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Arthur Edeson

 
Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson
  • Born: Oct 24, 1891 in New York City, New York
  • Died: 1970 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Cinematographer
  • Active: '20s-'40s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, They Won't Forget
  • First Major Screen Credit: Bought and Paid for (1916)

Biography

Like many movie pioneers, New York-born Arthur Edeson cut his professional teeth as a still photographer. His earliest film assignments were for the Eclair Company in 1911; seven years later, Edeson was one of the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers. When sound came in, Edeson seized the opportunity to experiment with camouflaging the microphones in exterior shots. In Old Arizona(1929) proved to a nervous Hollywood that talking pictures need not be confined to the stuffy surroundings of a sound stage. One year later, Edeson filmed one of the first major wide-screen features, The Big Trail (1930) (Lucien Andriot photographed the simultaneously filmed "flat" screen version). At Warner Bros. from 1936 until his retirement, Edeson was responsible for the cinematography of some of the studio's most memorable films, among them The Maltese Falcon (1941) Sergeant York (1941), and Casablanca (1942). Arthur Edeson was nominated for an Oscar for Casablanca, but he lost to fellow lensman Arthur Miller and The Song of Bernadette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Arthur Edeson,

Promotional Portrait
Born October 5, 1891(1891-10-05)
New York City, New York, USA
Died February 14, 1970 (aged 78)
Agoura Hills, California
Occupation Cinematographer
Title A.S.C. Founding Member
Board member of A.S.C. President (1953-1954)

Arthur Edeson, A.S.C. (October 24, 1891 – February 14, 1970) was a film cinematographer, born in New York City.[1]

He was nominated for three Academy Awards in his career in cinema.

Contents

Career

Edeson began his career as a still photographer, but turned to movies in 1911 as a camera operator at the American Éclair Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. When the Éclair Studio was reorganized as the World Film Corporation, he was promoted to chief cinematographer assigned to the star Clara Kimball Young.[2] Throughout the twenties, Edeson photographed a number of important films, including Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and the groundbreaking special effects film The Lost World (1925).

When sound came in, Edeson experimented with camouflaging the microphones in exterior shots. In Old Arizona (1929), the first sound film to be shot outside a studio, provided evidence to Hollywood executives that talking pictures need not be confined to the sound stage. The western was also the first 70 mm wide-screen process, known as "Grandeur."[3]

In the early thirties, perhaps his most memorable creative partnership was formed with director James Whale, for whom he photographed the first three of Whale's quartet of horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933).

According to critic M. S. Fonseca, Edeson was one of the "master craftsmen" of the old American school. His principal work was on the side of realism, which is considered by most film historians to represent the "zenith of Hollywood photography." Edeson built on the influence of German Expressionism, brought to the America cinema by German cinematographers during the 1920s.[4]

Edeson was one of the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers in 1919.


Filmography

  • A Gentleman from Mississippi (1914)[5]
  • The Dollar Mark (1914)
  • The Deep Purple (1915)
  • Wildfire (1915)
  • Hearts in Exile (1915)
  • His Brother's Wife (1916)
  • The Devil's Toy (1916)
  • Miss Petticoats (1916)
  • The Gilded Cage (1916)
  • Bought and Paid For (1916)
  • A Woman Alone (1917)
  • A Square Deal 1917)
  • The Master Hand (1917)
  • The Social Leper (1917)
  • 'The Page Mystery (1917)
  • In Again—Out Again (1917)
  • The Stolen Paradise (1917)
  • The Price of Pride (1917)
  • Wild and Woolly (1917)
  • Souls Adrift (1917)
  • Baby Mine (1917)
  • Reaching for the Moon (1917)
  • Nearly Married (1917)
  • The Road Through the Dark (1918)
  • Jack Spurlock, Prodigal (1918)
  • The Savage Woman (1918)
  • The Hushed Hour (1919)
  • Cheating Cheaters (1919)
  • The Better Wife (1919)
  • For the Soul of Rafael (1920)
  • Mid-Channel (1920)
  • The Forbidden Woman (1920)
  • The Three Musketeers (1921)
  • Hush (1921)
  • Good Women (1921)
  • Robin Hood (1922)
  • The Worldly Madonna (1922)
  • Inez From Hollywood (1924)
  • The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
  • The Lost World (1925)
  • Stella Dallas (1925)
  • The Talker (1925)
  • Her Sister From Paris (1925)
  • One Way Street (1925)
  • Waking Up the Town (1925)
  • Just Another Blonde (1926)
  • Partners Again (1926)
  • Sweet Daddies (1926)
  • Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937)
  • Submarine D-1 (1937)
  • The Go Getter (1937)
  • The Footloose Heiress (1937)
  • The Kid Comes Back (1937)
  • Racket Busters (1938)
  • Swing Your Lady (1938)
  • Mr. Chump (1938)
  • Cowboy From Brooklyn (1938)
  • Each Dawn I Die (1939)
  • Kid Nightingale (1939)
  • Secret Service of the Air (1939)
  • Sweepstakes Winner (1939)
  • Wings of the Navy (1939)
  • Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939)
  • No Place to Go (1939)
  • Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)
  • They Drive by Night (1940)
  • Castle on the Hudson (1940)
  • Lady with Red Hair (1940)
  • The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  • Sergeant York (1941)
  • Kisses for Breakfast (1941)
  • The Male Animal (1942)
  • Casablanca (1942)
  • Across the Pacific (1942)
  • Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
  • Shine on Harvest Moon (1944)
  • The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
  • The Conspirators (1944)
  • The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946)
  • Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
  • Never Say Goodbye (1946)
  • Three Strangers (1946)
  • Two Guys From Milwaukee (1946)
  • Stallion Road (1947)
  • My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
  • Two Guys From Texan (1948)
  • The Fighting O'Flynn (1948)

Awards

Nominations

  • Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Cinematography, for In Old Arizona; 1929.
  • Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Cinematography, for All Quiet on the Western Front; 1930.
  • Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Black and White Cinematography, for Casablanca; 1943.

References

  1. ^ Arthur Edeson at the Internet Movie Database. Last accessed: December 17, 2007.
  2. ^ Steeman, Albert. Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers, "Arthur Edeson page," Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2007. Last accessed: December 14, 2007.
  3. ^ Erickson, Hal. Allmovie, "Edeson Biography," 2007.
  4. ^ Fonseca, M.S. Film Reference, 2007. Last accessed: December 18, 2007.
  5. ^ Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to World Film, since 1885. 2008. Index home page.

External links


 
 
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