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Rev. Joey N. Welsh - Keen eyes, striking images: Part 1 Another Angle, the occasional musings of a Kentucky pastor. Keen eyes, striking images: Part 1 was first published 27 August 2006 in the Hart County News-Herald. To see other articles by this author, enter "Rev. Joey N. Welsh," or "Another Angle," in the searchbox. To see other articles by this author, enter "Rev. Joey N. Welsh," or "Another Angle," in the searchbox. The next earlier Another Angle: Stars, dogs, and a bit of Gershwin By The Rev. Joey N. Welsh Proverbs 25:11 tells us that, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." That brief verse says a lot about the beauty of the right word spoken in the right way at the right time. The image that comes to my mind when I read that verse, which speaks of language as an attractive depiction, also reminds me that a skillfully composed picture can be quite stunning and meaningful. As August comes to a close, it is appropriate to remember one Kentucky native born a century ago, in August 1906, who made his mark by filming many classic Hollywood productions with great skill. It is also good to remember that in the same Kentucky city, just two years earlier, another talented photographer was born, one whose still photographs of Hollywood figures are coveted now more than ever as symbols of an age of glamour. Most people don't know the names of these two artists of the filmed image, and that is a shame. Robert L. Surtees, cinematographer Hollywood cinematographer (a term adapted from cinema/photographer) Robert L. Surtees was one of the most talented directors of photography in American motion picture history. It is the cinematographer of a film who works with the film director to compose the visual effect of each image we see on the screen. By choosing the level of light and shadow, the camera angle, the balance and placement of actors and objects within the frame of each image and even the degree to which colors are either rich and fully saturated or pale and weak in appearance, a cinematographer guides the look and emotional feel of what we view. Born during the silent film era in Covington, Kentucky on August 9, 1906, Surtees was interested in movies from an early age. He studied with the great cinematographer Gregg Toland, an artist who later gained lasting fame by photographing such classic films as Wuthering Heights, The Grapes of Wrath, Citizen Kane, and The Best Years of Our Lives. Surtees also went to Germany to study cinema techniques at the end of the 1920's. By the beginning of the sound era in Hollywood he had returned from Germany and begun to work steadily in the Hollywood studio system. Academy Award nominations and wins Surtees showed immense talent, and soon he was trusted and sought out for leading film productions of his day. He worked steadily for about 50 years behind the camera, so his "day" stretched across a couple of generations of film history. He was nominated for Oscars 16 times, and he won on three occasions. Mentioning just a few of his films shows that Surtees was a master. A craftsman of both color and black-and-white films, he excelled on epics as well as tense and intimate dramas. He worked hard and produced many classics of screen photography. His first Academy Award nomination was for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944); in the days before CNN and live news, it was the photography of Robert L. Surtees that provided the American public with their images of what modern war was like, though it was a highly processed and sanitized view. Other Oscar nominations came for epics shot on location: King Solomon's Mines (1950), Quo Vadis? (1951), Ben-Hur (1959), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). He won Academy Awards for both Mines and Ben-Hur. He won another Oscar for a black-and-white movie about life in Hollywood, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). He filmed Ann Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967) and worked with Bancroft again in the lovely film about life in the ballet, The Turning Point (1977), receiving nominations for both. He filmed the lush and colorful Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! (1955) and the fantasy musical Dr. Dolittle (1967). In 1971 he did brilliant work in glorious black-and-white, filming the Larry McMurtry novel The Last Picture Show, capturing the dismal grit of a dying Texas town and the pathos in numerous close-ups of the lead characters. In 1973 he mimicked the styles of Old Hollywood with his cinematography of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting. In his work on this film he crossed paths with another Kentuckian, famed portrait photographer George Hurrell, who was born in Covington two years before Surtees. (During the early 1970's Newman and Redford used Hurrell for the still photographs of their film characters that showed up in magazine spreads and publicity materials.) Last Oscar nomination 1978 in his seventies Surtees received his last Oscar nomination in 1978, when he was nearly 72, for filming Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn in the movie version of the play Same Time, Next Year. Another minor film released that same year was Surtees' final credited work as cinematographer. He had worked as an uncredited cameraman from the late 1920's and as head cinematographer since the early 40's. By 1978 he had seen his name listed as director of photography or cinematographer on 72 movies. For one of them, the beautifully filmed Raintree County (1957), Surtees had been able to come home to Kentucky to film. I don't know how he missed an Oscar nomination for that one, but I suppose you can't win 'em all. Historical Marker in CovingtonRobert L. Surtees died after a few years in retirement, on January 5, 1985 in Monterey, California. A Kentucky Historical Marker placed in Covington's Goebel Park reads: Robert L. Surtees, 1906-1985Next Week: George Hurrell (1904-1992), born in Covington, Kentucky, went on to be known as originator of "glamour photography." His career as a portrait photographer, beginning in the days of silent films, stretched into the very year of his death. His clients ranged from Ramon Novarro, Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo to Natalie Cole and Sean Penn. E-mail: joey_n_welsh@hotmail.comReply This story was posted on 2011-08-07 07:56:57
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Lisa Lee comments on Cooper Ridge Road project All ATV riders are not the same. Most respect other's property Helen Williams: The Valley in need of a voice Guest editorial: Thoughts on the possible post office closings A Kindred Spirit: 87,000 Kentucky Kids raised by grandparents Drivers need to slow down; use extra precaution on Tutt Street Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Isaac Watts on the Kentucky frontier Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Life-long learning and fullness of appreciation COF clarifies Issue du Jour: Rose of Sharon v Rose of Sharon Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Proclaim liberty throughout the land View even more articles in topic Commentary |
 
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