Arthur Edeson

Arthur Edeson, A.S.C.

Promotional Portrait
Born October 5, 1891(1891-10-05)
New York City, New York, USA
Died February 14, 1970(1970-02-14) (aged 78)
Agoura Hills, California
Occupation Cinematographer
Influenced by James Whale
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 it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of the 20th century.[2][3][4]

When the Éclair Studio was reorganized as the World Film Corporation, he was promoted to chief cinematographer assigned to the star Clara Kimball Young.[5] 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 film to be made in the 70mm widescreen process, known as "Fox Grandeur".[6]

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.[7]

In 1919, Edeson was one of the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Filmography

  • A Gentleman from Mississippi (1914)[8]
  • 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)

Awards

Nominations

References

  1. ^ Arthur Edeson at the Internet Movie Database. Last accessed: December 17, 2007.
  2. ^ Kozarski, Ricchard (2004), Fort Lee: The Film Town, Rome, Italy: John Libbey Publishing -CIC srl, ISBN 0-86196-653-8, http://books.google.nl/books?id=5w0r8YKan04C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fort+Lee:+the+film+town+Door+Richard+Koszarski&hl=nl&ei=fyO4TcjINoKeOpr32LsP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false 
  3. ^ "Studios and Films". Fort Lee Film Commmission. http://www.fortleefilm.org/studios.html. Retrieved 2011-05-30. 
  4. ^ Fort Lee Film Commission (2006), Fort Lee Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 0-7385-4501-5, http://books.google.com/books?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fort+Lee+Birthplace+of+the+Motion+Picture+Industry&hl=nl&ei=ah3lTdmHMY7rObrH9bIG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false 
  5. ^ Steeman, Albert. Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers, "Arthur Edeson page," Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2007. Last accessed: December 14, 2007.
  6. ^ Erickson, Hal. Allmovie, "Edeson Biography," 2007.
  7. ^ Fonseca, M.S. Film Reference, 2007. Last accessed: December 18, 2007.
  8. ^ Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to World Film, since 1885. 2008. Index home page.

External links