Robert Krasker

[Adam Frisch FSF]

I was slightly familiar with Robert Krasker's work on The Third Man and Heroes of the Telemark, but nothing had prepared me for the movie Brief Encounter by David Lean. Shamefully, I hadn't seen it until yesterday but was instantly blown away by it.

 

Not only is it an absolutely brilliant film, but the cinematography floored me. Really visual, strong style. It kind of reminds me just how easy we solve things today in lighting and get away with it. Those guys really knew how to light and create moods in shadow and light.

 

For me, this is one of the best shot B/W films I've ever seen. It's right up there with Stanley Cortez, ASC's The Night Of The Hunter and many others.

 

Mandatory viewing.

[Guest fstop]

Agreed.

 

The gobo/flash train-light motif alone makes this essential viewing for every DP.

 

I've always thought it was interesting how this film was produced by a cinematographer (Ronald Neame) who had nothing to do with the photography of the movie! Neame's work on Lean's BLITHE SPIRIT made around the same time could have easily been jack Cardiff or Georges Perinal.

[David Mullen ASC]

I recently rewatched "I Know Where I'm Going", which has some wonderfully atmospheric b&w photography by Erwin Hillier.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

I recently rewatched "I Know Where I'm Going", which has some wonderfully atmospheric b&w photography by Erwin Hillier.

 

---Also Roger Livesly, the male lead, couldn't go on location; so his scenes were shot in a studio and had to

intercut with shots of a double on location & it worked quite well.

 

Krasker also did some fine three-strip in 'Senso'. Thou he relaced the original cameraman, G.R.Aldo, who died in an automobile accident. Can't say who photographed what, other than Giuseppe Rotunno did second unit.

 

"Henry V" was suppossedly made on an almost 1:1 shooting ratio. Maybe using 75% of what was shot. Considering the elaborate camera moves involved, if true, that's amazing.

 

Marcus Aurelius' funneral in the snow in 'Fall of the Roman Empire' is a favorite scene.

 

---LV

[David Mullen ASC]

"El Cid" has some lovely widescreen compositions of landscapes, although I don't know whether that's more due to Anthony Mann or Robert Krasker. Some interior scenes are also beautiful, but the highlight of the movie is the jousting tournament.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

David, have you seen Brief Encounter? I think it's even better lit than his own The Third Man.

[David Mullen ASC]

Yes, but that was 20 years ago -- I want to check it out again. All of David Lean's b&w movies are well-shot, particularly "Oliver Twist" (Guy Green). I recall some interesting shots in "Hobson's Choice" (Jack Hildyard) too.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

Interestingly, Brief Encounters has a couple of dutch angle shots to suggest Celia Johnson's despair. This pre-dates the dutch angle shots in Guy Green's Oliver Twist, generally considered to be one of the first films to use such a trick.

[David Mullen ASC]

Interestingly, Brief Encounters has a couple of dutch angle shots to suggest Celia Johnson's despair. This pre-dates the dutch angle shots in Guy Green's Oliver Twist, generally considered to be one of the first films to use such a trick.

 

Dutch angles date back to the Silent Era -- German Expressionism, some Russian films, etc.

[Dominic Case]

It is tempting to call Robert Krasker the first of that increasingly long line of Australian cinematographers who have made their mark on the world stage.

 

But although he was born and brought up in Perth WA, his first film work was in France: and as far as I know, he never worked professionally in Australia.

 

But perhaps that's proof that there is something in the light, or the water, that does it for Australians, not just the experience of working on short deadlines with minimal budget and unlimited imaginations.