Painting with Light: The Cinematography of James Wong Howe
Programmed by: Kathleen Geier
Cinematographer James Wong Howe (1899-1976) was a Hollywood legend. Born in the Guangdong Province of China, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was just five years old. Gifted, restless, and driven, he tried out several careers (for a while, he was a prizefighter) before joining the burgeoning film industry. He started working in Hollywood in 1917 and received his first film credit in 1919. His career spanned over five decades, beginning in silent films, extending through the midcentury studio era, and ending in the New Hollywood of the 60s and 70s. Every step of the way, he not only embraced but pioneered new trends and technical innovations. His expressive style – which made frequent use of dramatic lighting and dark shadows – not only served the material but frequently elevated it.
As critic Walter Chaw has written, Wong Howe "wasn’t just a master of eye-catching images; he was also brilliant at suggesting subtext and heightening narrative climaxes." Despite the deep and pervasive racism of the era and the serious career difficulties he faced during the anti-communist blacklist, he won widespread respect in the industry, racking up a total of ten Academy Award nominations, including two wins. Like his career as a whole, this series embraces a dazzling array of genres, including fantasy, adventure, sci fi, romantic comedy, melodrama, and noir. It features some of his most stunning and influential work, in films that were among the best of their time.
The Thin Man (1934)
W.S. Van Dyke · 91m · DCP
Whodunit meets screwball comedy in this tale of a retired detective who reluctantly gets pulled into a missing persons case. This film is justly celebrated for the chemistry and witty banter of its leads, the eternally delightful William Powell and Myrna Loy. Cinematographer Wong Howe’s camera heightens the suspense with noir-like effects and brings a visual sparkle to the comic scenes.
Monday, March 23 7:00 PM
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Alexander Mackendrick · 97m · 35mm
A slimeball gossip columnist (Burt Lancaster) plots to destroy an innocent man, with the help of an equally sleazy press agent (Tony Curtis). This acid portrait of power and corruption is famous for pungent dialogue, but Wong Howe’s camera is equally potent. Rarely have smoky nightclubs, Broadway lights, and glistening city streets been captured with such intoxicating vibrancy.
Monday, March 30 7:00 PM
Peter Pan (1924)
Herbert Brenon · 101m · 35mm
This enchanting adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s play was one of the most popular films of the 1920s. It stars Betty Bronson, hand-picked by Barrie himself, as Peter, and Anna May Wong as Princess Tiger Lily. Wong Howe’s delicate chiaroscuro effects match the material beautifully in what Jonathan Rosenbaum called "one of the loveliest movies for and about children ever made."
Monday, April 6 7:00 PM
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
H.C. Potter · 94m · 35mm
An ad exec (Cary Grant) and his wife (Myrna Loy) ditch city life for a home in the country, but construction mishaps and spiralling costs threaten to turn their dream into a nightmare. Wong Howe’s camera emphasizes the cramped spaces of their Manhattan apartment and bathes their dream house in a warm glow in this riotous comedy about the horrors of home ownership.
Monday, April 13 7:00 PM
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
John Cromwell · 101m · 35mm
When a king (Ronald Colman) is kidnapped, a lookalike commoner (also Ronald Colman) steps in to impersonate him. This witty, rousing swashbuckler is tremendous fun, filmed with great style and dash. Wong Howe’s cinematography, with its ambitious tracking shots, sharp, beautifully lit images, and seamless split-screen effects, is a triumph.
35mm print courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Monday, April 20 7:00 PM
Kings Row (1942)
Sam Wood · 127m · 35mm
Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan star in this haunting coming-of-age melodrama set in a small town in the early twentieth century. Beneath the town’s idyllic surface lies a rancid underbelly of corruption, class warfare, and madness. Wong Howe photographs it all in a somber style that has been called Midwestern Gothic, emphasizing oblique angles and low lighting.
Monday, April 27 7:00 PM
Hud (1963)
Martin Ritt · 112m · 35mm
This classic revisionist western centers around the conflict between a cattle rancher (Melvyn Douglas) and his rebellious son (Paul Newman). The charismatic but amoral Hud has been called the first modern film antihero. Wong Howe’s stripped-down cinematography, which earned him an Oscar, powerfully evokes the bleak landscape of the Texas Panhandle.
Monday, May 4 7:00 PM
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
Richard Quine · 106m · DCP
In this charming rom-com, a Greenwich Village witch (Kim Novak, serving beatnik chic) casts a love spell on a neighbor (James Stewart). The superb supporting cast includes Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester, and Ernie Kovacs. Though Wong Howe preferred working in black and white, he shot this in Technicolor, and it looks spectacular. "I had fun photographing that picture," he said. It shows.
Monday, May 11 7:00 PM
Seconds (1966)
John Frankenheimer · 107m · DCP
In this dark sci-fi fable, an unhappy banker assumes a new identity, only to have his new life turn into a nightmare. Rock Hudson gives the finest performance of his career, one that has poignant echoes of his own private struggles. David Sterritt described Wong Howe’s work as "astonishing throughout, charged with the dark-toned intensity that made him a legendary camera artist."
