bigger than life

image 4+5 (a door opening) very bressonian

chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying

fight sequence toward the end of nicholas ray's bigger than life - 1956
cinematography by joe macdonald

rather disorienting camera work accompanied by an equally disorienting sound track
(a tv turned out to drown out the sound of the killing)

robert bresson, samuel fuller, jean-pierre melville & trains in cinema

train travel in:
-samuel fuller's pickup on south street, 1953 (aka pickpocket)
-robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
-jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967

(all films comprise a certain criminal activity in the underground)

abstractions from samuel fuller's pick-up on south street, 1953
(dp. joseph macdonald *)

moments from robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
(dp. léonce-henri burel)

abstractions from jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967
(dp. henri decaë)

images from 3 films, all captured and shown here in an attempt to look at the works closely with a magnifying glass, and highlighting small details not normally visible on a first viewing, or even a thirtieth viewing (particularly le samouraï).
having recently read an article by jonas mekas, in which he said that film criticism/history based on 1-2 viewings of a film was totally worthless and that a writer/historian needed 30 viewings before saying anything, these bresson posts are an attempt to look very closely at the films, not from just reading about the works, but by watching them analytically and repetitively, and attempting to view the films in a way that extends the 24 frames per second to 24 frames per minute, to slow them down with the eye.
after looking at the films frame by frame, a regular viewing becomes completely different, a world of details.


(also, please look at my kurosawa entry on the auteurs film journal)
((more obsessive bresson business here and here))

joe macdonald, cinematographer

joseph macdonald (1906-1968).
the great cinematographer joseph macdonald was born in mexico city to american parents. he started working in the film industry in the early 1920s and became a director of photography in the 1940s. macdonald was long with 20th century-fox and worked with such great directors as john ford, henry hathaway, william wellman, elia kazan, samuel fuller and nicholas ray.

looking at his filmography, you see he shot some of the great film noirs (call northside 777, panic in the streets, pickup on south street), and one of the greatest of john ford's westerns (my darling clementine).

his black and white photography in my darling clementine is truly stunning and calls to mind the great expressionist masters like lang, pabst, murnau (an obvious influence) and sternberg. his heavy use of blackness and darkness can be seen in the great docunoir by henry hathoway: call northside 777, and in the films panic in the streets, and pickup on south street.

my darling clementine, 1946 (john ford)

jimmy steward in a panopticon in call northside 777, 1948 (henry hathoway)

panic in the streets, 1950 (elia kazan)

pickup on south street, 1953 (samuel fuller)

some films:
-wintertime 1943 (d. john brahm)
-the big noise 1944 (d. malcolm st. clair with laurel & hardy)
-shock 1946 (d. alfred l. werker)
-the dark corner 1946 (d. henry hathaway)
-my darling clementine 1946 (d. john ford)
-call northside 777 1948 (d. henry hathaway)
-the street with no name 1948 (d. william keighley)
-yellow sky 1948 (d. william wellman)
-down to the sea in ships 1949 (d. henry hathaway)
-it happens every spring 1949 (d. lloyd bacon)
-pinky 1949 (d. elia kazan)
-panic in the streets 1950 (d. elia kazan)
-you're in the navy now 1951 (d. henry hathaway)
-fourteen hours 1951 (d. henry hathaway)
-as young as you feel 1951 (d. harmon jones)
-viva zapata! 1952 (d. elia kazan)
-what price glory 1952 (d. john ford)
-niagara 1953 (d. henry hathaway)
-titanic 1953 (d. jean negulesco)
-pickup on south street 1953 (d. samuel fuller)
-how to marry a millionaire 1953 (d. jean negulesco)
-hell and high water 1954 (d. samuel fuller)
-broken lance 1954 (d. edward dmytryk)
-woman's world 1954 (d. jean negulesco)
-the racers 1955 (d. henry hathaway)
-house of bamboo 1955 (d. samuel fuller)
-bigger than life 1956 (d. nicholas ray)
-the true story of jesse james 1957 (d. nicholas ray)
-will success spoil rock hunter? 1957 (d. frank tashlin)
-the young lions (1958 (d. edward dmytryk)
-warlock 1959 (d. edward dmytryk)
-alvarez kelly 1966 (d. edward dmytryk)