Arthur Edeson, A.S.C.
(October 24, 1891 –
February 14, 1970) was a film cinematographer, born in New York City
.
He was nominated for three
Academy
Awards in his career in cinema.
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. 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."
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.
Edeson was one of the founders of the
American Society of
Cinematographers in 1919.
Filmography
- A Gentleman from Mississippi (1914)
- 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
- . Last accessed: December 17, 2007.
- Steeman, Albert. Internet Encyclopedia of
Cinematographers, "Arthur Edeson page," Rotterdam, The
Netherlands, 2007. Last accessed: December 14, 2007.
- Erickson, Hal. Allmovie, "Edeson Biography,"
2007.
- Fonseca, M.S. Film Reference, 2007.
Last accessed: December 18, 2007.
- Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to World Film, since
1885. 2008. Index home page.
External links
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