Ben F. Reynolds
Ben Franklin Reynolds (born July 21, 1890 , in Woodville, Michigan ; † February 14, 1948 in Los Angeles ) was an American cameraman who was responsible for the masterful image creation of various pretentious silent film productions by Erich von Stroheim .
Career
Benjamin Franklin Reynolds had received a photography education before joining film in 1914. In the next three years he worked in various departments at Universal Studios and worked his way up from assistant to simple camera operator to chief cameraman. Reynolds created his first independent picture arrangements in 1917 for rather primitive, short westerns by the newcomer John Ford .
At the end of 1918 an extremely fruitful and successful collaboration began with the perfectionist Erich von Stroheim , whose monumental, sometimes epic and extremely costly and time-consuming dramas Reynolds was able to congenially transform into gripping and breathtaking images with great technical effort and sophistication. In the film " Gier nach Geld " ( Greed for Money ), which was shot on the original locations and renamed Gier after 1945 , Reynolds used the landscape as a dramatic design principle, in the tradition of Swedish filmmakers.
With Stroheim's decline as a director at the beginning of the sound film era, Reynolds' career was de facto ended. Although he still photographed a number of (mostly cheap) productions, including several for the director Henry Hathaway , they were all low-cost, cheap productions, not even close to the talent of a Ben Reynolds. After 1935 he did not receive a single feature film commission.
Filmography (selection)
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literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 497 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The mostly fragmentary life data circulating in all Anglo-American sources (e.g. in the IMDb) are inaccurate. See note or source in versions / authors
Web links
- Ben F. Reynolds in the Internet Movie Database (there completely wrong life data)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reynolds, Ben F. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Reynolds, Benjamin Franklin (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American cameraman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 21, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Woodville , Michigan , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 14, 1948 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California , USA |