PASQUALE DE SANTIS

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2: "L'argent" [1982]

#3: "Uomini contro" [1969]

PASQUALE DE SANTIS

Born: 24 April 1927, Fondi, Latium, Italy. A.k.a: Pasqualino De Santis.

Died: 23 June 1996, Львів [Lviv], Ukraine, during the filming of 'La tregua'.

Education: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia [graduated in 1949].

Career: Started as c.asst with doph Piero Portalupi.

Ph commercials.

In 1995 he founded - with doph Giuseppe Lanci, his brother Giuseppe, a.o. - the Nuova Università del Cinema e della Televisione, Rome, Italy. The cinematography scholarship of the university is named after him. The B.A. Film Festival in Busto Arsizio, Italy, named the award for Best Cinematography the 'Premio Pasqualino De Santis'.

Was a member of the AIC.

His brother Giuseppe [1917-97] was a writer/director.

Awards: 'Oscar' AA [1968] & Golden Laurel Award 3rd place [1970] for 'Romeo and Juliet'; BAFTA Film Award [1972] for 'Morte a Venezia'; David di Donatello Award [1981] for 'Tre fratelli'; 'Emmy' Award nom [1982] for 'Marco Polo'; David di Donatello Award [1985] & 'César' Award nom [1985] for 'Carmen'; 'César' Award nom [1986] for 'Harem'.

#1: as camera operator

#2: as director of photography

It is easy to confuse great settings with great cinematography. The film 'A Month by the Lake' has some exquisite individual images of the Lake Como region of Italy captured by the eminent cinematographer Pasqualino de Santis, but this will not be remembered as one of his notable achievements as there is no compelling sense of unity or stylization on the visual side.

However, one has only to think back on the contrasting look of such films as Franco Zeffirelli's 'Romeo e Giulietta', Luchino Visconti's 'Morte a Venezia' or Francesco Rosi's 'Cadaveri eccellenti' and 'Cristo si è fermato a Eboli' to recognize the extraordinary skill and versatility of De Santis.

Each of these directors prized his ability to adapt setting, and mould light and shadow, to create a particular atmosphere and feeling appropriate to the subject in hand.

The much younger brother of director Giuseppe de Santis, Pasqualino gained a job as assistant camera operator on one of his brother's productions after graduating from film school in Rome. This was the start of a long association with the cinematographer Piero Portalupi, a man with formidable practical skills who taught him that every problem had a technical solution.

De Santis became a camera operator and soon linked up with the director of photography Gianni Di Venanzo. From Di Venanzo, De Santis learned how to overcome difficulties by taking risks and experimenting.

Always wearing around his neck the light filter that had belonged to Di Venanzo, De Santis then became Rosi's regular cinematographer. He provided the serene images of the fairytale 'C'era una volta...' and the hard, dry look for 'Cristo si è fermato a Eboli', with its story of political exile in the mountains, before switching to the luminous brightness of 'Tre fratelli'. "He chooses the right light for the right place," said Rosi.

He was Visconti's last regular cameraman. On 'Morte a Venezia', the director demanded a flamboyant, conspicuous visual style. De Santis had difficulty achieving an unreal, shimmering impression of the beach, finally solving the problem by stretching large sheets and sails everywhere to filter the sun's rays.

De Santis always had to work in color as a director of photography. He sometimes sought to suppress color and for Ettore Scola's 'Una giornata particolare', he not only persuaded the director to adopt a sober visual style but memorably created a subdued, near monochrome impression to suit the 1938 setting.

De Santis had rejoined Francesco Rosi earlier this year on the director's latest venture, 'La tregua', and died of a heart attack in the Ukraine while still working on the film. [From obituary by Allen Eyles in 'The Independent', July 1, 1996.]

FILMS
1964	Il momento della verità/The Moment of Truth [Francesco Rosi] ts/c; cph: Gianni Di Venanzo & Aiace Parolin
1965	The Honey Pot/It Comes Up Murder/Mr. Fox of Venice/The Honeypot [Joseph L. Mankiewicz] c; was c.op, but became ph after the death of Gianni Di Venanzo; cph: Gianni Di Venanzo (died during prod); prod was started by doph Piero Portalupi
1966	C'era una volta.../More Than a Miracle/Cinderella: Italian Style [Francesco Rosi] fs/c
1967	Pronto... c'è una certa Giuliana per te [Massimo Franciosa] Panoramica/c
1967	Romeo e Giulietta/Romeo and Juliet [Franco Zeffirelli] c
1968	Amanti/A Place for Lovers [Vittorio De Sica] c
1968	Scusi, facciamo l'amore?/Listen, Let's Make Love [Vittorio Caprioli] ts/c
1969	Senza sapere niente di lei [Luigi Comencini] ts/c
1969	Colpo rovente/Red Hot Shot [Piero Zuffi] ts/c
1969	La caduta degli dei/Götterdämmerung/The Damned [Luchino Visconti] c; cph: Armando Nannuzzi
1969	Uomini contro/Many Wars Ago [Francesco Rosi] c
1970	Morte a Venezia/Death in Venice [Luchino Visconti] p/c
1971	Il caso Mattei [Francesco Rosi] c
1971	The Assassination of Trotsky [Joseph Losey] c
1971	Er più - storia d'amore e di coltello [Sergio Corbucci] c
1971	24 ore... non un minuto di più/Guernica [Franco Bottari] c; cph: Sergio D'Offizi
1972	L'automobile [Alfredo Giannetti] c
1972	La grande scrofa nera [Filippo Ottoni] c
1972	Torino nera/Black Turin [Carlo Lizzani] c
1973	Lucky Luciano [Francesco Rosi] c
1973	Lancelot du lac/Lancelot of the Lake [Robert Bresson] c
1974	Gruppo di famiglia in un interno/Violence and Passion/Conversation Piece [Luchino Visconti] tao35/c
1974	A mezzanotte va la ronda del piacere/The Immortal Bachelor/Midnight Pleasures [Marcello Fondato] c
1975	Cadaveri eccellenti/Illustrious Corpses [Francesco Rosi] c
1975	L'innocente [Luchino Visconti] tvi/c
1976	Le diable probablement/The Devil, Probably [Robert Bresson] c
*1976*	Notti e nebbie [Giorgio Strehler] ?

Before & After - "Una giornata particolare"

1976	Una giornata particolare/A Special Day [Ettore Scola] c (special lab treatment; see photo above)
1977	Nenè [Salvatore Samperi] c
1977	Il giorno dei cristalli [Giacomo Battiato] c
1978	Cristo si è fermato a Eboli/Christ Stopped at Eboli [Francesco Rosi] c
1979	Liquirizia [Salvatore Samperi] c
1979	La terrazza/The Terrace [Ettore Scola] c
1980	Tre fratelli/Three Brothers [Francesco Rosi] tvi/c
1982	Misunderstood [Jerry Schatzberg] c

"L'argent"

1982	L'argent [Robert Bresson] c; cph: Emmanuel Machuel
1982	Rigoletto [Jean-Pierre Ponnelle] c; opera film/128m
1983	Carmen/Bizet's Carmen [Francesco Rosi] p (+ 70bu)/c
1983	Sheena [John Guillermin] p/c; action ph: Don Burgess
1985	Harem [Arthur Joffé] p/c
1985	Salome [Claude d'Anna] p/c
1985	I soliti ignoti vent'anni dopo/Big Deal After 20 Years [Amanzio Todini] b&w-c
1986	Cronaca di una morte annunciata/Chronicle of a Death Foretold [Francesco Rosi] p/c
1987	Qualcuno in ascolto/High Frequency [Faliero Rosati] c
1989	Dimenticare Palermo/The Palermo Connection/To Forget Palermo [Francesco Rosi] c
1989	Musica per vecchi animali [Umberto Angelucci & Stefano Benni] c
1989	12 regista per 12 città [seg 'Una certa idea di Napoli' dir by Francesco Rosi] c; doc/102m; 12 seg
1992	Mouche [Marcel Carné] unfinished
1992	Diario napoletano [Francesco Rosi] c
1993	Fratelli del silenzio [Giancarlo Santi] status unknown (filmed in 1999 as 'Con la voce del cuore', ph by Giancarlo Lodi)
1994	A Month by the Lake [John Irvin] c
1994	Les couleurs du diable/I colori del diavolo/The Colors of the Devil [Alain Jessua] c
1996	La tregua/The Truce [Francesco Rosi] c; cph: Marco Pontecorvo (was c.op, but took over after De Santis died); dedicated to the memory of De Santis and film editor Ruggero Mastroianni (1929-1996)

TELEVISION
1968	Block-notes di un regista/Fellini: A Director's Notebook [Federico Fellini] doc/54m; for NBC-tv
1978	Martin Eden [Giacomo Battiato] 5-part miniseries
1981	Marco Polo [Giuliano Montaldo] 4-part miniseries; 2nd doph: Pier Ludovico Pavoni
1990	Eurocops/Il commissario Corso (12 ep) [ep #6 'Senza prove' & #7 'L'ostaggio' dir by Gianni Lepre] 70-part series, 1988-93
1991	Eurocops/Il commissario Corso [ep #9 'La sfida' & #11-12 'Patto con la morte' dir by Gianni Lepre] see 1990

FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT/OPERATOR
1950	Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi/Under the Olive Tree [Giuseppe De Santis] c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1951	Vacanze col gangster [Dino Risi] c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1953	Aida [Clemente Fracassi] c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1953	Carosello napoletano/Neapolitan Carousel/Neapolitan Fantasy [Ettore Giannini] c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1954	Le ragazze di San Frediano/The Girls of San Frediano [Valerio Zurlini] co-c.asst; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1955	Andrea Chénier/Le souffle de la liberté [Clemente Fracassi] c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1955	Gli sbandati/Abandoned [Francesco Maselli] co-c.asst; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1956	Uomini e lupi/Men and Wolves [Giuseppe De Santis & Leopoldo Savona] co-c.asst; ph: Piero Portalupi
1957	La strada lunga un anno/The Year Long Road [Giuseppe De Santis] co-c.op; ph: Marco Scarpelli
1958	Totò nella luna/Totò in the Moon [Steno] c.op; ph: Marco Scarpelli
1959	Tempi duri per i vampiri/Hard Times for Dracula [Steno] co-c.op; ph: Marco Scarpelli
1960	La notte [Michelangelo Antonioni] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1960	Crimen/...And Suddenly It's Murder!/Criminals/Killing in Monte Carlo [Mario Camerini] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1961	Il carabiniere a cavallo [Carlo Lizzani] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1961	Salvatore Giuliano [Francesco Rosi] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1961	Eva/Eve [Joseph Losey] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo & (uncred) Henri Decaë; filmed 1961-62

1962	L'eclisse/[The] Eclipse [Michelangelo Antonioni] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1962	8½/Otte e mezzo [Federico Fellini] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1962	I basilischi/The Lizards [Lina Wertmüller] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1963	Le mani sulla città/Hands Over the City [Francesco Rosi] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1963	La ragazza di Bube/Bebo's Girl [Luigi Comencini] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1963	Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference [Francesco Maselli] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1963	Alta infedeltà/High Infidelity [seg 'Gente moderna/Modern People' dir by Mario Monicelli] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1964	Oggi, domani, dopodomani/Kiss the Other Sheik/The Man, the Woman and the Money [seg 'La moglie bionda' dir by Luciano Salce] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1964	Giulietta degli spiriti/Juliet of the Spirits [Federico Fellini] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1965	Il morbidone/The Dreamer [Massimo Franciosa] co-c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo & Giuseppe Aquari
1965	La decima vittima/The 10th Victim/The Tenth Victim [Elio Petri] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo
1965	The Honey Pot [Joseph L. Mankiewicz] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo; took over ph after the death of Di Venanzo