Camera
John Alton
Born 1901-10-05 · Sopron, Austria-Hungary
John Alton A.S.C. (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Altmann, in Sopron/Ödenburg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, was an American cinematographer. Alton won an Academy Award for the cinematography of An American in Paris (1951), becoming the first Hungarian-born person to do so. He photographed some of the most famous film noirs of the classic period. He started out in Los Angeles as a lab technician in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years. He moved to France with Ernst Lubitsch to film backgrounds for The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and ended up staying for one year heading the camera department of Paramount Pictures's Joinville Studios. In 1932 he moved to Argentina where he shot many Spanish-language films and designed the country's first sound film studio for Lumiton and Argentina Sono Film. He returned to Hollywood in the late 1930s, with two dozen film credits, and became one of the most sought after cinematographers in American cinema. Alton was known for unconventional camera angles—especially low camera shots. His style is most notable in the film noirs: He Walked by Night, The Big Combo, The Amazing Mr. X, T-Men, and Raw Deal. Alton also photographed many color movies including Slightly Scarlet (a color film noir).
Acting credits
6.9The history of color photography in motion pictures, in particular the Technicolor company's work.
Glorious Technicolor
1998
7.1Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
2006
NROne of the first film noir documentaries, made for British Channel Four, and including interviews with Paul Schrader, Robert Wise, John Dahl, Bryan Singer, Edward Dmytryk, Dennis Hopper, John Alton.
Dark and Deadly: Fifty Years of Film Noir
1995
6.5This recently produced behind-the-scenes documentary digs into Gershwin's original work, the genesis of the cinematic adaptation, casting, the shoot, and the eventual reception of the film.
'S Wonderful: Creating An American in Paris
2008
Presents testimony from Patricia King Hanson and Richard Schickel and archival input from cinematographer John Alton.
Mystery Street: Murder at Harvard
2007
Behind the camera
5.3Nina Miranda leaves jail after spending 20 years imprisoned for a murder that she insists she did not commit and recalls the time of her youth.
Puerta cerrada
1939
NRFilm directed and scripted by John Dalton at the beginning of his stay in Argentina. Alton decided to make an independent project under the name of Alton Films, and summoned Luis Sandrini to star it. The result was catastrophic and all copies of the film were destroyed, therefore it is considered to be totally lost.
El hijo de papá
1933
NRFilm directed and scripted by John Dalton at the beginning of his stay in Argentina. Alton decided to make an independent project under the name of Alton Films, and summoned Luis Sandrini to star it. The result was catastrophic and all copies of the film were destroyed, therefore it is considered to be totally lost.
El hijo de papá
1933