Thread: Great Cinematographers

Originally Posted by erki

Yes, Jean Badal and Andréas Winding are listed as cinematographers in "Playtime"(that I find one of the greatest films ever). But looking at their other work that is rather mediocre if not outright bad I am pretty sure Tati is the one who designed and directed every detail from light to frame composition in his film.

Well, you obviously know more about this than I do. Same with Hitchcock and his pre-production storyboarding, I guess. There is the little matter of lighting, of course, which Robert Burks did well for Hitchcock.

Joseph ("Joe") MacDonald. He photographed many very good films. Here is one from 1958, "The Young Lions", which is a WW2 drama. Here is a scene, beautifully lit and shot in black and white, with two gorgeous male stars - Marlon Brando and Max Schell: the widescreen works well in this particular sequence - which is very disturbing indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8l4aeB5q5U

Here is Joe MacDonald (on the right) on the set of "The Young Lions". He was Mexican by birth.



One of the most famous films that MacDonald worked on was "My Darling Clementine" for John Ford, 1946. Some of the framing of the characters against the setting are just wonderful. He imbues this film with a real 'noir' look, which is unusual for a western in 1946.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4vBB2GBaNs

Here MacDonald photographed in colour for Henry Hathaway on "Niagara", 1953, starring Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotton - a colour noir. Though he mainly worked in black and white there were some significant colour films in his oeuvre.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ov6vv

Arguably his most famous film was made for John Ford, "What Price Glory", 1952. It's in colour and the opening scene before the credits is like an expressionist painting as we watch the weary soldiers returning for a break from the trenches: in fact, the war scenes are bathed in that kind of surreal background imagery. This contrasts with the scenes back in the barracks, which come directly from the stage play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B07NXmZfXT4

Joe MacDonald had a distinguished career working with many of cinema's best directors, starting from 1935. These included John Huston, Fred Zinnemann, J. Lee Thompson, Michael Anderson, Norman Jewison, Edward Dymtryk, Elia Kazan, Lloyd Bacon, Sam Fuller, Nicholas Ray, "Wild Bill" Wellman.