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CARLO DI PALMA |
Born: 17 April 1925, Rome, Italy, as son of a camera repairman and a mother who sold flowers in the Piazza di Spagna.
Died: 9 July 2004, Rome, Italy.
Education: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome, Italy.
Career: Started as c.asst in 1942. Became c.op in 1950 and doph in 1954.
Was a member of the AIC.
He was the uncle of doph Dario Di Palma.
Awards: Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 'Silver Ribbon' Award [1965] for 'Il deserto rosso', [1967] for 'L'armata Brancaleone', [1993] for 'Shadows and Fog' & [1997] for 'Mighty Aphrodite'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1968] for 'Blowup'; Italia Cinema Agency's 'Life Achievement Award' [2001]; European Film Awards 'Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema' [2003].
Carlo Di Palma once compared the job of the cinematographer to that of the painter. Both start with a blank canvas, but while the painter has to add strokes to depict what he wants to show, for Di Palma the task of the director of photography is to take away all but what is essential to the shot. Such a spare, simple-sounding encapsulation of his work was strikingly at odds with his reputation as a master manipulator of light and color.
Di Palma came to prominence in the mid-1960s as a result of his collaboration with director Michelangelo Antonioni on his two masterpieces, 'Il deserto rosso/Red Desert' and 'Blowup'. Although it is the latter film that has remained the better known, largely because of its memorable evocation of the spirit of Swinging London, the former is the more interesting technically.
Antonioni's somewhat expressionist intent was that the color of the landscapes in which his characters found themselves marooned would reflect their inner states. All of his previous films had been made in black and white, and it was Di Palma who persuaded him to venture into color. Having done so, Di Palma found himself having to repaint everything in each frame in the correct shade, be it grass, trees or the very streets of Ravenna, where the film was made. The results were quite unlike anything seen in the cinema before, and showed to the full the creative possibilities of the medium.
For 'Blowup' Di Palma made use of the powers of different lenses, particularly the zoom. The film was essentially a cinematic in-joke; its protagonist was a photographer, its concern the reliability of sight as an interpreter of the truth. Such tricksy notions were a long way from Di Palma's roots in the neorealist movement.
Having been influenced by Gianni Di Venanzo, Di Palma became a director of photography at the start of the 1950s. He soon found himself in demand and turned out a score of pictures before resuming the partnership with Antonioni that had begun on a short film in 1949.
It was while shooting 'Red Desert' that Di Palma began a long professional and personal involvement with actress Monica Vitti. He directed her in three films, though with little critical or commercial reward.
In the mid-1980s, his career took an unexpected turn when he became Woody Allen's cinematographer of choice. The two collaborated on a dozen of the director's films. The Italian later declared that the decade he had spent working in America had been the most enjoyable of his life.
Di Palma made his last contribution to cinema in 2001 with a documentary entitled 'Un altro mondo è possibile/Another World Is Possible'. Latterly he had been in ill-health, and he had restricted himself to supervising lighting effects for concerts in churches in Rome and in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence. [From obituary in 'The Times', July 21, 2004.]
FILMS & TELEVISION |
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1950 |
Addio [G. Baggio] ?; short/?m |
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1951 |
Luoghi e figure di Verga [Florestano Vancini] b&w; doc/280mtrs |
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1952 |
Più che regione [Florestano Vancini] b&w; doc/289mtrs |
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1952 |
Portatrici di pietre [Florestano Vancini] b&w; doc/280mtrs |
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1955 |
Lauta mancia/Big Dog Lost [Fabio De Agostini] b&w |
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1957 |
La più alta del mondo [Florestano Vancini] c; doc/412mtrs |
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1957 |
Teatro minimo [Florestano Vancini] c; doc/380mtrs |
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1957 |
Ombre e luci sulla ribalta [Bruno Benech] ?; short/?m |
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1957 |
Tempo di fede [Bruno Benech] ?; short/?m |
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1957 |
Tempo di maschere [Bruno Benech] ?; short/?m |
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1957 |
Tra la storia e la leggenda [Bruno Benech] ?; short/?m |
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1958 |
Gli ultimi cantastorie [Florestano Vancini] c; doc/380mtrs |
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1958 |
La sfida/The Challenge [Francesco Rosi] b&w; 2uc; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo |
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1959 |
La grande guerra/The Great War [Mario Monicelli] cs/b&w; 2uc; ph: Leonida Barboni, Roberto Gerardi, Giuseppe Rotunno & Giuseppe Serrandi |
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1959 |
L'impiegato [Gianni Puccini] b&w |
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1959 |
Kapò [Gillo Pontecorvo] b&w; co-2uc; ph: Aleksandar Sekulovic |
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1960 |
Le Svedesi [Gian Luigi Polidoro] b&w |
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1960 |
La lunga notte del '43/Long Night in 1943/It Happened in '43 [Florestano Vancini] b&w |
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1960 |
Città di Vespignani [Massimo Mida] ?; doc/?m |
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1960 |
L'assassino/The Assassin/The Ladykiller of Rome [Elio Petri] Nikkatsuscope/b&w |
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1961 |
Divorzio all'italiana/Divorce - Italian Style [Pietro Germi] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Leonida Barboni |
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1961 |
Tiro al piccione [Giuliano Montaldo] b&w |
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1961 |
Accattone [Pier Paolo Pasolini] b&w; ph trial tests; ph: Tonino Delli Colli |
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1961 |
Leoni al sole [Vittorio Caprioli] c |
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1962 |
Les quatres vérités/Three Fables of Love [seg 'Le lièvre et la tortue' dir by Alessandro Blasetti] b&w; other seg ph by Jacques Mercanton, Francisco Sempere & Armand Thirard; USA release without seg dir by Luis García Berlanga |
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1962 |
El sheriff terrible/Due contro tutti/Two Against All [Antonio Momplet & Alberto De Martino] c; cph: Dario Di Palma & Ricardo Torres |
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1963 |
Liolà/A Very Handy Man [Alessandro Blasetti] b&w; ext co-ph; ph: Leonida Barboni & Tonino Delli Colli |
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1963 |
Omicron [Ugo Gregoretti] b&w |
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1963 |
Amore in quattro dimensioni [seg 'Amore e vita' dir by Jacques Romain] b&w; 4 seg; other seg ph by Tonino Delli Colli (2 seg) & Dario Di Palma (1 seg) |
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1964 |
Il deserto rosso/Red Desert [Michelangelo Antonioni] c |
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1964 |
Le ore nude/The Naked Hours [Marco Vicario] b&w |
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1964 |
I tre volti/Three Faces of a Woman [seg #1 'Prefazione (Il provino)' dir by Michelangelo Antonioni] c; other ph: Otello Martelli (2 seg) |
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1965 |
5 tombe per un medium/Terror-Creatures from the Grave/Cemetery of the Living Dead/Coffin of Terror/Tombs of Horror [Ralph Zucker (= Massimo Pupillo)] b&w; as Charles Brown |
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1965 |
Una questione d'onore/A Question of Honour [Luigi Zampa] c; cph: Luciano Trasatti |
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1965 |
L'armata Brancaleone/For Love and Gold [Mario Monicelli] scope/c |
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1966 |
Le fate/Les ogresses/The Queens/Sex Quartet [seg #1 'Fata Sabina' dir by Luciano Salce] c; 4 seg; cph (#1): Ennio Guarnieri; other ph: Dario Di Palma (#2), Leonida Barboni (#3) & Armando Nannuzzi (#4) |
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1966 |
Blowup [Michelangelo Antonioni] c |
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1967 |
La cintura di castità/On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who.../The Chastity Belt [Pasquale Festa Campanile] ts/c |
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1967 |
Ti ho sposato per allegria [Luciano Salce] c |
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1967 |
La ragazza con la pistola/Girl with a Pistol [Mario Monicelli] c |
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1968 |
The Appointment [Sidney Lumet] c |
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1968 |
La femme écarlate/The Bitch Wants Blood/The Scarlet Lady/La donna scarlatta [Jean Valère] c |
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1969 |
Amore mio, aiutami!/Help Me My Love [Alberto Sordi] c |
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1969 |
Dramma della gelosia - tutti i particolari in cronaca/Jealousy, Italian Style [Ettore Scola] p/c |
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1970 |
Le coppie/The Couples [seg 'Il frigorifero' dir by Mario Monicelli] c; 3 seg; other ph: Sante Achilli & Ennio Guarnieri |
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1970 |
La supertestimone [Franco Giraldi] c |
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1970 |
Ninì Tirabusciò [La donna che inventò la mossa] [Marcello Fondato] c |
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1970 |
La pacifista/The Pacifist [Miklós Jancsó] c |
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1971 |
Noi donne siamo fatte così [Dino Risi] ts/c |
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1971 |
Gli ordini sono ordini [Franco Giraldi] c |
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1977 |
Kumbha Mela [Michelangelo Antonioni] 16mm/c; doc/18m |
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1978 |
Amo non amo/I Love You, I Love You Not/Together? [Armenia Balducci] c |
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1980 |
La clemenza di Tito [Jean-Pierre Ponnelle] tv-opera/136m |
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1981 |
La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo/Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man [Bernardo Bertolucci] c |
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1981 |
The Black Stallion Returns [Robert Dalva] c; addph: Caleb Deschanel, David Myers & Haskell Wexler |
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1982 |
Gabriela [Bruno Barreto] tvi/c; addph: Pedro Farkas & Carlos Egberto Silveira |
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1982 |
Indentificazione di una donna/Identification of a Woman [Michelangelo Antonioni] partly v/c |
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1983 |
Ritorno a Lisca Bianca [Michelangelo Antonioni] tv-doc/b&w/9m/16mm |
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1984 |
Hannah and Her Sisters [Woody Allen] c; addph: Jamie Jacobsen |
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1985 |
Off Beat [Michael Dinner] c; 2uc: Michael Negrin |
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1986 |
The Secret of My Succe$s [Herbert Ross] c |
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[Striped cap] with Woody Allen [right] - "Radio Days" - photo by Brian Hamill Thys Ockersen Archive |
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1986 |
Radio Days [Woody Allen] c |
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1987 |
September [Woody Allen] c |
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1988 |
Family Business [Sidney Lumet] announced as doph, but replaced by Andrzej Bartkowiak |
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1989 |
Roma [Michelangelo Antonioni] c; comm doc/9m; also seg of '12 registi per 12 città'; prod Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo |
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1990 |
Il ciurma/The Crew [Michelangelo Antonioni] unrealized |
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1990 |
Alice [Woody Allen] c; optical ph: Angus Bickerton |
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1991 |
Shadows and Fog [Woody Allen] b&w |
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1991 |
Husbands and Wives [Woody Allen] c |
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1992 |
Manhattan Murder Mystery [Woody Allen] c |
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1993 |
Bullets over Broadway [Woody Allen] c |
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1994 |
Il mostro/The Monster [Roberto Benigni & Michel Filippi] c |
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1994 |
Don't Drink the Water [Woody Allen] tvm; 2uc Prague: Petr Hlinomaz |
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1994 |
Mighty Aphrodite [Woody Allen] c |
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1995 |
Everyone Says I Love You [Woody Allen] c |
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1996 |
Deconstructing Harry [Woody Allen] c |
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2001 |
Un altro mondo è possibile/Another World Is Possible [various] c; doc/60m & 120m; other ph: Luca Bigazzi, Franco Di Giacomo, a.o. |
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2002 |
Anything Else [Woody Allen] announced as doph, but replaced by Darius Khondji |
FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT/OPERATOR |
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1940 |
Caravaggio il pittore maledetto [Goffredo Alessandrini] c.asst; ph: Aldo Tonti |
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1941 |
Fari nella nebbia [Gianni Franciolini & Marco Elter] co-c.asst; ph: Aldo Tonti |
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1942 |
Un colpo di pistola/A Pistol Shot [Renato Castellani] co-c.asst; ph: Massimo Terzano |
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1942 |
Ossessione [Luchino Visconti] co-c.asst (replaced Gianni Di Venanzo, who was called up for military service); ph: Aldo Tonti |
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1942 |
Il romanzo di un giovane povero [Guido Brignone] c.asst; ph: Tino Santoni |
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1945 |
Paisà/Paisan [Roberto Rossellini] co-c.asst; ph: Otello Martelli; filmed 1943-44 |
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1945 |
La vita ricomincia/Life Begins Anew [Mario Mattoli] c.asst; ph: Ubaldo Arata |
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1945 |
Roma città aperta [Roberto Rossellini] co-c.asst; ph: Ubaldo Arata |
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1946 |
Eugenia Grandet [Mario Soldati] c.asst; ph: Václav Vích |
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1947 |
L'ebreo errante/The Wandering Jew [Goffredo Alessandrini] c.asst; ph: Václav Vích |
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1948 |
Ladri di biciclette/The Bicycle Thief/Bicycle Thieves [Vittorio De Sica] c.asst; ph: Carlo Montuori |
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1949 |
L'amorosa menzogna/Loving Lie [Michelangelo Antonioni] short/10m; c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1950 |
Domani è troppo tardi [Léonide Moguy] c.op; ph: Mario Craveri |
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1951 |
Napoleone [Carlo Borghesio] c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1951 |
Lo scocciatore pubblico no. 1 [Riccardo Moschino; doc] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo |
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1951 |
Achtung! Banditi! [Carlo Lizzani] co-c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo |
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1952 |
È arrivato l'accordatore/Zero in amore/The Piano Tuner Has Arrived [Duilio Coletti] c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1952 |
Personaggi di un sogno [Aldo Rubens; doc] c.op; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo |
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1952 |
Il tallone d'Achille [Mario Amendola & Ruggero Maccari] c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1952 |
I morti non pagano tasse [Sergio Grieco] c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1952 |
Serenata amara [Pino Mercanti] c.op; ph: Renato Del Frate |
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1952 |
Non è vero... ma ci credo [Sergio Grieco] c.op; ph: Vincenzo Seratrice |
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1953 |
Ivan [il figlio del diavolo bianco] [Guido Brignone] c.op; ph: Mario Montuori |
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1953 |
Lulù [Fernando Cerchio] c.op; ph: Mario Albertelli & Vincenzo Seratrice |
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1954 |
Tripoli, bel suol d'amore/I quatro bersaglieri [Ferruccio Cerio] c.op; ph: Mario Montuori |
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1954 |
La vergine moderna [Marcello Pagliero] c.op; ph: Mario Montuori |
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1957 |
Il grido/The Cry [Michelangelo Antonioni] 2nd c.asst; ph: Gianni Di Venanzo |
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1958 |
Avventura a Capri [Giuseppe Lipartiti] c.op; ph: Václav Vích |
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1959 |
Guardatele ma non toccatele [Mario Mattoli] c.op; ph: Riccardo Pallottini |
FILMS AS DIRECTOR |
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1972 |
Teresa la ladra/Teresa the Thief [feature] ph: Dario Di Palma |
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1974 |
Qui comincia l'avventura/Blonde in Black Leather/Lucky Girls [+ co-scrpl] ph: Dario Di Palma |
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1975 |
Mimì Bluette... fiore del mio giardino [feature] ph: Alfio Contini |
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1984 |
L'addio a Enrico Berlinguer [doc; co-d: various] ph: Dario Di Palma, Angelo Lotti, Claudio Ragona, a.o. |
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1999 |
The End (Teleteatro) [v/c; short/4m; seg of 3-part 'An Embroidered Trilogy', a video project by Francesco Vezzoli] ph: ? |