GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS


#1: With actor Frank Sinatra

 

   


ALDO TONTI

 

Born: 2 March 1910, Rome, Italy.

Died: 7 July 1988, Marino, Rome, Italy.

Career: Started as still ph. Entered the film industry in 1934 as c.asst.

Was a member of the AIC.

His son Giorgio is a doph.

Wrote the book 'Odore di Cinema' [1964].

Awards: Italian Film Journalists 'Silver Ribbon' Award [1961] for 'The Savage Innocents'.



 

 FILMS

1934

Cinema, che passione! [Antonio Petrucci] b&w; doc/60m

1935

Odette [Jacques Houssin & Giorgio Zambon] b&w; cph: Alberto Carta, René Gaveau & Joseph-Louis Mundwiller

1938

Sotto la croce del sud/Under the Southern Cross [Guido Brignone] b&w

1938

Diamanti [Corrado D'Errico] b&w

1939

Abuna Messias [- Vendetta africana] [Goffredo Alessandrini] b&w; cph: Renato Del Frate

1939

L'eredità in Corsa [Oreste Biancoli] b&w

1939

Uragano ai tropici [Pier Luigi Faraldo & Gino Talamo] b&w

1939

Sei bambine ed il Perseo [Giovacchino Forzano] b&w

1940

Cuori nella tormenta/Tormented Hearts [Carlo Campogalliani] b&w

1940

Il cavaliere di Kruja [Carlo Campogalliani] b&w; cph: Giorgio Orsini

1940

Il pirata sono io!/The Pirate's Dream [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1940

Non me lo dire! [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1941

Caravaggio, il pittore maledetto [Goffredo Alessandrini] b&w; uncred cph: Jan Stallich

1941

Nozze di sangue [Goffredo Alessandrini] b&w

1941

Il cavaliere senza nome [Ferruccio Cerio] b&w; cph: Renato Del Frate

1941

Voglio vivere così/I Live as I Please [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1941

Fari nella nebbia [Gianni Franciolini] b&w

1942

Il mercante di schiave/Merchant of Slaves [Duilio Coletti] b&w

1942

Bengasi [Augusto Genina] b&w; new version 'Bengasi anno '41' in 1955

1942

La donna è mobile/The Lady Is Fickle [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1942

Stasera niente di nuovo [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1942

La statua vivente [Camillo Mastrocinque] b&w

1942

Il campione [Carlo Borghesio] b&w

1942

Ossessione [Luchino Visconti] b&w; cph: Domenico Scala; restored in 2005

1943

Una piccola moglie [Giorgio Bianchi] b&w

1943

La porta del cielo [Vittorio De Sica] b&w

1943

Vivere ancora [(uncred) Leo Longanesi & Nino Giannini] b&w; ph scenes dir by L. Longanesi in 1943; cph: Domenico Scala (scenes dir by N. Giannini in 1944)

1943

L'abito nero da sposa [Luigi Zampa] b&w; cph: Gábor Pogány; filming started in 1943, but was interrupted by the war; filming resumed after the liberation of Rome in 1944

1943

Quartieri alti/In High Places [Mario Soldati] b&w; cph: Otello Martelli; filming started in May 1943, but was interrupted by the war; filming resumed in June 1944; restored in 2006

1945

Il testimone [Pietro Germi] b&w

1946

Malia [Giuseppe Amato] b&w

1946

Pian delle stelle [Giorgio Ferroni] b&w

1946

Il bandito/The Bandit [Alberto Lattuada] b&w

1946

Roma città libera [Marcello Pagliero] b&w

1946

Abbasso la ricchezza!/Down with Riches!/Peddlin' in Society [Gennaro Righelli] b&w

1946

Il sole sorge ancora/Outcry [Aldo Vergano] b&w

1946

L'apocalisse [Giuseppe Maria Scotese] b&w

1947

La figlia del capitano [Mario Camerini] b&w

1947

Il delitto di Giovanni Episcopo/Flesh Will Surrender [Alberto Lattuada] b&w

1947

Come persi la guerra [Carlo Borghesio] b&w; + small part

1948

Senza pietà/Without Pity [Alberto Lattuada] b&w

1948

Proibito rubare/Guaglio/Hey Boy/No Stealing [Luigi Comencini] b&w

1948

Il mulino del Po/The Mill on the Po [Alberto Lattuada] b&w

1948

Molti sogni per le strade/The Street Has Many Dreams/Woman Trouble [Mario Camerini] b&w

1948

L'amore/Ways of Love [seg #2 'Il miracolo/The Miracle' dir by Roberto Rossellini] b&w; 2 seg; seg #1 ph by Robert Juillard

1948

Ti ritroverò/Lieutenant Craig: Missing [Giacomo Gentilomo] b&w

1949

Adamo ed Eva/Adam and Eve [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1949

Signorinella [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1949

I pompieri di Viggiù [Mario Mattoli] b&w; + small part

1949

Il lupo della Sila/Lure of the Sila/The Wolf of the Sila [Duilio Coletti] b&w

1949

Botta e risposta/I'm in the Revue [Mario Soldati] b&w; + small part

1950

Il vedovo allegro [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1950

Romanticismo [Clemente Fracassi] b&w

1950

I cadetti di Guascogna [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1950

Napoli milionaria/Side Street Story [Eduardo De Filippo] b&w; + small part

1950

L'inafferrabile 12 [Mario Mattoli] b&w; cph: Mario Albertelli

1950

Il brigante Musolino/Outlaw Girl [Mario Camerini] b&w

1951

O comprador de fazendas [Alberto Pieralisi] b&w

1951

I due derelitti [Flavio Calzavara] b&w

1951

Sensualità/Barefoot Savage/Enticement [Clemente Fracassi] b&w

1951

Santa Brigida [Roberto Rossellini] footage (b&w/silent/9m) shot for the comm doc 'För barnens skull' (1953, Håkan Bergström & Kaj Halldén; 22m); about 1m (with Ingrid Bergman) was used in the doc

1951

Europa '51/No Greater Love/The Greatest Love [Roberto Rossellini] b&w

1952

I sette dell'orsa maggiore/Hell Raiders of the Deep/Human Torpedoes [Duilio Coletti] b&w

1952

Dov'è la libertà...?/Where Is Freedom? [Roberto Rossellini] b&w; cph: Tonino Delli Colli

1952

La lupa/She Wolf [Alberto Lattuada] b&w

1952

Le infedeli/The Unfaithfuls [Mario Monicelli & Steno] b&w

1953

Anni facili [Luigi Zampa] b&w; + small part

1953

Attila [, il flagello di Dio]/Attila the Hun [Pietro Francisci] c

1954

La nave delle donne maledette/Ship of Lost Women/The Ship of Condemned Women [Raffaello Matarazzo] c

1954

Orient Express [Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia] c

1954

Proibito/Forbidden [Mario Monicelli] c

 

 

1954

Totò all'inferno [(Camillo) Mastrocinque] c

1954

Cento anni d'amore [Lionello De Felice] b&w

1955

L'ultimo amante [Mario Mattoli] b&w

1955

Siamo uomini o caporali? [Camillo Mastrocinque] b&w; cph: Riccardo Pallottini

1955

War and Peace [King Vidor; 2ud: Mario Soldati] vv/c; 2uc; ph: Jack Cardiff; filmed July-December

1956

Le notti di Cabiria/Nights of Cabiria [Federico Fellini] b&w; uncred cph: Otello Martelli (took over from A. Tonti)

1956

Souvenir d'Italie/It Happened in Rome [Antonio Pietrangeli] tr/c; cph: Carlo Carlini

1957

La diga sul Pacifico/This Angry Age/The Sea Wall [René Clément] A. Tonti & Otello Martelli both scouted locations, but Martelli became the doph

 

[Center/hat] with Roberto Rossellini [right] in India

 

1957

India/India, Matri Bhumi [Roberto Rossellini] c; doc/95m; filmed February-July; see Television

1957

Fortunella [Eduardo De Filippo] b&w

1957

Come te movi, te fulmino! [Mario Mattoli] Totalvision/c

1958

Vite perdute/La legge del mitra/Lost Souls [Adelchi Bianchi & Roberto Mauri] b&w

1958

La tempesta/Tempest [Alberto Lattuada] tr/c; addph: Ennio Guarnieri, Riccardo Pallottini & Serge Urbisaglia

1958

For the First Time/Come prima [Rudolph Maté] tr/c

1959

Vacanze d'inverno/Winter Holidays [Camillo Mastrocinque & Giuliano Carnimeo] tr/c

 

 

1959

The Savage Innocents/Ombre bianche [Nicholas Ray] tr/c; uncred cph (?): Peter Hennessy; 2uc: Paddy Carey & Riccardo Pallottini

1959

Gastone [Mario Bonnard] c

1959

Sotto dieci bandiere/Under Ten Flags [Duilio Coletti] b&w

1960

Io amo, tu ami/I Love, You Love [Alessandro Blasetti] us/c

1960

Il gobbo/The Hunchback of Rome [Carlo Lizzani] ds/b&w-c; cph: Giuseppe Aquari & Leonida Barboni

1961

Barabbas/Barabba [Richard Fleischer] str/c; crucifixion scene shot on 15 February; principal ph started in April

1962

Damon and Pythias/Tyrant of Syracuse/Il tiranno di Siracusa [Curtis Bernhardt] c

1962

Agostino [- La perdita dell'innocenza] [Mauro Bolognini] b&w

1963

Il diavolo/To Bed... Or Not to Bed [Gian Luigi Polidoro] b&w

1963

Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta [Mario Camerini] c; some scenes also edited into 'Kali Yug, Goddess of Vengeance'

1963

Il mistero del tempio indiano [Mario Camerini] c; some scenes also edited into 'Kali Yug, Goddess of Vengeance'

1963

Hong Kong un addio/Farewell to Hong Kong [Gian Luigi Polidoro] cs/c

1963

La donna scimmia/The Ape Woman [Marco Ferreri] b&w

1964

Le schiave esistono ancora/Slave Trade in the World Today [Roberto Malenotti (replaced Folco Quilici)] c; doc/90m; cph: Giuseppe Pinori, Nanni Scarpellini, a.o.

1964

Il castello dei morti vivi/Castle of the Living Dead/Crypt of Horror [Herbert Wise (= Luciano Ricci), Warren Kiefer (= Lorenzo Sabatini) & (uncred) Michael Reeves] b&w

1964

L'uomo dei cinque palloni/Break up/The Man with the Balloons [Marco Ferreri] Panoramica/tinted-color; filmed as a feature in b&w in 1964; cut down to 28m for 'Oggi, domani, dopodomani' (see 1965); dir Ferreri added 2 color seg and tinted the original film

1965

The Odyssey I: The Structure of the Epic [John Barnes] c; short/30m; loc ph: John Barnes

1965

The Odyssey II: The Return of Odysseus [John Barnes] c; short/30m; loc ph: John Barnes

1965

The Odyssey III: The Central Themes [John Barnes] c; short/30m; loc ph: John Barnes

1965

Casanova '70 [Mario Monicelli] c

1965

Oggi, domani, dopodomani/Kiss the Other Sheik/The Man, the Woman and the Money [seg 'L'uomo dei 5 palloni' dir by Marco Ferreri] p/b&w-c; 3 seg; other ph: Gianni Di Venanzo & Mario Montuori; see 1964

1965

Su e giù/Up and Down [seg 'Questione di principio' & 'Il colpo da leoni' dir by Mino Guerrini] c; 4 seg; other ph: Luigi Kuveiller & Luciano Trasatti

1965

Cast a Giant Shadow [Melville Shavelson] p/c; 2uc: Marco Yanovlevich; 'By the time the Mirisch Corporation was certain the picture would be made, all the available housing in Israel was gone for the tourist season. Only at the insistence of the government were we enabled to take over three floors of the Avia Hotel, near the airport, and buy thirty cottages the hotel had just completed on the hotel grounds, with the understanding that we would sell them back when we left. Thus was born Little Italy of Tel Aviv. The Caesar, nay, the Nero, of this colony was the most talented, inch-for-inch, cameraman in the world. His name is Aldo Tonti and he is five feet tall when measured to the tip of his uptilted cigar. Aldo has photographed so many motion pictures in Italy and around the world for so many years, no one knows his true age. For a while, Aldo was Mussolini's official photographer, but he quit, it is rumored, because Mussolini was too much of a liberal for him. Aldo rules his camera crew with an iron hand and a walking stick carved out of the bones of his last director. He shouts at them, punches at them, insults them, curses them, and promises to fire them as soon as he catches his breath. No one minds, because Aldo is a pussycat and they don't want him to realize he's been found out. His crew loves and protects him with a fierce loyalty their wives will never know.' [Melville Shavelson]

1966

Se tutte le donne del mondo.../Operazione paradiso/Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die [Henry Levin & (Italian version) Dino Maiuri] c

1966

A... come assassino [Ray Morrison (= Angelo Dorigo)] c

1966

L'arcidiavolo/Il diavolo innamorato/The Devil in Love [Ettore Scola] ts/c

1966

Reflections in a Golden Eye [John Huston] p/c; replaced by Oswald Morris (uncred) during shooting

1967

Operazione San Gennaro/The Treasure of San Gennaro [Dino Risi] Panoramica/c

1967

Lo scatenato/Catch As Catch Can/The Unchained/Tutti frutti [Franco Indovina] c; + small part

1967

I giovani tigri [Antonio Leonviola] Panoramica/c

1968

Roma come Chicago/Bandits in Rome/Rome Like Chicago/The Violent Four [Alberto De Martino] c

1968

La pecora nera/The Black Sheep [Luciano Salce] c

1969

Probabilità zero/Probability Zero [Maurizio Lucidi] c

1969

Husbands [John Cassavetes] was slated as doph, but union rules required to hire a stand-by ph (Victor Kemper) in New York; within a week, Cassavetes and Tonti agreed that the language barrier was too difficult to overcome, and Kemper took over

1969

Fortunata y Jacinta [Angelino Fons] ts/c

1969

La spina dorsale del diavolo/The Deserter/The Devil's Backbone [Burt Kennedy & (Italian version) Niksa Fulgosi] p/c

1970

Città violenta/The Family [Sergio Sollima] ts/c

1970

Il debito coniugale [Franco Prosperi] c

1970

Brancaleone alle crociate/Brancaleone at the Crusades [Mario Monicelli] c

1971

La vittima designata/Slam Out [Maurizio Lucidi] c

1971

Bello, onesto, emigrato Australia sposerebbe compaesana illibata/A Girl in Australia [Luigi Zampa] c

1972

The Valachi Papers [Terence Young] c

1972

Si può fare... amigo/Bulldozer Is Back Amigo/Can Be Done, Amigo/Saddle Tramps/The Big and the Bad [Maurizio Lucidi] ts/c

1972

Il prode Anselmo e il suo scudiero [Bruno Corbucci] c

1973

Dio, sei proprio un padreterno!/Il suo nome faceva tremare... Interpol in allarme/Escape from Death Row/Mean Frank and Crazy Tony/Power Kill [Michele Lupo] c; cph: Joe D'Amato (= Aristide Massaccesi)

1973

Crazy Joe [Carlo Lizzani] c

1973

Le guerriere dal seno nudo/The Amazons/War Goddess [Terence Young] c; cph: Alejandro Ulloa

1974

Uomini duri/Three Tough Guys/Tough Guys [Duccio Tessari] c

1974

The Klansman/The Burning Cross [Terence Young] c; superv cameraman; ph: Lloyd Ahern

1974

Jackpot [Terence Young] project abandoned

1975

Due cuori, una cappella [Maurizio Lucidi] Panoramica/c

1976

Une femme à sa fenêtre/A Woman at Her Window/Una donna alla finestra [Pierre Granier-Deferre] tvi/c

1976

René la canne [Francis Girod] c

1976

Quelle strane occasioni/Strange Occasion [seg 'Italian Superman' dir by (uncred) Nanni Loy] c; 3 seg; other ph: Armando Nannuzzi & Claudio Ragona

1976

L'Italia s'è rotta [Steno] c

1978

Quando c'era lui... caro lei! [Giancarlo Santi] vv/c

1978

Ashanti [, Land of No Mercy] [Richard Fleischer (replaced Richard C. Sarafian)] p/c

1983

I guerrieri dell'anno 2072/The New Gladiators/Fighting Centurions [Lucio Fulci] c; 2uc; ph: Giuseppe Pinori

 

 TELEVISION

1957

L'India vista da Rossellini [Roberto Rossellini] 10-part doc series, 1959; ep 'India senza miti', 'Bombay, la porta dell'India', 'Architettura e costume di Bombay', 'Varsova', 'Verso il sud', 'Le lagune di Malabar', 'Kerala', 'Hirakud, la diga sul fiume Mahadi', 'Il pandit Nehru' & 'Gli animali in India'; see Films (1957)

1970

Upon This Rock/Return to Lochaver [Harry Rasky] tvm

1974

The Count of Monte Cristo [David Greene] tvm; released theatrically outside USA

 

 MISCELLANEOUS

1937

Scipione l'africano/Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal [Carmine Gallone] c.asst; ph: Ubaldo Arata & Anchise Brizzi

1937

Luciano Serra pilota [Goffredo Alessandrini] c.asst; ph: Ubaldo Arata

1938

Piccoli naufraghi [Flavio Calzavara] c.asst; ph: Arturo Gallea