JOHN F. SEITZ

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2: [Left] with Erich von Stroheim - "Five Graves to Cairo" [1943]

#3: 1936

JOHN F. SEITZ

Born: 23 June 1892, Chicago, Illinois, USA, as John Francis Seitz.

Died: 27 February 1979, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Career: Entered the film industry in 1909 as lab asst with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company in Chicago. Went to work as lab technician and title ph for the American Film Manufacturing Company ['Flying A'], also in Chicago. When one of Flying A's executives, Gilbert P. Hamilton, moved to the St. Louis Motion Picture Company, Seitz followed, and in 1914 went to the western branch in Santa Paula, outside of Los Angeles. In 1914 he went to work, again as a lab man, for Fred Balshofer's company in Los Angeles. His debut as doph was in 1916 with the American Film Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. Between 1920 and 1926, he ph 12 films for dir Rex Ingram. From 1925-26 he was permanently based in the Victorine Studios [owned by Ingram and rented to MGM] in Nice, France. Was scheduled to ph 'Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ' in Italy [with dir Rex Ingram] and invented and patented the matte shot to use in that film, but a dispute with the newly formed MGM deterred their participation. He returned to Hollywood at the behest of William Randolph Hearst to photograph Marion Davies and did one of her biggest successes, 'The Patsy' [1928]. Ph 5 films with Shirley Temple. During the 1920s, he was the highest paid doph and the only one to receive credit in advertising. After retiring in 1960, he devoted himself to photographic inventions for which he held 18 patents.

Was a member of the ASC since 1923, and its president in 1929-30.

The ASC named the 2002 Heritage Award after John F. Seitz. He was among the inaugural winners of the George Eastman House's 'George Award' in 1957 for his achievements between 1915-1925 along with 5 actors, 5 actresses, 5 directors and 4 other cinematographers [Arthur Edeson, Harold Rosson, Charles Rosher, and Lee Garmes].

Some sources tell us that dir George B. Seitz [1888-1944] was his brother. However, they were good friends and sometime collaborators, but they were not related.

Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1928/9] for 'The Divine Lady'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1943; b&w] for 'Five Graves to Cairo'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1944; b&w], Look Magazine Award [1946] & Golden Globe Award for 'Double Indemnity'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1945; b&w] for 'The Lost Weekend'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1950; b&w] & Golden Globe Award nom [1950] for 'Sunset Blvd.'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1951; color; shared] for 'When Worlds Collide'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1954; b&w] for 'Rogue Cop'.

NOTE: All photos courtesy of John L. Seitz.

GO TO FILMS

#1: [Right] with dir Rex Ingram

#2: [Right] with dir Rex Ingram [sitting] & Alice Terry [left]

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" [1921]

John F. Seitz and director Rex Ingram:

> 'It was in the mid-twenties that strongly individual styles began to emerge. John F. Seitz began to use Rembrandt's North light in films made with Rex Ingram and the results were markedly individual.' [Charles Higham, 'Hollywood Cameramen', Indiana University Press, 1970.]

> 'I realized how particular Ingram was about his films. So I would set things up before - give him two choices,' said John Seitz. 'I'd make the setups and he'd say yes or no. He liked initiative.' [Donald Chase, 'Filmmaking: The Collaborative Art', Little Brown, 1975.]

> 'John F. Seitz, an outstanding cinematographer, particularly with actresses, had been engaged by [Rex] Ingram to give special attention to the film's ['The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'] female lead but his skill also flatters Valentino and lends him a beauty and attractiveness he had never been treated to in earlier films.' [Alexander Walker, 'Rudolph Valentino', Stein & Day, 1976.]

> 'Ingram was a great pictorialist; everything in his pictures was subordinate to the image. Collaborating with a cameraman of genius, John Seitz, he created some of the most beautiful films of the entire silent era.' [Kevin Brownlow/John Kobal, 'Hollywood: The Pioneers', Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.]

> 'The rich subtle photography by John Seitz brought a quality to the film ['The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'] which equaled that of the German productions then being heard of in America. ...and lay the credit for the artistic success of 'Scaramouche' at the feet of John Seitz. His work deserves a richer description than that of mere 'photography' for it achieves a standard of interpretation few cameramen could even understand, let alone duplicate. They [Seitz and Ingram] worked together as a team and understood each other's requirements.' [Liam O'Leary, 'Rex Ingram', The Academy Press, 1980.]

'Where [others] might be inclined to play it safe by using tried and true techniques, John F. Seitz doesn't hesitate to stick his neck out to try for the unusual and original effect - and he invariably comes up with an exciting result. Far from being a trickster out to create an effect for its own sake, [he] remains an alert experimentalist, constantly searching for new approaches and original camera techniques to make the motion picture a more dramatic medium. There are no clichés in his style - as modern as tomorrow, rugged, forceful and, above all, alive. He insists that cinematography must exist to tell the screen story, rather than stand out as a separate artistic entity.' [Herb Lightman, 'Old Master, New Tricks' in 'American Cinematographer', September 1950.]

'The man who made a profound impact on me was John F. Seitz. He changed the whole course of my photographic endeavors, gave me a completely new vision. 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' was the first film that perfected the modern style of photography, the Rembrandt principle. You become conscious of the back wall as part of the unit of the lighting. So you leave a deep shadow on the face and light up the back wall. You have as good a definition as by keeping the back wall dark and blasting the subject with a lamp right over the top of your magazines. Seitz was kind of a dreamer. Fred Gage, lab superintendent at Metro, used to stand anxiously over the developing tanks at night, praying there was something on Seitz's film because he was a very low-key light man. Fred would say: 'Oh, God... be something!' and he'd shove it back in the soup and eventually it'd show an image… Seitz had a corridor scene of the period, dusty and cobwebby. He was busy lighting it with his gaffer the day Fred Gage appeared on the set to report to Seitz on how the negative was the night before. Johnny was busy lighting his long hallway while Fred stood around watching him. Finally, he walked over to Seitz and said: 'Well, I've got to go back to the lab. Let's turn them on and see how it looks.' He figured he could convince [Seitz] to add a little more light. Johnny said: 'Hey Fred, they're already on.' He may have been a problem to the lab but Seitz's concepts were absolutely revolutionary for the day. In most cases he carried them out with enough light to be able to see them and sometimes he didn't - he loved dark effects. Seitz changed the style of motion picture photography. I cannot stress this enough, that an individual man changed the whole course of this complex art. He made movie shots a composite - background and foreground becoming a unit, an artistic concept - the Rembrandt principle.' [Joe Adamson, 'Byron Haskin', Directors Guild of America, 1984.]

'Harry Lachman appeared at my elbow and addressed the worried cameraman as Johnny. I realized that this was John F. Seitz, who had photographed 'The Four Horsemen', 'Scaramouche', and all Rex Ingram's great movies. I had never even held a Kodak in my hands at the time, but I already knew most of the big names and felt the difference between Billy Bitzer's harsh realism and Johnny Seitz's impressionism, which was to reach its fullest expression in Billy Wilder's 'Double Indemnity' thirty years later. I have always been amazed at the apparent sophistication of these early cameramen, but it must be remembered that they worked with sunlight before sun-arcs, used huge sheets of gauze to filter the light, and, through half-closed eyes, were already studying the problems of telling a story with actors in a natural setting. These pioneers of motion picture storytelling were also pioneers of surrealism, for every film is surrealistic to a certain degree. [...] Johnny was a painter in light, in the tradition of drawings and gouaches by the masters. There were scenes in 'Scaramouche' worthy of Watteau, in 'Mare Nostrum' of Monet. [...] I know that Rex and Harry were unfairly disappointed with Johnny Seitz's work on 'The Magician', and wanted to work with one of the new men and yet - and yet - when I saw 'Double Indemnity' thirty years later, one of the most brilliant and sophisticated films that even Billy Wilder ever made, John F. Seitz was the lighting cameraman.' [Michael Powell, 'A Life in Movies', Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.]

Cast and crew "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" [1921]

[Right/cap] with dir Rex Ingram [right/sitting]

'John F. Seitz is best known for his work in black and white, especially on the film noirs he did for Billy Wilder, and 'This Gun for Hire'. But in the 1950's he did some color pictures. His style was distinctive. He tended to like beige or tan backgrounds. Against these would be broad expanses of color, either from the characters' costumes, or regions of the set. The colors were brilliant, but with just a hint of dark tone in them. The whole effect is a little darker than the pastel shaded Hollywood musicals of the era. There is a sense of unusual color harmonies to every scene, that remind one a little of Veronese. Even in the color pictures, he liked lustrous blacks and intense whites. There are also fiery reds.

Seitz' photography for 'Hail the Conquering Hero' is very beautiful. The images have a harmonious quality of balance. Partly this is due to Sturges' meaningful staging, partly to Seitz' camera. Different regions of Seitz' frames often have different intensities of light. For example, the background might be strongly lit, the middle ground dark, the foreground trees moderately lit. Or Seitz will have one wall of a room strongly illuminated, the others in varying degrees of shade. As a general approach, this allows Seitz to break the screen down into a number of geometric regions, thus helping him create interesting compositions. The sense of visual balance among these regions is strong. Another common Seitz technique: using sharply outlined shadows against one wall. These shadows are not the vague, overlapping [but beautiful] irregular patterns of [Harry] Stradling. Nor are they the diffused, continuously modulating, almost oceanic background shadows of Victor Milner, that add so much complexity and visual interest to the walls of his sets. By contrast, in Seitz the shadows are well defined marks of a single, complex object, such as a tree or metal grill work. The shadow outline is beautiful in itself. It is plainly visible to the audience, and easily recognized as a tree, etc., by the audience. It adds a nice grace note to one section of Seitz' frame. Unlike [Joseph] Valentine, at least in this movie Seitz is not too interested in having the shadows fall over the characters' faces or bodies. Or even dominate the whole frame, as Valentine's large shadows often do in 'Saboteur'. Instead, Seitz' shadows here tend to be concentrated within one clearly marked off region of the screen, one of several such regions, each clearly demarcated by its own intensity of light. The shadows in Seitz are dark enough to be clearly seen. But they tend not to become the deep black found in Arthur Miller, or even more intensively in the Chiaroscuro style of early [Arthur] Edeson.' [From the ASC website.]

[Center] Filming 'Winning Your Wings' [1942] with ? [left] and dir John Huston [right/top]

Look Magazine Film Awards [1946]: l>r Barbara Hale, JFS, Peggy Ann Garner, Billy Wilder,

Louis B. Mayer, Ingrid Bergman, Ray Milland and Bob Hope

FILMS [1 reel = c. 10m]
1916	The Quagmire [Tom Chatterton] b&w; 3 reels; prod American Film Manufacturing Company (AFMC) ('Mustang' brand)
1916	The Ranger of Lonesome Gulch [Tom Chatterton] b&w; 3 reels; prod AFMC ('Mustang' brand)
1916	Whose Wife? [Rollin S. Sturgeon] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	Edged Tools/The Serpent's Tooth [Rollin S. Sturgeon] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	Souls in Pawn [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	The Bride's Silence/The Unafraid [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	A Game of Wits [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	The Mate of the Sally Ann/Peggy Rebels [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1917	Beauty and the Rogue [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1918	Powers That Prey [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod AFMC
1918	Up Romance Road [Henry King] b&w; 5 reels; prod William Russell Prods
1919	The Westerners [Edward Sloman] b&w; prod Great Authors Pictures (GAP)/Benjamin B. Hampton Prods
1919	The Sagebrusher/Out of the Dark [Edward Sloman] b&w; cph: Clark Bond; prod GAP
1920	Shore Acres [Rex Ingram] b&w; 6 reels; after shooting some tests, J.F. Seitz was chosen to replace ph Stephen Norton (?) during production; prod Metro Pictures Corporation (MPC)
1920	Hearts Are Trumps [Rex Ingram] b&w; 6 reels; prod MPC

#1: Rex Ingram [left] - John F. Seitz - Alice Terry - "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

#2: June Mathis - Rudolph Valentino - John F. Seitz - Rex Ingram - "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

1921	The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1921	Uncharted Seas [Wesley Ruggles] b&w; 6 reels; cph: Sol Polito; prod MPC
1921	The Conquering Power/Eugénie Grandet [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1921	Turn to the Right [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1922	The Prisoner of Zenda [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1922	Trifling Women [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1922	Where the Pavement Ends [Rex Ingram & (uncred) Alice Terry] b&w; prod MPC
1923	Scaramouche [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MPC
1924	The Arab [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
1924	The Price of a Party [Charles Giblyn] b&w; 6 reels; prod Howard Estabrook Prods
1924	Classmates/Winning Through [John S. Robertson] b&w; cph: Roy Overbaugh; prod Inspiration Pictures
1925	Mare Nostrum/Our Sea [Rex Ingram] b&w; silent & sound versions; took more than a year to complete; prod Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM)
1926	The Magician [Rex Ingram] b&w; prod MGM

[Right] with Marion Davies and dir Sam Wood - "The Fair Co-Ed"

1927	The Fair Co-Ed [Sam Wood] b&w; prod MGM/Cosmopolitan Pictures
1927	The Trail of '98 [Clarence Brown] b&w; silent & sound (music + efx) versions; prod MGM
1927	Across to Singapore [William Nigh] b&w; prod MGM
1928	The Patsy/The Politic Flapper [King Vidor] b&w; restored in 2004 with new score; prod MGM/Cosmopolitan Pictures
1928	Outcast [William A. Seiter] b&w; silent & sound (music + efx) versions; prod First National Pictures (FN)
1928	Adoration [Frank Lloyd] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1928	The Divine Lady [Frank Lloyd] b&w; assoc ph: Ralph Hammeras & Alvin Knechtel; film survived in 2 worn versions in Czechoslovakia, an American Vitaphone version and a foreign silent version comprised of alternate takes; other footage was found in a Warner Bros. vault; restored in 1989; prod FN/The Vitaphone Corporation
1929	Saturday's Children [Gregory La Cava] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod Walter Morosco Prods
1929	The Squall [Alexander Korda] b&w; spph: Alvin Knechtel; silent & sound versions; prod FN/The Vitaphone Corporation
1929	Careers [John Francis Dillon] b&w; silent & sound (talking + singing seq) versions; prod FN
1929	Hard to Get/Classified [William Beaudine] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1929	Her Private Life [Alexander Korda] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1929	A Most Immoral Lady [John Griffith Wray] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1929	The Painted Angel/The Broadway Hostess [Millard Webb] b&w; 68m; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1929	In the Next Room [Edward F. Cline] b&w; 69m
1930	Murder Will Out [Clarence Badger] b&w
1930	Back Pay [William A. Seiter] b&w; 63m
1930	Sweethearts and Wives [Clarence Badger] b&w
1930	Road to Paradise [William Beaudine] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod FN
1930	The Bad Man [Clarence Badger] b&w
1930	Kismet [John Francis Dillon] Vitascope (65mm/5-perf) & 35mm/b&w-c
1930	The Right of Way [Frank Lloyd] b&w; 68m
1930	East Lynne [Frank Lloyd] b&w
1931	Misbehaving Ladies/A Main Street Princess/Once There Was a Princess [William Beaudine] b&w
1931	Young Sinners [John G. Blystone] b&w
1931	Men of the Sky [Alfred E. Green] b&w
1931	Hush Money [Sidney Lanfield] b&w; 68m
1931	Merely Mary Ann [Henry King] b&w
1931	She Wanted a Millionaire [John G. Blystone] b&w
1931	The Age for Love [Frank Lloyd] b&w; cph: Harry Fischbeck
1931	Over the Hill [Henry King] b&w; filmed April-May & September-October
1932	Careless Lady [Kenneth MacKenna] b&w; 68m; cph: George Schneiderman
1932	The Woman in Room 13 [Henry King] b&w; 67m
1932	A Passport to Hell/Burnt Offering [Frank Lloyd] b&w
1932	Six Hours to Live [William Dieterle] b&w
1932	Cavalcade [Frank Lloyd] b&w; 2uc (war scenes dir by William Cameron Menzies); ph: Ernest Palmer
1932	Ladies They Talk About/Women in Prison [Howard Bretherton & William Keighley] b&w; 68m
1932	Dangerously Yours [Frank Tuttle] b&w
1933	Adorable [William Dieterle] b&w
1933	Paddy the Next Best Thing [Harry Lachman] b&w
1933	Mr. Skitch [James Cruze] b&w; 69m
1933	Coming-Out Party [John G. Blystone] b&w
1934	All Men Are Enemies [George Fitzmaurice] b&w
1934	Springtime for Henry [Frank Tuttle] b&w
1934	Marie Galante [Henry King] b&w
1934	Helldorado [James Cruze] b&w
1934	One More Spring [Henry King] b&w
1935	Our Little Girl [John S. Robertson] b&w; 65m; uncred ph add scenes: Henry Sharp
1935	Redheads on Parade [Norman Z. McLeod] b&w; cph: Barney McGill
1935	The Farmer Takes a Wife [Victor Fleming] b&w; uncred cph (?); ph: Ernest Palmer
1935	Curly Top [Irving Cummings] b&w
1935	Navy Wife/Beauty's Daughter [Allan Dwan] b&w; 69m; cph: Rudolph Maté
1935	The Littlest Rebel [David Butler] b&w

Letter from Shirley Temple [1936]

[CLICK on letter for larger image]

1935	Captain January [David Butler] b&w
1936	The Country Doctor [Henry King] b&w; cph: Daniel B. Clark (scenes with the Dionne Quintuplets in Canada)
1936	Poor Little Rich Girl [Irving Cummings] b&w
1936	15 Maiden Lane [Allan Dwan] b&w; 64m
1937	Carnival in Paris [Wilhelm Thiele] b&w; short/22m
1937	Between Two Women/Surrounded by Women [George B. Seitz] b&w; montages: John Hoffman
1937	Saratoga [Jack Conway] b&w; ph retakes; ph: Ray June; backgrounds ph: Clyde De Vinna
1937	Madame X [Sam Wood (replaced Gustav Machatý)] b&w
1937	Navy Blue and Gold [Sam Wood] b&w
1937	Love Is a Headache [Richard Thorpe] b&w
1938	Lord Jeff/The Boy from Barnardo's [Sam Wood] b&w
1938	The Crowd Roars [Richard Thorpe] b&w; uncred cph: Oliver T. Marsh; montages: Slavko Vorkapich
1938	Stablemates [Sam Wood] b&w
1938	Young Dr. Kildare [Harold S. Bucquet] b&w; 1st film in 15-part 'Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie'-series (MGM, 1938-47)
1938	A Christmas Carol [Edwin L. Marin] b&w; 69m; fill-in ph (while S. Wagner was ill); ph: Sidney Wagner
1938	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Richard Thorpe] b&w
1939	Sergeant Madden [Josef von Sternberg] b&w; montages: Peter Ballbusch
1939	The Hardys Ride High [George B. Seitz] b&w; uncred ph (last half of film); ph: Lester White; 6th film in 16-part 'Andy Hardy'-series (MGM, 1937-46 & 1958)
1939	Prophet Without Honor/Matthew Fontaine [Felix E. Feist] b&w; short/11m
1939	6000 Enemies [George B. Seitz] b&w; 61m
1939	Thunder Afloat [George B. Seitz] b&w
1939	Another Thin Man [W.S. Van Dyke] b&w; uncred ph (last half of film); ph William H. Daniels & Oliver T. Marsh
1939	Bad Little Angel [Wilhelm Thiele] b&w
1939	Let's Talk Turkey [Felix E. Feist] b&w; short/9m
1940	Dr. Kildare's Strange Case [Harold S. Bucquet] b&w; 4th film in 15-part 'Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie'-series (MGM, 1938-47)
1940	We Who Are Young [Harold S. Bucquet] b&w; uncred ph (last half of film); ph: Karl Freund
1940	A Little Bit of Heaven [Andrew Marton] b&w
1940	Dr. Kildare's Crisis [Harold S. Bucquet] b&w; 6th film in 15-part 'Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie'-series (MGM, 1938-47)
1941	Sullivan's Travels [Preston Sturges] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1941	Fly-By-Night/Secrets of G32 [Robert Siodmak] b&w

1941	This Gun for Hire [Frank Tuttle] b&w; spec pfx: Farciot Edouart, Gordon Jennings & William Pereira
1942	Winning Your Wings [John Huston & (uncred) Owen Crump] b&w; short/18m; recruiting film for U.S. Army Air Forces
1942	The Moon and Sixpence [Albert Lewin] b&w, sepia & c (final scenes)
1942	Star Spangled Rhythm [George Marshall] b&w; uncred ph musical number 'That Old Black Magic' (dir by A. Edward Sutherland); ph: Leo Tover & Theodor Sparkuhl
1942	Lucky Jordan [Frank Tuttle] b&w

[Center/hat] with dir Preston Sturges [far right] - "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek"

1942	The Miracle of Morgan's Creek [Preston Sturges] b&w
1943	Five Graves to Cairo [Billy Wilder] b&w
1943	The Hour Before the Dawn [Frank Tuttle] b&w
1943	Hail the Conquering Hero [Preston Sturges] b&w
1943	Going My Way [Leo McCarey] b&w; uncred ph (opening scenes); ph: Lionel Lindon

1943	Double Indemnity [Billy Wilder] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1944	Casanova Brown [Sam Wood] b&w
1944	The Unseen [Lewis Allen] b&w
1944	The Lost Weekend [Billy Wilder] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1945	The Well-Groomed Bride [Sidney Lanfield] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1945	Calcutta [John Farrow] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1945	The Imperfect Lady/Mrs. Loring's Secret/They Met at Midnight [Lewis Allen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1946	Home, Sweet Homicide [Lloyd Bacon] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen
1946	On Our Merry Way/A Miracle Can Happen [King Vidor (Charles Laughton seq [filmed July 1946, cut from film] & Burgess Meredith/Paulette Goddard seq [filmed August 1946]) & Leslie Fenton (Fred MacMurray seq [filmed September 1946] & Dorothy Lamour/Victor Moore seq [filmed October 1947]); (uncred James Stewart/Henry Fonda seq [filmed February 1947]) George Stevens & John Huston] b&w; ph Meredith/Goddard seq (?); other ph: Edward Cronjager (Laughton seq - cut from film), Gordon Avil (MacMurray seq), Joseph Biroc (Stewart/Fonda seq) & (uncred) Ernest Laszlo (Dorothy Lamour/Victor Moore seq)
1946	Saigon [Leslie Fenton] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1947	Wild Harvest [Tay Garnett] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart

1947	The Big Clock [John Farrow] b&w; uncred cph: Daniel L. Fapp; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1947	Night Has a Thousand Eyes [John Farrow] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1947	Beyond Glory [John Farrow] b&w; sfx ph: Farciot Edouart
1948	The Great Gatsby [Elliott Nugent] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1948	Chicago Deadline [Lewis Allen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1949	Captain Carey, U.S.A./After Midnight [Mitchell Leisen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1949	Riding High [Frank Capra] b&w; ph Tanforan racetrack location; ph: George Barnes & Ernest Laszlo

[Hat] with Erich von Stroheim [left], William Holden, Gloria Swanson [sitting]

& dir Billy Wilder [sitting] - "Sunset Blvd."

1949	Sunset Blvd./Sunset Boulevard [Billy Wilder] b&w; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings; process ph: Farciot Edouart; 'Of all the cinematographers Wilder worked with over his long career, he found Seitz to be the most 'realistic', a quality that for him was supreme. "He was ready for anything," Wilder said. "Sometimes the rushes were so dark that you couldn't see anything. He went to the limits of what could be done."' [Ed Sikov, 'On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder', Hyperion, 1998] ..... 'One reason 'Sunset Boulevard' is a great film is because of its pictorialism and the way those images move on the screen. Seitz used the camera as a precision instrument to engrave on the film complementary textures of waxy rot and polished foreboding. His camera rarely calls attention to itself though it's always on the go, looking around and peering into corners and tracking in closer, then tracking out.' [Sam Staggs, 'Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard', St. Martin's Press, 2002]
1949	Appointment with Danger [Lewis Allen] b&w; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1949	A Place in the Sun [George Stevens] b&w; uncred ph retakes (2 weeks); ph: William C. Mellor
1950	The Goldbergs/Molly [Walter Hart] b&w
1950	Dear Brat [William A. Seiter] b&w
1950	[Damon Runyon's] The Lemon Drop Kid [Sidney Lanfield & (uncred retakes) Frank Tashlin] b&w; uncred ph retakes (November-December); ph (July-August): Daniel L. Fapp
1950	When Worlds Collide [Rudolph Maté] c; cph: W. Howard Greene; process ph: Farciot Edouart; optical ph: Paul K. Lerpae
1951	Detective Story [William Wyler] b&w; uncred ph (last 3 weeks); ph: Lee Garmes
1951	Thunder in the East [Charles Vidor] b&w; uncred ph (first 2 weeks); replaced by ph Lee Garmes
1951	The Savage [George Marshall] c; spec pfx: Gordon Jennings
1951	The San Francisco Story [Robert Parrish] b&w
1951	Botany Bay [John Farrow] c; sfx: Gordon Jennings & W. Wallace Kelley; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1952	The Iron Mistress [Gordon Douglas] c
1952	Desert Legion [Joseph Pevney] c

1952	Invaders from Mars [William Cameron Menzies] c; spec pfx: Jack Cosgrove; optical efx: Irving Block & Jack Rabin
1953	Fort Algiers [Lesley Selander] b&w
1953	Saskatchewan/O'Rourke of the Royal Mounted [Raoul Walsh] c
1953	The Rocket Man [Oscar Rudolph] b&w
1954	Rogue Cop [Roy Rowland] b&w
1954	Many Rivers to Cross [Roy Rowland] cs/c
1954	The McConnell Story/Tiger in the Sky [Gordon Douglas] cs/c; 2uc: Ted McCord; filmed 1954-55
1955	Hell on Frisco Bay [Frank Tuttle] cs/c

l>r: Edmond O’Brien, Richard Anderson, JFS, Brian Donlevy, Natalie Wood and Raymond Burr;

seated: dir Frank Tuttle and Alan Ladd - "A Cry in the Night"

1955	A Cry in the Night [Frank Tuttle] b&w
1955	Santiago/The Gun Runner [Gordon Douglas] c
1956	The Big Land/Stampeded [Gordon Douglas] c
1957	The Deep Six [Rudolph Maté] c
1957	Island of Lost Women [Frank Tuttle] b&w
1958	The Badlanders [Delmer Daves] cs/c
1958	The Man in the Net [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1959	Guns of the Timberland [Robert D. Webb] c

TELEVISION
1954	General Electric Theater/G.E. Theatre/Your Star Showcase (syndication) [ep #3.11 'Committed' dir by Frank Tuttle] c. 209-part dramatic anthology tv-series/b&w, 1953-62 (CBS-tv); 3rd season, 1954-55
1955	General Electric Theater/G.E. Theatre/Your Star Showcase (syndication) [ep #4.7 'Farewell to Kennedy' dir by Frank Tuttle] 4th season, 1955-56; see 1954
1957	General Electric Theater/G.E. Theatre/Your Star Showcase (syndication) [ep #6.16 'Silent Ambush' dir by Rudolph Maté] 6th season, 1957-58; see 1954