James Wong Howe

[filmlover]

I don't recall seeing any threads about James Wong Howe, the cinematographer TCM is doing a tribute to this month, so I thought I would mention that in watching Passage to Marseilles yesterday that I could see how good he was. There were several moments that showed how he was a master of light and shadows, but I particularly thought the sequence at the island where the old man is telling the others he isnb't going to go with them was an effective use of black and white. That is one of the things one can miss in color films.

 

Oh, by the way, if you like that, too, you might also check out the work of the great glamour photographer, George Hurrell. I don't think there ever was a studio photographer who was better in the way he captured Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Gable, etc. Check out this link I came across: http://www.lafterhall.com/hurrell.html

[vallo13]

filmlover,I know the scene your talking about. I think the actor was Eduardo Ciannelli (1889-1969). The shadows and atmosphere of that scene stuck in my mind also. that's why I love black & white films. The setting of the story can be told just through the camera instead of today's special effects. Thanks for the Hurrell blog, great stuff. I may use a pic. if possible for a avatar.

 

vallo

[bansi4]

Indeed James Wong Howe is a master cinematographer, perhaps the best in Hollywood.

He photographed over 130 films and received 10 Oscar nominations, winning for "The Rose Tattoo" and "Hud".

The cinematography on "Mantrap" was his breakthrough as a star lighting cameraman, in which his lighting added enormously to bringing out Clara Bow's sex appeal. His lighting bathed Bow in a soft glow, surrounding the flapper with shimmering natural light, transforming her into a seemingly three-dimensional sex goddess.

 

Wong Howe was famed for his innovations, including putting a cameraman with a hand-held camera on roller-skates inside a boxing ring for "Body and Soul" (1947) to draw the audience into the ring. He strapped cameras to the actors' waists in "The Brave Bulls" (1951) to give a closer and tighter perspective on bull-fighting, a sport in which fractions of an inch can be the difference between life and death. He was hailed for his revolutionary work with tracking and distortion in "Seconds" (1966), in which he used a 9mm "fish-eye" lens to suggest mental instability.

 

During World War II, anti-Asian bigotry intensified, despite the fact that Nationalist China was an ally of the United States in its war with Japan. Mistaken for a Japanese (despite their having been relocated to concentration camps away from the Pacific Coast), Howe wore a button that declared "I am Chinese." His close friend James Cagney also wore the same button, out of solidarity with his friend.

The gent endured it all from $10.00 a week jobs thru bigotry from some of his fellow workers, and came out smelling like a rose.

 

Thanks to TCM for saluting James Wong Howe this month, so that we can enjoy the magic on film that the talented cinematographer created.

[filmlover]

It would be great if they also did a special documentary on him.

[bansi4]

filmlover, the photography by Hurrell is facinating. Beautiful pictures, beautiful movie stars.

[lzcutter]

Mongo,

 

His widow passed away earlier this winter. In her obit, I discovered that Wong Howe owned two Chinese restaurants, one in North Hollywood. His widow was a white woman. During WW2, they could not acknowledge their marriage publicly for fear of reprisals. She helped run his restaurant in NoHo, wrote a wonderful book about the Dust Bowl that was eclipsed upon publication by Steinbecks "Grapes of Wrath" but she became a literary force in her own right.

 

A truly wonderful couple who endured a great deal to be together.

[bansi4]

Lynn, I did manage to read an article about his wife, and they were indeed a grand couple. The following is from Jon C. Hopwood:

Sanora Babb Wong Howe wrote after his death, "My husband loved his work. He spent all his adult life from age 17 to 75, a year before his death, in the motion picture industry. When he died at 77, courageous in illness as in health, he was still thinking of new ways to make pictures. He was critical of poor quality in any area of film, but quick to see and appreciate the good. His mature style was realistic, never naturalistic. If the story demanded, his work could be harsh and have a documentary quality, but that quality was strictly Wong Howe. If the story allowed, his style was poetic realism, for he was a poet of the camera. This was a part of his nature, his impulse toward the beautiful, but it did not prevent his flexibility in dealing with all aspects of reality."

[johnnyweekes70]

I couldn't add anything more in praise of Wong Howe's superlative visual talent, which I've always appreciated being an amateur photographer myself, but I've always wondered about the films he directed. I know he did a film about the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters but I've never come across it. Did he have as decent a directorial flair as he did as a cinematographer?

[bansi4]

Johnnyweekes, of the few films that James Wong Howe directed, the best was "Go, Man, Go!" about the Harlem Globetrotters, and starring Dane Clark.

A viewer commented:

What can you say about the Harlem Globetrotters that hasn't already been said? This film is pure basketball history complete with a great story line and some of the best players EVER to play the game! When I viewed this film in the 50's it was my inspiration to play the game. That was nearly fifty years ago and I will NEVER FORGET IT !!!!!

Not bad, if you ask me.