BURNETT GUFFEY

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2-3: 1966

BURNETT GUFFEY

Born: 26 May 1905, Del Rio, Tennessee, USA.

Died: 29 May 1983, Goleta Valley Community Hospital, Goleta, Calif., USA.

Career: Raised in Etowah, Tennessee. Entered the film industry in 1923 as c.asst with William Fox Corporation. Went to Famous Players-Lasky Studios in 1927 and became c.op in 1928 [until 1943]. Became doph in 1943 with Columbia Pictures shooting 'B' pictures. Retired in 1970.

Ph commercials.

Was a member and president [1957-58] of the ASC.

Awards: Golden Globe nom [1950] for 'All the King's Men'; 'Oscar' AA [1953; b&w] for 'From Here to Eternity'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1956; b&w] for 'The Harder They Fall'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1962; b&w] for 'Birdman of Alcatraz'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1965; b&w] for 'King Rat'; 'Oscar' AA [1967] for 'Bonnie and Clyde'.

Burnett Guffey's reputation and contributions to the art of cinematography rest not so much in what he did with the camera and lights, but in what he chose not to do. The major portion of Guffey's career behind the camera was spent deglamorizing the Hollywood film, a task that takes on mammoth proportions when one realizes that he was most active in the 1940s and 1950s. In a period when CinemaScope, spectacle, and lurid color were the rule, Guffey continued to work in black-and-white, stripping the romance from the world's most romantic form.

Although he was capable of achieving the slick commercial look of the more typical Hollywood film, Guffey's personal style led him to work primarily on rugged action and mystery pictures. For these movies he developed what has been characterized as 'flat' photography, a functional rebuttal to the elaborate deep-focus cinematography of Gregg Toland. Using a simple, often single source of light, little or no fill light, and a minimum of camera movement, Guffey provided directors with a naturalistic, gritty look to complement hardboiled stories of criminals, convicts, and men at war.

Set in the seedy world of boxing, 'The Harder They Fall', for which Guffey received an Academy Award nomination, stands as a typical example of his flat style. Making use of minimal contrast, Guffey emphasizes gray. Blacks flow into grays which flow into whites, giving the film a truly monotonal effect. The gray, monotonal quality of Guffey's work was ideally suited for stories that featured characters of ambiguous morality such as Bogart's gunrunner in 'Sirocco', the mobsters aiming for respectability in Phil Karlson's 'The Brothers Rico', and George Segal's P.O.W. camp racketeer in 'King Rat'.

Guffey's tendency toward flat cinematography could be overridden by the potently baroque visuals of a director like Joseph H. Lewis in 'My Name Is Julia Ross' and 'So Dark the Night'. And there was always the danger of the flat cinematography being coupled with dull direction and the lackluster production design of a studio like Columbia to produce deadening visuals. Still, when combined with the proper story and strong direction, Burnett Guffey's flat cinematography provided an alternative aesthetic to the standard studio product. [From article by Eric Schaefer on the filmreference.com website.]

The genius of this celebrated American director of photography was in his use of lighting which served him well through dozens of dark crime flicks, yet he was also able to demonstrate a great sensitivity and external representation of internal human emotions. Adept at both black-and-white and color photography, Burnett Guffey is particularly remembered for his two Academy Award winning efforts: 'From Here to Eternity' [1953], in which the desires of the characters oozed from their lighted pores; and 'Bonnie and Clyde' [1966-67], in which the lighting offered not just a sense of the period, but a subtle irony as well.

Raised in Etowah, Tennessee, Guffey was already in California at age 18 when he found a job at Fox working as an assistant cameraman, and his resume in that capacity includes such silent films as 'The Courtship of Myles Standish' [1923], and 'The Iron Horse' [1924], for which he also did additional photography and which brought him into contact with John Ford for the first time. By 1928, Guffey was a camera operator for Paramount and seven years later worked under Joseph H. August, on the John Ford-directed 'The Informer'. As such, Guffey learned the Hollywood and American adaptation of expressionistic lighting methods which had been prevalent through the gangster cycle at Warner Bros. in the early 1930s, and which reached greater heights during the film noir period of the 40s.

Guffey was finally elevated to director of photography in 1943 with 'Sailor's Holiday' at Columbia, where he spend the bulk of his career. Guffey was frequently assigned to films of Will Jason, Henry Levin and Joseph H. Lewis, handling all genres, including adventure yarns and musicals, with aplomb. As seen in the film collaboration with Levin in particular, the DP had an intuitive sense for lighting that revealed the psychological levels of the characters - a key goal of expressionism. This was particularly true with 'All the King's Men' [1948-49] for director Robert Rossen, where the lighting reflects the darkening of the Willie Stark [Broderick Crawford] character as he is corrupted. Stark is first seen in dusty, almost pastoral light at his farm, but by film's end, the darkness is almost cloying.

As the studio system crumbled in the 50s, directors of photography scrambled to become freelancers, and genre-typing almost disappeared. Because of his flexibility, Guffey was well-suited to handle such efforts as the sweet, light comedy Danny Kaye vehicle 'Me and the Colonel' [1957-58], the playful 'Gidget' [1958], and a return to the camera-as-analyst with 'Birdman of Alcatraz' [1962]. Guffey worked with first-time feature director Gordon Parks in 1968 on 'The Learning Tree', blending the stunning framing for which the director had been celebrated as LIFE magazine photographer with the enveloping, telling lighting for which the DP was heralded. Guffey's last working years were full of triumphs such as 'The Great White Hope' [1970], and transcended even in the silliest of vehicles such as 'Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came' [1969] and 'The Steagle' [1970]. [From the TCM website.]

FILMS
1924	The Iron Horse/The Iron Trail [John Ford] b&w; 12 reels; uncred addph (+ c.asst); ph: George Schneiderman; prod Fox Film Corporation; later released in an 11 reels sound version
1929	Fairways and Foul [John J. Mescall] b&w; short/20m
1943	Sailor's Holiday [William Berke] b&w; 60m
1944	U-Boat Prisoner/Dangerous Mists [Lew Landers & (uncred) Budd Boetticher] b&w; 66m
1944	The Impatient Years [Irving Cummings] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Joseph Walker
1944	Kansas City Kitty [Del Lord] b&w
1944	The Soul of a Monster [Will Jason] b&w; 61m
1944	The Unwritten Code [Herman Rotsten (replaced Robert Wilmot after 2 weeks)] b&w; 61m
1944	Eve Knew Her Apples [Will Jason] b&w; 64m
1944	Tahiti Nights [Will Jason] b&w; 63m; cph: Benjamin Kline
1944	Eadie Was a Lady [Arthur Dreifuss] b&w; 67m
1944	I Love a Mystery [Henry Levin] b&w; 69m
1944	The Fighting Guardsman [Henry Levin] b&w
1945	The Blonde from Brooklyn [Del Lord] b&w, 65m
1945	The Gay Senorita [Arthur Dreifuss] b&w; 69m
1945	The Girl of the Limberlost [Melchor Ferrer] b&w; 60m

1945	My Name Is Julia Ross [Joseph H. Lewis] b&w; 65m
1945	Meet Me on Broadway/Song of Broadway [Leigh Jason] b&w
1945	A Close Call for Boston Blackie/Lady of Mystery [Lew Landers] b&w; 60m; 9th film in 13-part 'Boston Blackie'-series (Columbia, 1941-49)
1945	The Notorious Lone Wolf [D. Ross Lederman] b&w; 64m; 11th film in 14-part 'The Lone Wolf'-series (Columbia, 1935-49)
1945	So Dark the Night [Joseph H. Lewis] b&w
1945	Night Editor/The Trespasser [Henry Levin] b&w; 65m; cph: Philip Tannura
1946	A Bird in the Head [Edward Bernds] b&w; 'The Three Stooges' short/16m
1946	Gallant Journey [William A. Wellman] b&w; 2uc: George B. Meehan; aph: Elmer Dyer
1946	Johnny O'Clock [Robert Rossen] b&w
1946	Framed/Paula [Richard Wallace] b&w
1946	To the Ends of the Earth [Robert Stevenson & (uncred; finished film) Sidney Buchman] b&w
1947	The Sign of the Ram [John Sturges] b&w
1947	The Gallant Blade [Henry Levin] c; cph: Charles Lawton Jr.
1948	Photoplay Gold Medal Awards [Ralph Staub] b&w; doc/10m; ep series 'Screen Snapshots'
1948	Smiles and Styles [Ralph Staub] b&w; doc/10m; ep series 'Screen Snapshots'
1948	The Undercover Man/Chicago Story [Joseph H. Lewis] b&w
1948	Knock on Any Door [Nicholas Ray] b&w
1948	All the King's Men [Robert Rossen] b&w
1949	The Reckless Moment [Max Ophüls] b&w
1949	And Baby Makes Three [Henry Levin] b&w
1949	Father Is a Bachelor [Norman Foster & Abby Berlin] b&w
1949	In a Lonely Place [Nicholas Ray] b&w
1949	Convicted [Henry Levin] b&w
1950	Emergency Wedding/Jealousy [Edward Buzzell] b&w
1950	Two of a Kind [Henry Levin] b&w
1950	Sirocco [Curtis Bernhardt] b&w
1951	The Family Secret [Henry Levin] b&w
1951	Scandal Sheet/The Dark Page [Phil Karlson] b&w
1951	Boots Malone [William Dieterle] b&w; 2uc; ph: Charles Lawton Jr.
1951	The Sniper [Edward Dmytryk] b&w
1952	Assignment - Paris/European Edition [Robert Parrish & Phil Karlson] b&w; cph: Ray Cory
1952	The Last Posse [Alfred L. Werker] b&w
1953	From Here to Eternity [Fred Zinnemann] b&w; uncred cph: Floyd Crosby
1953	Human Desire [Fritz Lang] b&w
1954	The Bamboo Prison [Lewis Seiler] b&w
1954	The Violent Men/Rough Company/The Bandits [Rudolph Maté] cs/c; cph: W. Howard Greene
1954	Private Hell 36 [Don Siegel] b&w
1954	Tight Spot [Phil Karlson] b&w
1955	Count Three and Pray/The Calico Pony [George Sherman] cs/c
1955	Three Stripes in the Sun/The Gentle Sergeant [Richard Murphy] b&w
1955	Battle Stations [Lewis Seiler] b&w

1955	Storm Center [Daniel Taradash] b&w; originally scheduled for a 1952 start
1955	The Harder They Fall [Mark Robson] b&w
1956	Nightfall [Jacques Tourneur] b&w
1956	The Strange One/End as a Man [Jack Garfein] b&w; addph: Clifford Poland
1956	The Brothers Rico [Phil Karlson] b&w
1957	Not One Shall Die [David Rich] b&w; comm short/29m; for United Jewish Appeal (fundraising)
1957	Decision at Sundown [Budd Boetticher] c
1957	The True Story of Lynn Stuart [Lewis Seiler] b&w
1957	Screaming Mimi [Gerd Oswald] b&w
1957	Me and the Colonel [Peter Glenville] b&w; 2uc: Ghislain Cloquet

1958	Gidget [Paul Wendkos] cs/c
1958	They Came to Cordura [Robert Rossen] cs/c; 2uc: Frank G. Carson
1959	Edge of Eternity [Don Siegel] cs/c; uncred 2uc: Wilfred Cline
1959	The Mountain Road [Daniel Mann] b&w
1959	Let No Man Write My Epitaph [Philip Leacock] b&w
1960	Hell to Eternity [Phil Karlson] b&w
1960	Cry for Happy [George Marshall] p/c
1961	Homicidal [William Castle] b&w
1961	Mr. Sardonicus/Sardonicus [William Castle] b&w
1961	Kid Galahad [Phil Karlson] c
1962	Birdman of Alcatraz [John Frankenheimer (replaced Charles Crichton)] b&w; replaced John Alton after 16 days
1963	4 for Texas/Four for Texas [Robert Aldrich] c; co-2uc; ph: Ernest Laszlo
1963	Flight from Ashiya [Michael Anderson] p/c; cph: Joseph MacDonald
1964	Good Neighbor Sam [David Swift] c

[Right] with dir Bryan Forbes - "King Rat"

1965	King Rat [Bryan Forbes] b&w
1965	The Silencers [Phil Karlson] c
1966	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying [David Swift] p/c
1966	Bonnie and Clyde/Bonnie and Clyde... Were Killers! [Arthur Penn] c
1967	The Ambushers [Henry Levin] c; cph: Edward Colman; 2uc: Tony Braun & Jack A. Marta
1968	The Split [Gordon Flemyng] p/c
1968	The Madwoman of Chaillot [Bryan Forbes] p/c; cph: Claude Renoir
1968	Where It's at [Garson Kanin] c
1968	The Learning Tree [Gordon Parks] p/c; spec pfx: Albert Whitlock
1969	Some Kind of a Nut [Garson Kanin] c; cph: Gerald Hirschfeld (1968 shooting period); spec pfx: Jerome Rosenfeld
1969	Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?/War Games [Hy Averback] c
1970	Halls of Anger [Paul Bogart] c
1970	The Great White Hope [Martin Ritt] p/c; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott & Art Cruickshank
1970	The Steagle [Paul Sylbert] c

TELEVISION
1953	Ford Theatre/Ford Theater [ep #54 'The Fugitives' dir by Phil Karlson & #60 'For Value Received' dir by Arnold Laven] 195-part anthology series/b&w, 1952-57; 2nd season, 1953-54; for NBC-tv & ABC-tv (5th season, 1956-57); also on CBS-tv ('The Ford Television Theater' - live) from 1948-51
1954	Ford Theatre/Ford Theater [ep #101 'The Lilac Bush' dir by Arnold Laven] 3rd season, 1954-55; see 1953
1956	Ford Theatre/Ford Theater [ep #174 'Mrs. Wane Comes to Call' dir by Oscar Rudolph] 5th season, 1956-57; see 1953
1958	The Donna Reed Show [ep #1 'Weekend Trip' dir by Andrew McCullough] 275-part sitcom series/b&w, 1958-66
1958	Alcoa Theatre [ep 'Eddie' dir by Jack Smight] anthology series/b&w, 1957-60 (started as 'The Alcoa Hour', 1955-57; alternated with 'Goodyear Theatre' during its five-season run); 2nd season, 1958-59
1959	The Law and Mr. Jones [unaired pilot 'Lincoln' dir by Jack Smight] 45-part crime series/b&w, 1960-61 (32 ep) & 1962 (13 ep); other ph: Howard Schwartz
1959	Goodyear Theatre [ep 'All in the Family' dir by Oscar Rudolph] anthology series/b&w, 1957-60 (started as the 'Goodyear TV Playhouse', 1951-57 - live; alternated with 'Alcoa Theatre'); 3rd season, 1959-60
1965	Gidget [ep #24 'Ring-a-Ding-Dingbat' dir by Hal Cooper & #28 'One More for the Road' dir by Jerrold Bernstein] 32-part sitcom series, 1965-66; other ph: Gert Andersen, Fred Gately, a.o.
1966	Somewhere in Italy... Company B! [Danny Arnold] unsold pilot; aired in August as ep #2 of ABC-tv series 'Preview Tonight'
1968	The Outcasts [pilot dir by Robert Butler] 26-part western series, 1968-69

FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT/OPERATOR
1923	The Courtship of Myles Standish [Frederick Sullivan] c.asst; ph: George Rizard
1924	The Iron Horse/The Iron Trail [John Ford] c.asst (+ uncred addph); ph: George Schneiderman
1926	The Yankee Clipper/White Wings [Rupert Julian] c.asst; ph: John J. Mescall
1928	Love Over Night [Edward H. Griffith] c.asst; ph: John J. Mescall
1928	The Leatherneck [Howard Higgin] ?; ph: John J. Mescall
1930	Danger Lights [George B. Seitz] co-c.op; ph: Karl Struss & John W. Boyle
1932	The Conquerors/Pioneer Builders [William A. Wellman] co-c.op; ph: Edward Cronjager
1934	The Night Life of the Gods [Lowell Sherman] co-2nd cam; ph: John J. Mescall
1934	Clive of India [Richard Boleslawski] c.op; ph: J. Peverell Marley
1935	The Informer [John Ford] c.op; ph: Joseph H. August
1936	You Only Live Once [Fritz Lang] c.asst; ph: Leon Shamroy
1938	Letter of Introduction [John M. Stahl] c.op; ph: Karl Freund
1939	Framed [Harold Schuster] c.op; ph: Jerome Ash
1940	Foreign Correspondent [Alfred Hitchcock] c.op; ph: Rudolph Maté
1940	That Hamilton Woman/Lady Hamilton [Alexander Korda] c.op; ph: Rudolph Maté
1943	Cover Girl [Charles Vidor] c.op; ph: Rudolph Maté & Allen M. Davey