TCM Schedule for Friday, February 23, 2024: 31 Days of Oscar -- Cinematography

[Auggie]

Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890 – May 3, 1969) was a German Bohemian and American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for photographing Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931), and television's I Love Lucy (1951–1957).

Freund was an innovator in the field of cinematography, often noted for pioneering the unchained camera technique, arguably the most important stylistic innovation of the 20th century, setting the stage for some of the most commonly used cinematic techniques of modern contemporary cinema.

The unchained camera is just that: for the first time, the camera was free of the tripod and could move around the set. Because it was no longer confined to one position, thousands of new shots were possible. Freund was known to wear the camera on his stomach and walk around while it was filming. He would also put the camera on a cart that moved along a track. Several other innovative ways of moving the camera were introduced by Freund, including putting the camera on a crane.

Freund worked as a cinematographer on over 100 films, winning an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Good Earth (1937), airing tonight. In 1944 he founded the Photo Research Corporation of Burbank to manufacture TV cameras and exposure meters.

His work on Dracula came under a mostly disorganized shoot, with the usually meticulous director Tod Browning leaving cinematographer Freund to take over during much of filming, making Freund something of an uncredited director on the film. Freund actually directed 10 films between 1921 and 1935, of which the best known are probably his two credited horror films, The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff, and his last film as director, Mad Love (1935) starring Peter Lorre.

I Love Lucy

At the beginning of the 1950s he was persuaded by Desi Arnaz at Desilu to be the cinematographer for the television series I Love Lucy. Critics have credited Freund for the show's lustrous black and white cinematography, but more important, Freund designed the "flat lighting" system that became standard for shooting multi-camera sitcoms; this system covers the set in light, thus eliminating shadows and allowing the use of three moving cameras without having to modify the lighting between shots.

While Freund did not invent the three-camera shooting system, he did perfect it for use with film cameras in front of a live audience. The cameras that were used were BNC Mitchell cameras with T-stop calibrated lenses on dollies. The center camera was for wider shots. The other two were positioned 75 to 90 degrees away from center and were primarily used for close-ups.

Despite his extensive experience in film cinematography, Freund said that switching to television was a challenge for him because I Love Lucy was filmed in front of a live audience and there were restrictions on where the camera could be placed.

Freund and his production team also worked on other sitcoms produced at/through Desilu such as Our Miss Brooks. He retired in 1960.

Selected filmography and full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Freund



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6:00 AM | Captains of the Clouds (1942)
A mail flyer joins the Canadian air force for fun but has to prove his worth when he goes to war.
Dir: Michael Curtiz | Cast: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall
1943 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Color—Sol Polito

8:00 AM | Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
The true story of Annette Kellerman, who as a child in Australia, learns to swim to overcome a potentially crippling physical handicap and develops into a champion.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy | Cast: Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon
1953 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Color—George J. Folsey

Folsey was a thirteen-time nominee but never won an Oscar. Beginning in silent films, his foray into talking pictures included the Marx Brothers' The Coconuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930). From 1933 until 1959 he was under contract to MGM, working with Vincente Minnelli on Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and The Harvey Girls (1946), among many other films.

10:00 AM | Northwest Passage (1940)
True story of Major Rogers' Rangers and their fight to open up new frontiers for Colonial America.
Dir: King Vidor | Cast: Spencer Tracy, Walter Brennan, Robert Young
1941 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Color—Sidney Wagner and William V. Skall

12:15 PM | Lassie Come Home (1943)
A faithful collie undertakes an arduous journey to return to her lost family.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox | Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty
1944 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Color—Leonard Smith

2:00 PM | Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
True story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
Dir: Robert Wise | Cast: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane
1957 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White—Joseph Ruttenberg

Ruttenberger was a ten-time Oscar nominee, winning for this film plus Gigi (1959), Mrs. Miniver (1943), and The Great Waltz (1939)

4:00 PM | Blackboard Jungle (1955)
An idealistic teacher confronts the realities of juvenile delinquency.
Dir: Richard Brooks | Cast: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern
1956 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White—Russell Harlan

Harlan was a six-time Oscar nominee -- Hawaii (1967), The Great Race (1966), To Kill a Mockingbird (1963), Hatari! (1963) and The Big Sky (1953) -- but never won.

6:00 PM | Strangers on a Train (1951)
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock | Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
1952 Nominee Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White—Robert Burks

Strangers on a Train was the first of twelve collaborative efforts between Burks and Hitchcock. The rest: I Confess (1953), Dial M For Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Wrong Man (1956), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The Birds (1963), and Marnie (1964). Burks began his career in special photographic effects at Warner Brothers. Full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burks

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8:00 PM | Laura (1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
Dir: Otto Preminger | Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb
1945 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White—Joseph LaShelle

LaShelle was a nine-time Oscar nominee, winning only for this film

9:45 PM | The Defiant Ones (1958)
Two chained-together escaped convicts, White and Black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
Dir: Stanley Kramer | Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel
1959 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White—Sam Leavitt

Leavitt was a three-time nominee, winning only for this film.

11:30 PM | Mississippi Burning (1988)
FBI agents investigate the murders of civil rights workers in the South.
Dir: Alan Parker | Cast: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances Mcdormand
1989 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography—Peter Biziou

Biziou received a Lifetime Achievement award from the British Society of Cinematographers in 2019. His only Oscar nomination and win has been for this film.

1:45 AM | Ryan's Daughter (1970)
An Irish lass is branded a traitor when she falls for a British soldier.
Dir: David Lean | Cast: Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Sarah Miles
1971 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography—Freddie Young

Young is a five-time Oscar nominee, winning three: this film, Doctor Zhivago (1966), and Lawrence of Arabia (1963)

5:15 AM | The Good Earth (1937)
Epic adaptation of the Pearl Buck classic about Chinese farmers battling the elements.
Dir: Sidney Franklin | Cast: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly
1938 Winner Oscar, Best Cinematography—Karl Freund

Freund is three-time nominee, winning only for this film. See bio, above.

Trivia from IMDb.com and Wikipedia