CHARLES LANG Jr.

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#1: 1991

#3: 1935

CHARLES LANG Jr.

Born: 27 March 1902, Bluff, San Juan County, Utah, USA, as Charles Bryant Lang Jr., son of Charles Bryant Lang, a negative developer at Realart Pictures Corporation.

Died: 3 April 1998, St. John's Medical Center, Santa Monica, Calif., USA [of pneumonia].

Education: Lincoln High School, Los Angeles; University of Southern California [USC], Los Angeles.

Career: Abandoned his law studies at USC and entered the film industry in 1918 in the film lab of Realart, a small Hollywood studio. Became c.asst to doph H. Kinley Martin & L. Guy Wilky. Was 2nd cam & contract doph for Paramount from 1929-51. Became freelance.

Was a member of the ASC.

Appeared in the doc 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991].

Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1930/1] for 'The Right to Love'; 'Oscar' AA [1932/3] for 'A Farewell to Arms'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1940; b&w] for 'Arise, My Love'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1941; b&w] for 'Sundown'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1943; b&w] for 'So Proudly We Hail'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1944; b&w] for 'The Uninvited'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1947; b&w] for 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1948; b&w] for 'A Foreign Affair'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1952; b&w] for 'Sudden Fear'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1954; b&w] for 'Sabrina'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1955; b&w] for 'Queen Bee'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1958; b&w] for 'Separate Tables'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1959; b&w] for 'Some Like It Hot'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1960; b&w] for 'The Facts of Life'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1961; color] for 'One-Eyed Jacks'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1963; color; shared] for 'How the West Was Won'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1969] for 'Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1972] for 'Butterflies Are Free'; Special Eastman Kodak Award [1990]; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [1991].

'When the roster of great American cinematographers is finally analyzed, it seems inevitable that Charles Lang Jr. must be included in the first half-a-dozen. [...] High key romanticism was always Lang's forte and he returned to it in works like 'Strangers When We Meet' and 'Inside Daisy Clover', with their marvelous balancing of color and light and superbly executed tracking movements. Although he also worked on a fair number of average films, the name of Charles B. Lang on the credits always promised a degree of visual delight; on his greatest films, he created a world of light and shade whose riches can only fairly be described as poetic.' [John Gillett in 'Film Dope', #33, November 1985.]

Charles B. Lang, one of Hollywood's most famous cinematographers, labored long and hard in the Golden Age of Hollywood, receiving credit on more than 150 feature films. His style is most closely associated with his romantic black-and-white technique, awash with translucent light, which emerged in the 1930s with such films as 'A Farewell to Arms', 'Desire', and 'Angel'. Yet, like all the cinematographers of his era, he worked on films from all genres, in all visual styles.

Cinematographers, like all Hollywood employees during the 1930s and 1940s, were signed to long-term, binding contracts. Thus the bulk of their work was associated with one studio. Charles B. Lang toiled for Paramount Pictures from 1929 to 1951, almost the complete length of the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system. As such he fulfilled his promise as a cinematographer early on, since Paramount, then under the influence of Ernst Lubitsch and Josef von Sternberg, was the home of great photographers of black-and-white cinema.

But as required by changing studio personnel and dictates, Lang adapted to the harsher film noir style of the 1940s. 'The Big Heat', directed by Fritz Lang in 1953, remains one of the most important examples of the late film noir period. It creates a beauty in the American suburbs and contrasts the jagged edges of the changing American urbanscape. Finally there have been his color films. Here Lang moved outdoors to film such Westerns as 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' and 'One-Eyed Jacks'.

The quality of Lang's work was recognized by his peers. He was among the most honored of Hollywood's cameramen.

As part of the Hollywood system from 1922 to 1973, Lang worked on many a mediocre film. But his name on the credits of any film usually guaranteed an interesting visual effort. His greatest work created a complexity of visual delight that students of film will continue to appreciate far off into the future. [From article by Douglas Gomery on the www.filmreference.com website.]

FILMS [1 reel = c. 10m]
1927	Ritzy [Richard Rosson] b&w; 6 reels; prod Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
1928	The Shopworn Angel [Richard Wallace] b&w; 8 reels; silent & sound (talking seq) versions; prod Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation
1929	Innocents of Paris [Richard Wallace] b&w
1929	Half-Way to Heaven [George Abbott] b&w; cph: Alfred Gilks
1929	Behind the Make-Up [Robert Milton; (uncred) Dorothy Arzner, Henry Hathaway & Rollo Lloyd] b&w
1929	Seven Days' Leave/Medals [Richard Wallace] b&w
1929	Street of Chance [John Cromwell] b&w
1930	Sarah and Son [Dorothy Arzner] b&w
1930	The Light of Western Stars/Winning the West [Otto Brower & Edwin H. Knopf] b&w
1930	Shadow of the Law [Louis J. Gasnier] b&w; 69m
1930	For the Defense [John Cromwell] b&w; 65m
1930	Anybody's Woman [Dorothy Arzner] b&w
1930	Tom Sawyer [John Cromwell] b&w
1930	The Right to Love [Richard Wallace] b&w
1931	Unfaithful [John Cromwell] b&w
1931	The Vice Squad [John Cromwell] b&w
1931	Forbidden Adventure/Newly Rich [Norman Taurog] b&w
1931	The Magnificent Lie [Berthold Viertel] b&w
1931	Caught [Edward Sloman] b&w; 68m
1931	Once a Lady [Guthrie McClintic] b&w
1932	No One Man [Lloyd Corrigan] b&w
1932	Tomorrow and Tomorrow [Richard Wallace] b&w
1932	Thunder Below [Richard Wallace] b&w; 67m
1932	Devil and the Deep [Marion Gering] b&w
1932	He Learned About Women [Lloyd Corrigan] b&w; 68m
1932	A Farewell to Arms [Frank Borzage] b&w; transparencies: Farciot Edouart

1932	She Done Him Wrong [Lowell Sherman] b&w; 66m
1933	A Bedtime Story [Norman Taurog] b&w
1933	Gambling Ship [Louis J. Gasnier & Max Marcin] b&w; spec pfx: Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Al Myers & Dewey Wrigley
1933	The Way to Love [Norman Taurog] b&w
1933	L'amour guide [Jean Boyer & Gilbert Pratt] b&w; French-language version of 'The Way to Love'
1933	Cradle Song [Mitchell Leisen] b&w
1933	Death Takes a Holiday [Mitchell Leisen] b&w
1934	We're Not Dressing [Norman Taurog] b&w
1934	She Loves Me Not [Elliott Nugent] b&w
1934	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch [Norman Taurog] b&w
1934	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer [Henry Hathaway] b&w; India background ph (+ dir): Ernest B. Schoedsack
1935	Mississippi [A. Edward Sutherland & (uncred fill-in) Wesley Ruggles] b&w; film was started by ph Karl Struss
1935	Peter Ibbetson [Henry Hathaway] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings
1935	Desire/The Pearl Necklace [Frank Borzage & (uncred fill-in) Ernst Lubitsch] b&w; uncred cph (?): Victor Milner; addph Europe: Harry Perry; spec pfx: Farciot Edouart
*1936*	I Loved a Soldier [Henry Hathaway] prod abandoned after 28 days of filming
1936	Souls at Sea [Henry Hathaway] b&w; cph: Merritt Gerstad; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings
1937	Angel [Ernst Lubitsch] b&w; loc ph Europe: Harry Perry; spec pfx: Farciot Edouart
1937	Tovarich (Tonight's Our Night) [Anatole Litvak] b&w
1937	Doctor Rhythm/Dr. Rhythm [Frank Tuttle] b&w; cph: Floyd Crosby
1938	You and Me [Fritz Lang] b&w
1938	Spawn of the North [Henry Hathaway] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1938	Zaza [George Cukor] b&w
1938	Midnight [Mitchell Leisen] b&w; spec pfx: Farciot Edouart
1939	The Gracie Allen Murder Case [Alfred E. Green] b&w
1939	The Cat and the Canary [Elliott Nugent] b&w; uncred fill-in ph: Ted Tetzlaff
1939	Adventure in Diamonds [George Fitzmaurice] b&w
1939	Women Without Names [Robert Florey] b&w; 62m; uncred cph: Stuart Thompson
1939	Buck Benny Rides Again [Mark Sandrich] b&w; uncred cph: Victor Milner
1940	The Ghost Breakers [George Marshall] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1940	Dancing on a Dime [Joseph Santley] b&w
1940	Victory [John Cromwell] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Leo Tover
1940	Arise, My Love [Mitchell Leisen] b&w
1940	The Shepherd of the Hills [Henry Hathaway] c; cph: W. Howard Greene
1941	Skylark [Mark Sandrich] b&w
1941	Nothing But the Truth [Elliott Nugent] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1941	Sundown [Henry Hathaway] b&w; spec pfx: Ray Binger
1941	The Lady Has Plans [Sidney Lanfield] b&w
1941	Are Husbands Necessary? [Norman Taurog] b&w
1942	The Forest Rangers [George Marshall] c; cph: William V. Skall; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1942	No Time for Love [Mitchell Leisen] b&w; New York unit ph: Wallace Kelley; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1942	True to Life [George Marshall] b&w
1942	So Proudly We Hail! [Mark Sandrich] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart

1943	The Uninvited [Lewis Allen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1943	Standing Room Only [Sidney Lanfield] b&w
1943	Frenchman's Creek [Mitchell Leisen] c; uncred cph; ph: George Barnes
1943	I Love a Soldier [Mark Sandrich] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1944	Practically Yours [Mitchell Leisen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1944	Here Come the Waves [Mark Sandrich] b&w; sfx ph: Gordon Jennings & Paul K. Lerpae; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1944	Miss Susie Slagle's [John Berry] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1944	Cross My Heart [John Berry] b&w; cph: Stuart Thompson; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings
1945	The Stork Club [Hal Walker] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1945	Blue Skies [Stuart Heisler (replaced Mark Sandrich, who had died)] c; cph: William E. Snyder; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings & Paul K. Lerpae; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1946	Where There's Life [Sidney Lanfield] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1946	Desert Fury [Lewis Allen] c; cph: Edward Cronjager; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1946	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir [Joseph L. Mankiewicz] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen
1947	My Own True Love [Compton Bennett] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1947	A Foreign Affair [Billy Wilder] b&w; 2uc: Dewey Wrigley; process ph: Farciot Edouart & Dewey Wrigley; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; filmed August-September in Germany & December 1947-February 1948 in Hollywood
1948	Miss Tatlock's Millions [Richard Haydn] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1948	The Great Lover [Alexander Hall] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1949	Rope of Sand [William Dieterle] b&w; fill-in ph: Leo Tover; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1949	Copper Canyon [John Farrow] c
1949	Fancy Pants [George Marshall] c; uncred fill-in ph: Ray Rennahan; uncred 2uc: Wallace Kelley; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart

1949	September Affair [William Dieterle] b&w; uncred fill-in ph (when C. Lang was ill): Daniel L. Fapp; European ph (in August): Victor Milner; European backgrounds: Dewey Wrigley; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1950	Branded [Rudolph Maté] c; uncred cph: Wallace Kelley
1950	The Mating Season [Mitchell Leisen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1950	Ace in the Hole/The Big Carnival [Billy Wilder] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart; transparency ph: Irmin Roberts
1950	Red Mountain [William Dieterle & (uncred fill-in) John Farrow] c; process ph: Farciot Edouart & Wallace Kelley
1951	Peking Express [William Dieterle] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1951	Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick/Marshmallow Moon [Claude Binyon] c; uncred 2uc: Peverell Marley; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1951	The Atomic City/Los Alamos [Jerry Hopper] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1952	Sudden Fear [David Miller] b&w; uncred 2uc: Loyal Griggs
1952	Salome [: The Dance of the Seven Veils] [William Dieterle] c
1953	The Big Heat [Fritz Lang] b&w
1953	It Should Happen to You [George Cukor] b&w
1953	Sabrina/Sabrina Fair [Billy Wilder] b&w; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1954	The Long Gray Line [John Ford] cs/c; uncred cph; ph: Charles Lawton Jr.
1954	Phffft! [Mark Robson] b&w
*1954*	Joseph and His Brethren [William Dieterle] abandoned after 31 days of filming
1954	The Man from Laramie [Anthony Mann] cs/c
1954	Female on the Beach [Joseph Pevney] b&w
1955	Queen Bee [Ranald MacDougall] b&w
1955	Autumn Leaves [Robert Aldrich] b&w
1955	The Solid Gold Cadillac [Richard Quine] b&w-c
1956	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral [John Sturges] vv/c; spec pfx: John P. Fulton
1956	The Rainmaker [Joseph Anthony] vv/c; spec pfx: John P. Fulton
1957	Loving You/Running Wild [Hal Kanter] vv/c; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1957	Wild Is the Wind [George Cukor] vv/b&w; 2uc: Loyal Griggs; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1957	The Matchmaker [Joseph Anthony] vv/b&w; spec pfx: John P. Fulton

1957	Separate Tables [Delbert Mann] b&w
1958	Last Train from Gun Hill/One Angry Day [John Sturges] vv/c; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1958	Some Like It Hot [Billy Wilder] b&w

#1-2: With dir Marlon Brando [right] - "One-Eyed Jacks"

1958	One-Eyed Jacks [Marlon Brando] vv/c; 2uc: W. Wallace Kelley; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1959	Song Without End/Crescendo [Charles Vidor (died after completing 15% of the film) & (uncred) George Cukor] cs/c; uncred cph (replaced J. Wong Howe); ph: James Wong Howe
1959	Strangers When We Meet [Richard Quine] cs/c
1960	The Magnificent Seven [John Sturges] p/c
1960	The Facts of Life [Melvin Frank] b&w; process ph: Paul Eagler
1961	Blue Hawaii [Norman Taurog] p/c; 2uc: W. Wallace Kelley; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1961	Summer and Smoke [Peter Glenville] p/c
1961	How the West Was Won [seg 'The Rivers' dir by Henry Hathaway] cr (+ cs & up70)/c; 5 seg + transitional seq; other ph: William Daniels, Milton Krasner & Joseph LaShelle; 2uc: Harold Wellman; pick-up ph: Dale Deverman & Robert Surtees; spec vfx: A. Arnold Gillespie & Robert R. Hoag
*1962*	Something's Got to Give [George Cukor] cs/c; unfinished; cph: William Daniels, Franz Planer & Leo Tover; 37m were released in 2001 as part of the tv-doc 'Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days'
1962	A Girl Named Tamiko [John Sturges] p/c; 2uc: W. Wallace Kelley
1962	Paris When It Sizzles/Together in Paris [Richard Quine] c; uncred cph: Claude Renoir

1962	Charade [Stanley Donen] c; 2uc: Henri Persin
1963	Critic's Choice [Don Weis] p/c
1963	The Wheeler Dealers/Separate Beds [Arthur Hiller] p/c
1964	Father Goose [Ralph Nelson] c
1964	Sex and the Single Girl [Richard Quine] c
1965	Inside Daisy Clover [Robert Mulligan] p/c
1965	How to Steal a Million [William Wyler] p/c
1966	Not with My Wife, You Don't! [Norman Panama] c; Europe ph: Paul Beeson
1966	Hotel [Richard Quine] c
1966	The Flim-Flam Man/One Born Every Minute [Irvin Kershner] p/c; cph: Vincent Saizis; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott, Art Cruickshank & Emil Kosa Jr.
1967	Wait Until Dark [Terence Young] c
1968	A Flea in Her Ear [Jacques Charon] p/c; 2uc: Walter Wottitz
1968	The Stalking Moon [Robert Mulligan] p/c
1968	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice [Paul Mazursky] c; Wescam tech: Jack N. Green
1969	How to Commit Marriage [Norman Panama] c
1969	Cactus Flower [Gene Saks] c
1969	A Walk in the Spring Rain [Guy Green] p/c
1970	Doctors' Wives [George Schaefer] c
1971	The Love Machine [Jack Haley Jr.] c

[Right] with dir Milton Katselas - "Butterflies Are Free"

1972	Butterflies Are Free [Milton Katselas] c
1973	40 Carats/Forty Carats [Milton Katselas (replaced William Wyler, who was advised by his physician not to dir the film)] c

MISCELLANEOUS
1923	Are You a Failure? [Tom Forman] c.asst; ph: Harry Perry
1923	The Virginian [Tom Forman] c.asst; ph: Harry Perry
1925	The Golden Princess [Clarence G. Badger] c.asst; ph: H. Kinley Martin
1926	The Night Patrol [Noel Mason Smith] 2nd cam; ph: Jack Stevens