Alton's light throughout is modulated yet harsh. MGM's Border Incident (featuring Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy and Howard da Silva) follows the "procedural" style of T-Men and He Walked by Night, as two agents infiltrate a mob involved in the exploitation of illegal labor from Mexico. 851968007071. Though he defined and diagrammed the essentials of cinematography in his book, he remained mute as to specifically how he had achieved his signature shots. You're going to make it.". https://ascmag.com/articles/john-alton-master-of-the-film-noir-mood The people making movies had one aim: to make money. However, he remembered, "Every time I looked at a scene, I saw the light on the actors' faces and didn't hear [a word] they were saying, so I knew I wasn't going to be a director. I'd ask the director his opinion of how he would like to see each scene. Free shipping on orders of $35+ from Target. Be the first to write a customer review. In the lobby, a Gypsy fortune teller read their palms. Reflective surfaces — glass-topped tables or puddles in the street — figure prominently in T-Men, and help to make the point that the honest agents are still a gang, just like their targets. I didn't know anything about gobos. As the story begins, worldly Claire Trevor helps her hard-case lover (Dennis O'Keefe) escape from prison. Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann | Stars: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell. Noir-style elements had cropped up in previous films, but the first to compose a complete noir syntax and grammar out of the expressionistic vocabulary was RKO's Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), photographed by Nicholas Musuraca, ASC. "But when I'd take most any director aside and ask him to sit down with me, he'd look at me as if I were crazy. He was reinstated at his request less than a year later, with the help of Leon Shamroy,[4] but ended up resigning a second and final time in March 1954.[5]. The very term "film noir" was, in fact, an afterthought — a French term derived from the expression "roman noir" ("dark novel") which describes English Gothic fiction of the 19th Century. ", The text, which Alton had often scribbled in notebooks on the set, also captured some of the cultural life of its day. Despite the vast technical advances achieved within the motion picture industry much of the content is still pertinent. Menu. That was the difference between my pictures and some of the others: [in mine], each mood was different. Another of the film's high points is the slaying of Schemer (Wallace Ford) in a steam room — a scene played out against the spooky strains of a theremin. "I could see more in the dark than I could in color," he said. "I stopped at the gates of the Cosmopolitan Studio. Alton de-emphasized the human form, making it an element within a mosaic of different visual events. In the March 1979 PFA calendar, filmmaker Dennis Jakob wrote, “Why do we feature John Alton? Starring Dennis O'Keefe and Alfred Ryder as agents of the Treasury Department who infiltrate a counterfeiting ring, the film captured a new, post-war realism through its deft compositions, which offered compelling depth and space. The year 1950 marked the beginning of a creative relationship with director Vincente Minnelli. What do you mean? What is concealed is heightened." Particularly memorable is a quick close-up of O'Keefe flinching and lowering his head as off-screen gunshots signal the cold-blooded murder of his partner. Alton wrote Painting with Light (1949), one of the first books written by a working studio cinematographer. In 1960, Alton abruptly quit the industry. Albert Dekker stars in this fantastic b-movie from 1947. [Audiences] noticed something different. Another technique that draws the viewer into T-Men is the studied performances of the two actors portraying the story's stylishly dressed heroes, who operate undercover. It addresses both conventional and unconventional methods of studio motion-picture lighting. At the event, he summed up his achievements with the wisdom of his 94 years, exclaiming, "I took something, improved it, made something with it and I offered it on a platter for the public to enjoy.". Quick View. He began as a lab technician in Los Angeles in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years. )”Superb visual quality that does justice to John Alton?s striking black & white cinematography…” When the PFA was showcasing Alton's work, their officials didn't even know which continent he lived on. I don't even know where I left the books!". The nightmare sequence, for which Minnelli expressly drafted Alton, is a visual tour de force; however, MGM was normally known for its polished look, so Alton invested most of the film with the light-hearted radiance of winsome, poignant comedy. Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period. It doesn't make any difference if that figure talks or sings; it's still a picture, and the picture will always be the basis of the movies. Scarlet suffers in comparison to his work the previous year for director Joseph H. Lewis on The Big Combo, which presented a bitter, repressed world of menace and doom. The year 1949 also saw the publication of Alton's book Painting with Light. A groundbreaking look at the camera's role in the making of motion pictures, the book was also the first written by a Hollywood cinematographer. "Naturalism," or "realism," refers to an experience such as a walk on foggy night that fills one with a certain sense of awe. I didn't realize that the big-time cameramen spent as much time taking things off as they did putting them on. I had one aim: to make beautiful pictures. Alton recalled thinking, "At last, here is a director I can really sit down and talk with." Matte paintings were used to re-create the Parisian skyline on the Culver City lot. In 1932, Alton was offered the opportunity to design and supervise a five-acre studio in Buenos Aires. He continued to read voraciously and took up oil painting; he crafted over 100 small canvasses and then gave them all away. to interior rooms. Well, at home I used to get $1.50 a week, and here they gave me $12.50, for one day. This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop. The table of contents includes chapters such as "Mystery Lighting", "Special Illumination", and "Visual Symphony". Mysteries, said Alton, allow a cameraman the chance to eschew "chocolate-covered" lighting and, instead, to light "100 percent naturally." Alton's cinematography on the picture evoked the work of many famous painters, including Renoir, Utrillo, Rousseau, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec. This similarity helps the Feds to understand their prey, but it also gives them a hint of menace. Critic Manny Farber cites the film's climax, in which Murphy's character is mulched by a tractor and plow, as one of his favorite scenes in all of cinema. The "frame within the frame" motif recurs throughout film, especially in one indoor image of a man and woman engaging in conversation with a gleaming window situated between them. In the Hollywood of Alton's era, "art" was a dirty word, yet his compositions invariably beg comparison with such master painters as Rembrandt, da Vinci, de la Tour and Caravaggio. John Alton's effortlessly precise cinematography mostly most extreme effects while lending realism and character. Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann | Stars: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell. It was the only contact I had with what Hollywood [cinematographers] did, and it provided my first visual comprehension [of that world]. In this case, the criminals are French Revolutionaries engaged in a plot to replace Robespierre with a more politically moderate candidate. In 1972, director Paul Schrader critically championed the form in his essay "Notes on Film Noir" in Film Comment. Be the first to write a customer review. They called me back the next day to work. The characters also include a thug (John Ireland) and his boss (Raymond Burr), a mob kingpin given to dangerously smoldering moods. Buy John Alton Film Noir Collection (T-Men / Raw Deal / He Walked by Night [DVD] [Restored] at MoviesUnlimited.com. '", [Editor’s Note: You'll learn much more about Alton's work on An American in Paris — and the controversy around the Oscar win he shared with Al Gilks, ASC — here.]. Write a Review (0 reviews) Write a review and get bonus points. Get it today with Same Day Delivery, Order Pickup or Drive Up. Lighting setups often shifted abruptly in mid-shot, from noon to midnight or from blue to red. [On] The Black Book, I copied the masters. Film-noir has played a gigantic role in enticing Leon Lewis into studying film, and who better to write a book about than “the most influential noir cinematographer” John Alton. JOHN ALTON FILM NOIR COLLEC...-JOHN ALTON FILM NOIR COLLECTION Blu-Ray NEW - $52.95. The Art Director’s Guild produced this short on Alton and his expert work with his key collaborators: Act now to receive 12 issues of the award-winning AC magazine — the world’s finest cinematography resource. His style is most notable in the films noir: He Walked by Night, The Big Combo, The Amazing Mr. X, T-Men, and Raw Deal. Lighting fog, mist and smoke was an Alton specialty. Van Dyke once said, "You fundamentally still have the old stereoscope as your basis to work from, but somebody's got to get that picture on the wall. "You, I tell different," she said. Shadowy cinematography by John Alton. In his swift lighting designs, he would establish a shot with only three lights, and then subtract one and then another. T-Men begins with a Treasury agent addressing the audience. Their first picture together was Father of the Bride, shot in just 28 days. The book later went out of print, but the critical re-evaluation of Alton's work led to its reprinting, and it is now a highly respected tome in cinematography circles. Alton soon found himself thrust into the movie business in his newly adopted city. After Gantry, Alton decided to take a well-earned vacation. The scene seems routine until one notices a small statuette of Abraham Lincoln that casts an exaggerated, ink-black shadow; the shadow undercut the traditional centrality of the speaking figure, and also provided a visual pun, implying that government agents were "shadowing" mobsters. Alton eventually returned to MGM, where he'd already worked for 18 years. In this film, Alton's exterior artistry is as expert as his interior work, with landscapes assuming an active importance. It was time for me to move on.". Noted Alton, "The most interesting things in the world happen at night. ", In 1939, the Altons migrated to Hollywood. Three years later, the Berkeley-based Pacific Film Archives (PFA) scoured film depots and vaults for rare prints of the lesser-known films Alton had made at such long-defunct studios as Eagle-Lion, Monogram and Republic, and booked them with his more famous noirs. In 1932, he moved to Argentinawhere he shot many Spanish-language films and designed the country's firs… item 7 John Alton Film Noir Collection Blu-ray ClassicFlix T-Men Raw Deal 7 - John Alton Film Noir Collection Blu-ray ClassicFlix T-Men Raw Deal. "Nobody knew it, though. So when the time came for shooting, I was ready. 70. The narrative revelation of Gantry's worthlessness is underscored through "concealed lighting." Raw Deal (Anthony Mann, 1948) B lessed with D.P. No ratings or reviews yet No ratings or reviews yet. Despite his experience, he couldn't find a niche in A-films — perhaps because he appeared cocky to many. At 18, he set sail for New York to live with a prosperous uncle, and to take up studies in photochemistry. Over the next decade, he made some 34 films. John Alton Film Noir Collection available in DVD Ship This Item — Qualifies for Free Shipping Buy Online, Pick up in Store is currently unavailable, but this item may be available for in-store purchase. The next year, Minnelli tapped Alton for the ballet scenes in An American in Paris (1951). Film noir was a style that registered a certain social discontent before and after World War II. "Theirs is an art of knowing what to reveal and what to conceal. John Alton Film Noir Collection (t-Men / Raw Deal / He Walked By Night) $ 29.95 $ 22.46. These widely circulated retrospectives helped increase awareness of Alton nationwide. That lucky lad was John Alton, a cinematographer whose art has been lauded at recent film festivals in Vienna, Japan, Argentina, Telluride, and San Francisco, as well as in retrospectives at the American Museum of the Moving Image and the Pacific Film Archives. Quick View. See more ideas about alton, cinematographer, film. He landed his first studio job at MGM's recently bought Culver City lot, where he quickly became a cameraman. Mann already had a dozen B-pictures under his belt, along with a recently completed RKO noir film (Desperate) photographed by George E. Diskant, ASC. FOR SALE! Their first title, T-Men, was a crime procedural based on federal records, which the duo rendered in a noir stylization. Alton admitted, "When I got an assignment, I read the script — or the book and the script — and then I went out to the art museums, even to Paris sometimes, to see what the masters had done. The ideas of double open ends and cutters, and of a cucoloris, were revealed to me in the book. Comparing him to such predecessors as Fritz Arno Wagner and Karl Freund, ASC; Schrader observed that Alton transformed Expressionist techniques to a new generation that craved realism. For much more on the famous noir-architect, check out the three-part article John Alton: Cinematography’s Outlier, an appreciation and history penned by John Bailey, ASC in 2013. In 1949, Alton made two more classics with Mann. Of particular renown is Slightly Scarlet (1956), the last of six films he made with director Allan Dwan. - John Alton No other individual defines the foreboding film style known as noir more than John Alton, the Academy Award®-winning cinematographer (An American in Paris) who established his reputation as one of the movie industry's finest by plying his unique talents in the arena of B-movies. Having applied noir to the French Revolution in The Black Book, Alton used the style to great effect in Anthony Mann's admirable first Western, Devil's Doorway. Majestic images of man in nature, worthy of Ansel Adams, alternate with scenes so dark that at one point practically all that can be seen of Robert Taylor is his cheekbone and a glint of shirt buttons. This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop. See all 9 - All listings for this product. - John Alton No other individual defines the foreboding film style known as noir more than John Alton, the Academy Award®-winning cinematographer (An American in Paris) who established his reputation as one of the movie industry's finest by plying his unique talents in the arena of B-movies. In The Amazing Mr. X, Turhan Bey plays a charismatic psychic who preys on dowagers. In one scene, the clever placement of 30 extras to look like a mob is a miraculous visual coup. Alton had never seen such a thing, and was instantly fascinated. Votes: 5,074 Remarked director Vincente Minnelli, "[People] interpreted John's continental poise as effete and arrogant. Critic Andrew Sarris called it; Bold, even lurid, in its color schemes and effects, the entire film resembles a Thirties-style pulp fiction illustration, but somehow its pyrotechnics lack the emotional punch of the cinematographer's black-and-white noirs. Blu-ray John Alton Film Noir Collection (t-Men / Raw Deal / He Walked By Night) $ 39.95 $ 29.96. Since 1930, Alton had been a contributor to International Photographer, so Painting was the fruition of both Alton's studio work and his journalism. Simply because, with the growing appreciation of film noir as the most interesting style/genre of the post-war American cinema, it has become obvious that the director of photography is as important, even in many cases more important, than the director in creating the fatalistic mood and compositional tension which are the hallmarks of film noir expressiveness. John Alton, whose cinematography helped define film noir and who later shared an Academy Award for ''An American in Paris,'' died on June 2 … While cinematographer John Alton was adept with color photography, he was at his arguable best when using black and white. The man explained, "These are motion pictures, pictures that move." He was soon trekking across Europe and Asia, where he shot short subjects and foreign-language features. After the freedom he had experienced in Argentina, the idea of changing careers and becoming a Hollywood producer was rather unappealing. Add to Wishlist. "One day, I had the nerve to drop the books, and I went down to look at the pictures," he recalled. Movies / TV: Suspense-Film Noir: 851968007064 Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period. Painting with Light (1949) contains essential reading for any budding filmmaker with detailed information and ideas for lighting several difficult interior and exterior setups and situations. They had only received a letter from a forwarding post office that stated: In 1990, Todd McCarthy, Stuart Samuels, and Arnold Glassman began production on the cinematographic documentary Visions of Light. Then I'd go home and, even though it took me a lot of time, I'd work out every scene — [including] which lights and tricks to use. Still, the richest, darkest and best of Alton's 1948 crop is Raw Deal. He had already resigned from the ASC in 1944. John Alton (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Jacob Altmann, in Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary, was an American cinematographer. $34.79 +$6.96 shipping. Mar 29, 2015 - Alton had a long and creative career as a cinematographer shooting many different genres and styles. "In the morning, when many cameramen came in, they didn't have any plans for what they were going to do, so they just lit [everything] up," he said. I wanted to give them quality. (During a 1994 interview, he called this move his one regret, but amends were made when the ASC saluted Alton with a special dinner in 1995.) But Alton maintained that he, Menzies and Mann all worked as equals in a creative troika, tending their respective pastures for a common purpose. 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