TS Gregg Toland vs. Lee Garmes vs. Stanley Cortez

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This thread based on Toland being mentioned on the Teresa Wright thread.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Cortez did "Ambersons," I believe. "Night of the Hunter." My favorite Fuller film, "Naked Kiss." "The Black Cat." All great work.

Lee Garmes--I know he did "Scarface," "Caught" by Ophuls. "The Lusty Men."

Toland is such a heavyweight--developing the technology to photograph "Kane." He's the other auteur of that film if anyone is, and as I mentioned in the Teresa Wright thread, even something as relatively slight as "Ball of Fire" looks great because of him. I think he did "The Little Foxes" as well? Yes, he did--three pretty fine films released in 1941. I believe the scene where Herbert Marshall expires on the staircase while Bette Davis does nothing was a prime example of Bazin's theory of deep-focus/single-shot/background-foreground vs. montage? Anyway, I go for Toland, seems the greatest innovator of the three, and of course, "Kane" is something else...what other film up until then, or even after then, was so innovative in both sound and image, let alone so effective in fusing those innovations into an atmosphere of dread and remorse...?

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Ambersons and Night of the Hunter?! That's a fairly unimpeachable case for Cortez, there.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, they're both great-looking movies.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

A vote here for Garmes (Morocco, Shanghai Express, Nightmare Alley, Caught), though that might just be because I like Sternberg, Ophuls, Hawks, Ray. But Garmes had a sense of humor, all that smoke and crosses in Scarface, and the ability to make any decor - office, bedroom, desert, train compartment - look lush.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 26 March 2005 07:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I went thru a big Ophuls phase recently--he's probably my favorite director right now. "Caught" is incredible, as is "Earrings of Madame De..." and especially "Lola Montes."

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 26 March 2005 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

you should see "liebelei" and "letter from an unknown woman"! and "le plaisir," my personal favorite...

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 26 March 2005 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

What, no Reckless Moment?

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen "Letter from an Unknown Woman," which is great. And "Reckless Moment" too.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

fourteen years pass...

restoring broken link from top of thread Teresa Wright and wondering if The Bishop’s Wife, shot by Toland, is any good.

― Tales of Jazz Ulysses (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 December 2019 03:06 (six years ago)

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