge)
Vittorio Storaro
The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
1988 (MS starts from shot)
Michael Ballhaus
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
1990 (tracking back/zooming in: world changes while characters still)
Michael Ballhaus
Eraserhead (David Lynch)
1976
Frederick Elmes
Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
1986 (Dorothy's apartment looks like ...)
Frederick Elmes
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
1989 (heat: hot colour; waiting for the light; one day on one block: changes of light obvious; 'DOP is author of use of light in the story'
Ernest Dickerson
'… the studio … There was the gloss of Paramount [Busby Berkeley], the harder-edge look that Warner Bros was noted for [gangsters], and the glamour that you associated with MGM [stars].'
' … Garbo wouldn't have anybody but Bill Daniels do her picture …'
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 18 January, 2019 | Now: 15 November, 2021