Unlike so many of his contemporaries, a quick Google search will reveal an enormous amount of information regarding Karl Struss, ASC and his long, fascinating career.  Some might recall him as co-recipient (with Charles Rosher, ASC) of the first Oscar for cinematography for 1929’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (F.W. Murnau), but that’s … Continue reading “KARL STRUSS, ASC (1886-1981)”

         With the holidays just over the horizon, I can’t think of a better gift for anyone interested in film technology than Robert Hoffman’s book, Alchemy in Technicolor (2024; Medley Land Scribes).          In addition to being a wonderful writer, Hoffman – who spent eighteen years of his half-century-long career as Technicolor’s VP of Marketing … Continue reading “THE PERFECT PRESENT…!”

         Whenever I start to feel I’ve seen it all, a film comes along to reframe my delusion.  Most recently – and as so often is the case – I discovered this oddball offering while looking for something completely unlike it on Tubi.  I’m glad I did.          The Savage Eye is a groundbreaking independent … Continue reading “THE SAVAGE EYE (1959)”

Lloyd Knechtel, ASC             Over the five-year history of this blog, I’ve gone deep to deliver information you probably wouldn’t have encountered anywhere else.  As the latest in the long line of if-only-they-were-underrecognized-rather-than-completely-forgotten cinematographers, Lloyd Knechtel, ASC deserves all the attention I can give him.  He was one of the great early-Hollywood special effects pioneers, … Continue reading “LLOYD KNECHTEL, ASC (1907-1971)”

            I know.  It’s been way too long and you’ve been yearning for a fresh shot of Himself, Jeff IV.  So, here he is in mixed light, no less!

James Wong Howe, ASC and star Samantha Eggar on the set of The Molly Maguires (1970)             During my formative days as a young assistant cameraman in New York, I experienced a minor impulse toward pursuing editing rather than camera. Fortunately, I found this book in a cutout bin at one of those hole-in-the-wall bookshops … Continue reading “A SHAPE-SHIFTING VOLUME”

            I love Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey (1999)!  Everything about it works; for me it’s the best line on his resumé, and that’s no small compliment.  He’s the most adventurous director of the past thirty years and I’ve greatly admired everything he’s done – the hits and the misses.             His cinematographer on this one, … Continue reading “LIME AND PUNISHMENT”

            From the December 1942 issue of American Cinematographer…             What a different time!

         This film noir – directed by Robert Montgomery (who also starred) and shot by Paul Vogel, ASC – is a run-of-the-mill interpretation of the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name.  You’d be missing nothing if you didn’t see it, but for followers of this blog it’s memorable for one reason: The story is … Continue reading “LADY IN THE LAKE (1947)”