Charles Van Enger

Charles J. Van Enger (born July 29, 1890 in Port Jervis , New York , † July 4, 1980 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American cameraman .

Live and act

Before moving to the cinema, the New Yorker took on other jobs, such as in the 71st Regiment of the New York National Guard, on the stock exchange in the same city and in an insurance company. Van Enger began his film career in 1911 while developing films in the laboratory and was employed in this capacity for several years at Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox . In 1918 he began working as a cameraman in the unit of the second unit director and assistant director Clarence Brown for productions by Maurice Tourneur . Van Enger also photographed Brown's first own film director " The Great Redeemer " in 1920 .

He then found employment in two films by the French silent film comedian Max Linder (" Be my wife", "Seven years of bad luck ") and in some works by Raoul Walsh and Fred Niblo . Charles Van Enger was behind the camera in all of Ernst Lubitsch's silent films that he directed for Warner Bros. (“ Marriage in a Circle ”, “ The Forbidden Paradise ”, “Three Women”, “Kiss Me Again”, “ Lady Windermeres Subjects "). In 1924, at the peak of his career, Van Enger also created the atmospheric images of the classic horror film " The Phantom of the Opera " with Lon Chaney senior .

By the end of the silent film era, Van Enger's career was on a steep decline, as was his move to London, where, after an interesting start (“ I was a spy ” (1933) with Conrad Veidt ), he was only allowed to take secondary photos for Gaumont British and Gainsborough , Van Enger remained a B-film cameraman despite being a member of the Royal Photographic Society . After a detour to France for two films (1936), he returned to the USA in 1937. There, the former Lubitsch cameraman was used almost exclusively for cheap films , including several Abbott & Costello amusements and Sherlock Holmes programmer with Basil Rathbone . After his withdrawal from the cinema in 1958, Charles Van Enger only worked behind the camera in television productions - mostly series - until he was 75.

Filmography

• 1918: Rose of the World
• 1919: Victory
• 1920: The Pirate's Treasure (Treasure Island)
• 1920: The Last of the Mohicans (The Last of the Mohicans)
• 1921: Be My Wife
• 1921: Seven years of bad luck (Seven Years Bad Luck )
• 1922: A Doll's House
• 1922: Salome (Salomé)
• 1922: Kindred of the Dust
• 1923: Martyrdom of Love (The Christian)
• 1923: The Famous Mrs. Fair
• 1923: A Girl and Three Old Fools (Three Wise Fools)
• 1923: Daughters of Pleasure
• 1924: The Marriage Circle (The Marriage Circle)
• 1924: The Sword of the Law (Name the Man)
• 1924: Ralph's Night Adventures (Broadway After Dark)
• 1924: Three women (Three Women)
• 1924: The Forbidden Paradise (Forbidden Paradise)
• 1925: The Phantom of the Opera (The Phantom of the Opera)
• 1925: Kiss' me again (Kiss Me Again)
• 1925: The parade of death (The Big Parade) (uncredited)
• 1925: Lady Windermeres Fan (Lady Windermere's Fan)
• 1926: Paradise
• 1926: Puppets
• 1926: Poison Mixer (Easy Pickings)
• 1927: Spanish blood (The Sea Tiger)
• 1927: Framed
• 1927: The Chorus Kid
• 1928: Domestic Troubles
• 1928: Homesick
• 1928: None But the Brave
• 1929: Apollo! Apollo! (Fox Movietone Follies of 1929)
• 1929: Help, main hit! (Hot for Paris)
• 1929: Words and Music
• 1930: High Society Blues
• 1930: The Eerie Cavalier (One Mad Kiss)
• 1931: Mad Parade
• 1931: The Avenger
• 1933: I Was a Spy (I Was a Spy)
• 1933: Aunt Sally
• 1934: My Song for You
• 1934: In Town Tonight
• 1935: Boys Will be Boys
• 1935: The Secret of Gabriel Perry
• 1936: Where There's a Will
• 1936: Seven Sinners
• 1936: Ménilmontant
• 1936: Messieurs le rond-de-cuir
• 1937: Wife, Doctor and Nurse
• 1939: A Miracle on Main Street
• 1939: Half a Sinner
• 1940: Slightly Tempted
• 1940: Lucky Devils
• 1940: San Francisco Dock
• 1941: The Masked Rider
• : 1941 no chance Give a Sucker an (Never Give a Sucker to even break)
• 1941: Hello Sucker
• 1941: Arizona Cyclone
• 1942: The Silver Bullet
• 1942: Night Monster
• 1942: Moonlight in Havana
• 1943: Abbott and Costello on Black Ice (Hit the Ice)
• 1943: Sherlock Holmes faces death (Sherlock Holmes Faces Death)
• 1943: Crazy House
• 1943: The Spider Woman (The Spider Woman)
• 1944: Ghost Catchers
• 1944: The Merry Monahans
• 1944: Night Club Girl
• 1945: Frisco Sal
• 1945: Honeymoon Ahead
• 1946: Little Giant
• 1946: Strange Conquest
• 1946: The Ghost Steps Out
• 1947: Two cloudy cups - Dismissed by the military (Buck Private Comes Home)
• 1947: The Noose Hangs High
• 1948: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein)
• 1948: Abbott and Costello in the land of the cacti (Mexican Hayride)
• 1948: Africa Screams
• 1949: Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer
• 1949: Ostracized (The Kid From Texas)
• 1950: Castle of Vengeance (Lorna Doone)
• 1951: Two Dollar Better
• 1951: Kid Monk Baroni
• 1952: And Now Tomorrow
• 1952: The Magnetic Monster
• 1953: Jagdstaffel z. b. V. (Saber Jet)
• 1953: Combat Squad
• 1954: Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl
• 1954: The Last Stand (Sitting Bull)
• 1954: Betrayal of the Khyber Pass (Khyber Patrol)
• 1955: On the rails to hell (Timetable)
• 1956: Magnificent Roughnecks
• 1956: Duel in the saddle (The Brass Legend)
• 1957: The Fist of Satan (Gun Fever)
• 1958: Men Against Speed
• 1958: Broken Arrow (TV series)
• 1958: Man Without a Gun (TV series)
• 1959: Highway Patrol (TV series)
• 1959–1960: The Betty Hutton Show (TV series)
• 1960–1962: Lassie (TV series)
• 1965: OK Crackerby! (TV series)
• 1966: My Mother the Car (TV series)

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 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 559.

Web links

• Charles Van Enger in the Internet Movie Database (English)