JohnAlton real was johann altmann was a cinematographer Hungarian born in Sopron, győr-moson-sopron, Hungary, at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on 5 October 1901 and died on December 8 in 1977 after a long career in Santa Monica, California, United States, artistic in USA and Argentina, country where he directed some movies.
He began his relationship with photography in 1920s Los Angeles, first as a laboratory assistant and later as a camera operator. Later he moved to ernst lubitsch France to film the Student Prince (1927) foreign and finally stayed at Joinville paramount pictures studios in charge of the camera section.
In the early 1930s the Studies Lumiton that had been built in Buenos Aires new and modern facilities specially designed to produce films and equipped with the latest technical advances brought Europe to take the picture, to John Alton, who made a very important contribution in the first film of the new study, the three berretines (1933), whose credits film not the name of its director Enrique Susini Telemachus and screenwriter or technical staff but the legend “Film, photography, sound and Lumiton laboratory”. This film launched Luis sandrini to stardom.
Lumiton then entrusted the direction of son of Dad (1933), which was such a disaster Sandrini, which he portrayed, bought all the copies and made them disappear. Next camera film co-directed it with Luis saslavsky and her Di Nubila critic wrote: “it was one of the best among the melodrama that combined art and entertainment to appeal to all levels of the public.” Included a thin, colorful and cross country time, painting was interested with the turns of the plot, booted tears on the emotional peaks Libertad lamarque deployed all the power of her communicativeness and featured a cast where Sebastian Chiola and Angelina Pagano prevented some folletinescos slips were falls. Did not happen the same with other figures in cartoony comical passages. “Seduced with images of John Alton, who with a so beautiful photograph as functional for style and climates narrative showed his maturing as an artist of light and its complementarity with the concerns aesthetic Saslavsky also served by Raúl soldi scenery, Ernesto arancibia artistic collaboration, the assistance of Enrique cahen salaberry, Carlos rinaldi Assembly and Mario Maurano incidental music.”
Return to Hollywood
At the end of the 1930s he returned to Hollywood to become one of the top rated photographers of the American cinema. As he could not locate in major studios, he worked in other second-line, including company Republic, a company dedicated to the realization of films clase-B who took pride in the quality of your photography. He then joined the Navy and served in body signals reaching the rank of captain.
New stage in Hollywood and relationship with Anthony Mann
To return to Hollywood he worked as RKO and Monogram and by 1947 had over 30 films clase-B have made. It is from that year he began to be recognized as a major director of photography, initially through its association with director Anthony mann in the action film of low budget suicide Brigade (‘T-Men’ in English), which still astonished by the risk assumed shooting in black and white. Altman said that had found a director than thought as he not only accepted his style that is also claimed in Mann. Photographer explained: “as long as other photographers illuminated display, putting lots of light so that viewers can see everything, he used light to create the climate.” All my movies are different, and that is me. People asked me, I play, studies generally object to because they have the idea that the public should see everything, but when I started shooting in white and black the public began to understand that everything had a purpose.”
The work of Alton and Mann was warned by Metro-goldwyn-mayer, who signed them to a film close to the model of ‘T-men’. The use of chiaroscuro lighting gave a majestic beauty landscapes, but dark tones of the film and its modest claims were far from what was intended to MGM, which when it appears the film was astounded that he didn’t seem anything that thought a movie should be. Alton was well seen by the producers, they appreciated the speed of its working methods and cost savings, but it was rather less popular among camera operators accustomed to work with great amount of light, many attendees and much more time to determine possible compositions and lighting schemes. Alton told that he was often leaving aside non-conventional ideas specifically at MGM, but he had always returned to them.
The speed with which determined the lighting on the film set was explained by your power of observation that allowed you to know in advance and using few wizards, which had to do, and why the company had no objection to paying much more than others for his work.
Filmography
Director of photography
* Der Mann, der den Mord beging (1930)
* L’homme qui assassina (1930)
* Three berretines (1933)
* The son of Dad (1933)
* Crime at three (1935)
* Bullets of revenge (1935)
* Scale in the city (1935)
* New port (1936)
* Companions (1936)
* Loco lindo (1936)
* Tararira (1936)
* Goal! (1936)
* Amalia (1936)
* Poor Pérez (1937)
* Palermo (1937)
* The Bohemian life (1938)
* Honeysuckle (1938)
* Behind closed doors (1938)
* Cadets de San Martín (1939)
* The last meeting (1939)
* Caminito de Gloria (1939)
* Twelve women (1939)
* The matrero (1939)
* Meet Dr. Christian (1939) (uncredited)
* Remedy for Riches (1940)
* Dr Christian Meets the Women (1940)
* Three Faces West (1940)
* The Courageous Dr. Christian (1940)
* The Devil Pays Off (1941)
* Forced Landing (1941)
* Melody for Three (1941)
* Power Dive (1941)
* Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case (1941)
* The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942)
* Ice-Capades Revue (1942)
* Johnny Doughboy (1942)
* Moonlight Masquerade (1942)
* Pardon My Stripes (1942)
* The Sultan’s Daughter (1943)
* Women and the monster (1944)
* Lake Placid, New York Serenade (1944)
* Storm on Lisbon (1944)
* Enemy of Women (1944)
* Atlantic City (1944)
* Girls of the Big House (1945)
* Song of Mexico (1944)
* Love, honour and Goodbye (1945)
* I Was criminal (1945)
* Affairs of Geraldine (1946)
* A Guy Could Change (1946)
* The Madonna’s Secret (1946)
* Murder in the Music Hall (1946)
* One Exciting Week (1946)
* The Magnificent Rogue (1947)
* The Ghost Goes Wild (1947)
* Hit Parade of 1947 (1947)
* Suicide Brigade (1947)
* The Trespasser (1947)
* Winter Wonderland (1947)
* Wyoming (1947)
* Bury Me Dead (1947)
* I am my killer (1947)
* Driftwood (1948)
* Order: Merciless hunting (1948)
* Hollow Triumph (1948)
* The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
* [[Canon City]] (1948)
* Suicide Brigade (1948)
* Border Incident (1949)
* The Crooked Way (1949)
* Captain China (1949)
* The reign of terror (1949)
* Red Stallion in the Rockies (1949)
* The mystery Street (1950)
* The father of the bride (1950)
* Grounds for Marriage (1950)
* The Devil’s Gate (1950)
* An American in Paris (1951) (ballet photography)
* Case O’Hara (1951)
* The father is grandfather (1951)
* It’s a Big Country (1951)
* Talk About a Stranger (1952)
* Washington Story (1952)
* Apache War Smoke (1952)
* Account the hours (1952)
* Battlefield (1952)
* U.S. infantry men (1953)
* I, the Jury (1953)
* The Queen of Montana (1954)
* Silver Lode (1954)
* The only witness (1954)
* Duffy of San Quentin (1954)
* Horizons of hatred (1954)
* The player (1955)
* Special Agent (1955)
* The Pearl of the South Pacific (1955)
* Escape to Burma (1955)
* The House of the August Moon tea (1956)
* Slightly Scarlet (1956)
* The Catered Affair (1956)
* Tea and sympathy (1956)
* My wife distrustful (1957)
* The Karamazov Brothers (1958)
* Lonely hearts (1958)
* Twelve to the Moon (1960)
* elmer gantry or fire and the word (1960)
Director
* The son of Dad (1934)
* Behind closed doors (1939)
Screenwriter
* The son of Dad (1934)
Producer
* The son of Dad (1934)
