American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 92

A Brief History of British Cinematography
March 1933 issue of AC

The 1956 drama
Anastasia

British

was

cameraman

production in every way
photographically, technically and
dramatically."
Rome Express was shot by
Austrian emigre Gunther Krampf,
who was part of a second wave of
foreign technicians to grace the

-

for this

task, he spent

observing

ASC fellows
Leon

Shamroy

and Milton
Krasner at

British studios. This

work, gleaning
information
how to

picture thus released in this

American

Cinemascope
assignment. To

time

"the first

country which is entirely the equal of

Jack Hildyard,
BSC's first

prepare

as

talent resulted

on

new

influx of

partly from the invita¬
producers, such as

tions of ambitious

light for

the then-novel

Michael Balcon of Gaumont British

format and

and

compose for its
widescreen

the

Hungarian

impresario

Alexander Korda, and partly from
the rise of Fascism. Some camera¬

frame. Portions

of Anastasia
shot on
locations in

men

were

(such as Karl Freund, ASC and
Planer, ASC) passed briefly

Franz

Copenhagen

through

their way to Hollywood,
(including Krampf,
Georges Perinal, Mutz Greenbaum,

and Paris. Stage
work was

on

while others

completed at
MGM's
Borehamwood
Studio in
London (top),
where an exact

Curt Courant, Otto Kanturek and
Otto

Heller) remained in Britain. In
addition, top Hollywood technicians
such as ASC fellows Charles Rosher,

replica of

a
Russian

Harry Stradling Sr., James Wong

Orthodox

Howe, Glen MacWilliams and Hal

church was
built. Playing
the title role,
actress

Rosson also lent their

British

expertise to
filmmaking during the

decade.

Ingrid

Bergman
(bottom, at left)

Unfortunately, the presence of
technicians in

a

shot is

many foreign
Britain generated a

lined up

by the

of resentment from the Association

waits

while

so

patiently

camera

of

operator and

Cinematograph

Technicians

(ACT), on the grounds that interlop¬

director Anatol
Litvak (at

far
right).

denying work to British
certainly true that
very few Brits were employed at the
top level during the 1930s. Notable
exceptions included Jack Cox
(Hitchcock's regular cameraman
during his period at Elstree studios
ers

were

technicians. It is

To allow sound

recording, the
suddenly confined to a
booth, restricting movement to basic
panning and tilting. Alternative
methods of staging and filming
sequences had to be devised, includ¬
ing the use of multiple cameras.
Lighting patterns were also less flexi¬

blimp, which facilitated the return to
more flexible methods of
shooting.

the first British

ble, and the tendency on many

By the early 1930s, the

RKO

camera was

productions was toward a flat, highkey style that would simultaneously
suffice for long shots, medium shots
and close-ups, and eliminate the
88 December 1999

certain amount

possibility of the microphone boom
casting an unwanted shadow.
Slowly, these problems were
overcome.

Booths

were

mounted

on

tracks, allowing some movement,
before

being replaced by the

in the

camera was

as

by the fluid tracking shots

opening

Express, which

of Rome
praised in the

sequence
was

Incidentally, Young became

camera

moving relatively freely again,
evidenced

from 1927-33), Bernard Knowles,
and Freddie Young.

in

cameraman

to

work

Hollywood when he joined the
production of Nurse Edith
Cavell (1939). (Young documented
his experience in the AC article
"British Cinematographer Talks of
Hollywood," which was reprinted in
American Cinematographer - December 1999

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 1999
