John Alton: Painting with Light
Posted: February 12th, 2008, 1:16 pm
It’s not what you light – it’s what you DON’T light. – John Alton
Orson Welles contended that every film has an auteur – sometimes it is the director, or an actor, or the screenwriter, or the cinematographer. In the films of John Alton, the cinematographer as auteur is brought to light – and to dark. Alton’s use of light and shadow, baroque angles, and a static camera created a look, a feel, an atmosphere of oppressiveness and foreboding that is the archetype of gritty urban film noir (T-MEN; RAW DEAL; HE WALKED BY NIGHT; THE BIG COMBO). His imprint could convert a standard stage drama into a tense tale of family disintegration (THE CATERED AFFAIR). But black and white were not the only colors on his palette, for he was equally adept in his use of color. Alton can surround the viewer with the sense of a vivid, garish and surrealistic otherworldliness (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS; SLIGHTLY SCARLET) or create a claustrophobic sense of urgency in a Western (DEVIL’S DOORWAY; SILVER LODE), a genre traditionally based on open space.
John Alton (originally Altman) was born in 1901 in a Hungarian village near the Austrian border. He came to the U.S. in 1919, joining his father and uncle (his mother had died in 1914). He worked at the Paramount Studios lab on Long Island, moved to Los Angeles in the winter of 1923-24, and got a job at the MGM lab. He watched Erich Von Stroheim on the set of THE MERRY WIDOW and, in 1926-27, he became an assistant cameraman with “One Shot” Woody Van Dyke, churning out Tim McCoy Westerns. He also worked with Ernest Lubitsch, accompanying him to Europe for a shoot. While in Paris, he saw Maurice Chevalier perform and got permission from Irving Thalberg to make a screen test; Thalberg passed on Chevalier, so Alton recommended him to friends at Paramount, which then signed Chevalier.
Alton continued to work in Europe and to write for a photography journal. In 1932, he went to Buenos Aires at the request of some Argentine financiers to help build the Argentine film industry. He photographed about 25 films during the next six years in Argentina. In 1939, he moved to Hollywood and, starting with THE COURAGEOUS DR. CHRISTIAN, began introducing dramatic lighting effects to movies that often were shot with lightning speed, and making B-movies look like A-movies. Because he worked quickly, cheaply, and made movies look spectacular, many of his peers grew to dislike him. Alton also contended that some directors did not want to work with him because he could not be blamed if a picture went over budget, over schedule, or looked flat.
In 1947, Anthony Mann, who had been directing Bs for five years asked for Alton to shoot his next film, T-MEN, and there began one of the most fruitful director-cinematographer collaborations in movies. From 1947 through 1950, they made six films together. Whether the setting was urban (T-MEN; RAW DEAL; HE WALKED BY NIGHT), rural (BORDER INCIDENT), foreign historical costume drama (REIGN OF TERROR) or in the West (DEVIL'S DOORWAY), Alton used lighting not to make faces and sets visible, but to bathe them in darkness and, in so doing, created dramatic examples of film noir’s characteristic chiaroscuro effect. “Black and white are colors,” he said and his films of that period were awash in those two colors.
Over the next nine years (1951-60), Alton photographed 29 films. Four of the movies were directed by Vincente Minnelli, whom Alton adored because of their similar design interests. Alton shared his only Academy Award for cinematography with Alfred Girks for their work on Minnelli’s AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Alton’s contribution to the movie was on the screen for only about 20 minutes – the final ballet scene, arguably the most visually stunning sequence in film musical history. Seven films were directed by Allan Dwan, a pioneer of the American film industry (Alton had also worked on a Dwan movie in 1947). One of those films, SLIGHTLY SCARLET, is convincing evidence that excellent film noir can be shot in color. The only Joseph H. Lewis movie that he worked on during this period is a film noir classic, THE BIG COMBO. Alton’s last film was ELMER GANTRY in 1960, his fifth movie directed by Richard Brooks. The only cinematography he did after that was in 1966 for the TV pilot episode of Mission:Impossible.
John Alton lived thereafter in the shadows, largely by choice, until 1993 when the marvelous documentary VISIONS OF LIGHT: THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY premiered. The makers had been unable to interview Alton for the film, but two days before the premiere he asked, through his step-grandson, if he could attend. He did and received an ovation from the audience, including his professional children, Conrad Hall (THE PROFESSIONALS; IN COLD BLOOD; COOL HAND LUKE), Haskell Wexler (WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?; ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST), Vilmos Zsigmond (McCABE AND MRS. MILLER; CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND; THE DEER HUNTER), and Laszlo Kovacs (EASY RIDER; GHOSTBUSTERS).
John Alton died in 1996.
Selected Filmography
T-MEN (Anthony Mann, 1947)
THE SPIRITUALIST (aka THE AMAZING MR. X) (Bernard Vorhaus, 1948)
RAW DEAL (Anthony Mann, 1948)
HE WALKED BY NIGHT (Alfred Werker/Anthony Mann (uncredited), 1948)
HOLLOW TRIUMPH (aka THE SCAR) (Steve Sekely/Paul Henreid (uncredited), 1948)
BORDER INCIDENT (Anthony Mann, 1949)
REIGN OF TERROR (aka THE BLACK BOOK) (Anthony Mann, 1949)
FATHER OF THE BRIDE (Vincente Minnelli, 1950)
MYSTERY STREET (John Sturges, 1950)
DEVIL'S DOORWAY (Anthony Mann, 1950)
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (ballet sequence only) (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)
SILVER LODE (Allan Dwan, 1954)
THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)
TEA AND SYMPATHY (Vincente Minnelli, 1956)
SLIGHTLY SCARLET (Allan Dwan, 1956)
THE CATERED AFFAIR (Richard Brooks, 1956)
TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (Daniel Mann, 1956)
DESIGNING WOMAN (Vincente Minnelli, 1957)
LONELYHEARTS (Vincent J. Donehue, 1958)
ELMER GANTRY (Richard Brooks, 1960)
Sources
Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer (Bogdanovich, P.)
Anthony Mann (Basinger, J.)
Through a Lens Darkly: The Life and Films of John Alton (McCarthy, T. -- Introduction to Painting with Light (Alton, J.))
Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors (Bogdanovich, P.)
Orson Welles contended that every film has an auteur – sometimes it is the director, or an actor, or the screenwriter, or the cinematographer. In the films of John Alton, the cinematographer as auteur is brought to light – and to dark. Alton’s use of light and shadow, baroque angles, and a static camera created a look, a feel, an atmosphere of oppressiveness and foreboding that is the archetype of gritty urban film noir (T-MEN; RAW DEAL; HE WALKED BY NIGHT; THE BIG COMBO). His imprint could convert a standard stage drama into a tense tale of family disintegration (THE CATERED AFFAIR). But black and white were not the only colors on his palette, for he was equally adept in his use of color. Alton can surround the viewer with the sense of a vivid, garish and surrealistic otherworldliness (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS; SLIGHTLY SCARLET) or create a claustrophobic sense of urgency in a Western (DEVIL’S DOORWAY; SILVER LODE), a genre traditionally based on open space.
John Alton (originally Altman) was born in 1901 in a Hungarian village near the Austrian border. He came to the U.S. in 1919, joining his father and uncle (his mother had died in 1914). He worked at the Paramount Studios lab on Long Island, moved to Los Angeles in the winter of 1923-24, and got a job at the MGM lab. He watched Erich Von Stroheim on the set of THE MERRY WIDOW and, in 1926-27, he became an assistant cameraman with “One Shot” Woody Van Dyke, churning out Tim McCoy Westerns. He also worked with Ernest Lubitsch, accompanying him to Europe for a shoot. While in Paris, he saw Maurice Chevalier perform and got permission from Irving Thalberg to make a screen test; Thalberg passed on Chevalier, so Alton recommended him to friends at Paramount, which then signed Chevalier.
Alton continued to work in Europe and to write for a photography journal. In 1932, he went to Buenos Aires at the request of some Argentine financiers to help build the Argentine film industry. He photographed about 25 films during the next six years in Argentina. In 1939, he moved to Hollywood and, starting with THE COURAGEOUS DR. CHRISTIAN, began introducing dramatic lighting effects to movies that often were shot with lightning speed, and making B-movies look like A-movies. Because he worked quickly, cheaply, and made movies look spectacular, many of his peers grew to dislike him. Alton also contended that some directors did not want to work with him because he could not be blamed if a picture went over budget, over schedule, or looked flat.
In 1947, Anthony Mann, who had been directing Bs for five years asked for Alton to shoot his next film, T-MEN, and there began one of the most fruitful director-cinematographer collaborations in movies. From 1947 through 1950, they made six films together. Whether the setting was urban (T-MEN; RAW DEAL; HE WALKED BY NIGHT), rural (BORDER INCIDENT), foreign historical costume drama (REIGN OF TERROR) or in the West (DEVIL'S DOORWAY), Alton used lighting not to make faces and sets visible, but to bathe them in darkness and, in so doing, created dramatic examples of film noir’s characteristic chiaroscuro effect. “Black and white are colors,” he said and his films of that period were awash in those two colors.
Over the next nine years (1951-60), Alton photographed 29 films. Four of the movies were directed by Vincente Minnelli, whom Alton adored because of their similar design interests. Alton shared his only Academy Award for cinematography with Alfred Girks for their work on Minnelli’s AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Alton’s contribution to the movie was on the screen for only about 20 minutes – the final ballet scene, arguably the most visually stunning sequence in film musical history. Seven films were directed by Allan Dwan, a pioneer of the American film industry (Alton had also worked on a Dwan movie in 1947). One of those films, SLIGHTLY SCARLET, is convincing evidence that excellent film noir can be shot in color. The only Joseph H. Lewis movie that he worked on during this period is a film noir classic, THE BIG COMBO. Alton’s last film was ELMER GANTRY in 1960, his fifth movie directed by Richard Brooks. The only cinematography he did after that was in 1966 for the TV pilot episode of Mission:Impossible.
John Alton lived thereafter in the shadows, largely by choice, until 1993 when the marvelous documentary VISIONS OF LIGHT: THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY premiered. The makers had been unable to interview Alton for the film, but two days before the premiere he asked, through his step-grandson, if he could attend. He did and received an ovation from the audience, including his professional children, Conrad Hall (THE PROFESSIONALS; IN COLD BLOOD; COOL HAND LUKE), Haskell Wexler (WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?; ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST), Vilmos Zsigmond (McCABE AND MRS. MILLER; CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND; THE DEER HUNTER), and Laszlo Kovacs (EASY RIDER; GHOSTBUSTERS).
John Alton died in 1996.
Selected Filmography
T-MEN (Anthony Mann, 1947)
THE SPIRITUALIST (aka THE AMAZING MR. X) (Bernard Vorhaus, 1948)
RAW DEAL (Anthony Mann, 1948)
HE WALKED BY NIGHT (Alfred Werker/Anthony Mann (uncredited), 1948)
HOLLOW TRIUMPH (aka THE SCAR) (Steve Sekely/Paul Henreid (uncredited), 1948)
BORDER INCIDENT (Anthony Mann, 1949)
REIGN OF TERROR (aka THE BLACK BOOK) (Anthony Mann, 1949)
FATHER OF THE BRIDE (Vincente Minnelli, 1950)
MYSTERY STREET (John Sturges, 1950)
DEVIL'S DOORWAY (Anthony Mann, 1950)
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (ballet sequence only) (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)
SILVER LODE (Allan Dwan, 1954)
THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)
TEA AND SYMPATHY (Vincente Minnelli, 1956)
SLIGHTLY SCARLET (Allan Dwan, 1956)
THE CATERED AFFAIR (Richard Brooks, 1956)
TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (Daniel Mann, 1956)
DESIGNING WOMAN (Vincente Minnelli, 1957)
LONELYHEARTS (Vincent J. Donehue, 1958)
ELMER GANTRY (Richard Brooks, 1960)
Sources
Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer (Bogdanovich, P.)
Anthony Mann (Basinger, J.)
Through a Lens Darkly: The Life and Films of John Alton (McCarthy, T. -- Introduction to Painting with Light (Alton, J.))
Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors (Bogdanovich, P.)