John Alton
Camera
Awards
Won 1 Academy Award
Academy Awards 1 won
- 1952 Best Cinematography, Color Won An American in Paris
Award data from Wikidata (CC0). Coverage may be incomplete.
Read biography
John Alton A.S.C. (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Altmann, in Sopron/Ödenburg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, was an American cinematographer. Alton won an Academy Award for the cinematography of An American in Paris (1951), becoming the first Hungarian-born person to do so. He photographed some of the most famous film noirs of the classic period. He started out in Los Angeles as a lab technician in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years. He moved to France with Ernst Lubitsch to film backgrounds for The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and ended up staying for one year heading the camera department of Paramount Pictures's Joinville Studios. In 1932 he moved to Argentina where he shot many Spanish-language films and designed the country's first sound film studio for Lumiton and Argentina Sono Film.
He returned to Hollywood in the late 1930s, with two dozen film credits, and became one of the most sought after cinematographers in American cinema.
Alton was known for unconventional camera angles—especially low camera shots. His style is most notable in the film noirs: He Walked by Night, The Big Combo, The Amazing Mr. X, T-Men, and Raw Deal.
Alton also photographed many color movies including Slightly Scarlet (a color film noir).
Not enough member ratings yet.
Sign in to rate.
Filmography
— top 60 of 104
Other credits
53 credits
Mission: Impossible
Birdman of Alcatraz
The Brothers Karamazov
Father of the Bride
Hollow Triumph
Elmer Gantry
The Big Combo
He Walked by Night
Raw Deal
Father's Little Dividend
Passion
Tea and Sympathy
The Teahouse of the August Moon
Mystery Street
T-Men
Driftwood
Designing Woman
Border Incident
Honeysuckle
The People Against O'Hara
Silver Lode
Slightly Scarlet
Puerta cerrada
Cattle Queen of Montana
Witness to Murder
Escala en la ciudad
Pearl of the South Pacific
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
The Catered Affair
Reign of Terror
¡Goal!
Devil's Doorway
Count the Hours!
The Crooked Way
The Amazing Mr. X
I, the Jury
Take the High Ground!
Bury Me Dead
The Pretender
Ice Capades Revue
Girls of the Big House
The Lady and the Monster
Three Faces West
Lonelyhearts
El pobre Pérez
The Steel Cage
Talk About a Stranger
Tennessee's Partner
Grounds for Marriage
Captain China
Duffy of San Quentin
Escape to Burma
Love, Honor and Goodbye
Acting
7 credits
An American in Paris
Amalia
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
Glorious Technicolor
Compañeros
Palermo
Battle Circus
Directing
1 credit
Track what you watch
DuckTrack members see which of these they have already watched,
right here on this page.
Create a free account
Comments
0 commentsNo comments yet. Sign in to be the first.