Ernest B. Schoedsack

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Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack (born June 8, 1893 in Council Bluffs , Iowa , † December 23, 1979 in Los Angeles County ) was an American cinematographer , director and film producer . He was best known for co-directing King Kong and the White Woman (1933).

Life

Schoedsack began his film career in 1914 as a cameraman for Mack Sennett's production company Keystone , which specialized in comedies. The passionate aviator spent his time as a captain in the US Signal Corps during World War I. There he made films for the newsreel and the Red Cross. After the war was over, he went to London and worked there as a cameraman. From 1921 to 1922 he reported there on the Greco-Turkish war. This was followed by collaboration with Merian C. Cooper , whom he had met in Vienna during World War I. With the »Wisdom II« they then went on an expedition to Somalia and Yemen . However, when the ship sank in an Italian port soon after, they lost all of their footage. After that, they successfully switched to the production of semi-documentary adventure films: Grass , Chang and The Four Feathers . His next film, Rango , was about the friendship between two hunters and an orangutan in Sumatra . The team of Cooper and Schoedsack with King Kong and the white woman achieved their big breakthrough . Schoedsack's wife Ruth Rose wrote the script for the film. In the scenes of the jungle Schoedsack had previously the film Count Zaroff - genius of evil rotated. After watching the horror film Dr. Cyclops and a few other films had produced that were no longer as successful, however, he teamed up with Cooper again. They panicked King Kong , the unofficial remake of King Kong, and This is Cinerama . This is Cinerama was used to present the new wide-screen process . After these films, Schoedsack withdrew from film life.

Movies

Legend: B - book, D - actor, K - camera, P - producer, R - director, S - cut

  • 1917: Her Fame and Shame (K - as Felix Schoedsack)
  • 1917: A Dark Room Secret (K)
  • 1921: Beach of Dreams (K - as Felix Schoedsack)
  • 1923: The Lost Empire (K)
  • 1924: Greed ( Greed, K)
  • 1925: Grass ( Grass - A Nation's Battle for Life, D, K, P, R)
  • 1927: Chang ( Chang - A Drama of the Wilderness, B, K, P, R)
  • 1929: Captain Salisbury's Ra-Mu (K)
  • 1929: Four Feathers ( The Four Feathers, K, R, S)
  • 1931: Rango (P, R, S)
  • 1932: Graf Zaroff - Genie des Evil ( The Most Dangerous Game, R)
  • 1933: King Kong and the White Woman ( King Kong, D, K, P, R)
  • 1933: The Monkey's Paw (R)
  • 1933: Blind Adventure (R)
  • 1933: King Kong's son ( Son of Kong, K, P, R)
  • 1934: Long Lost Father (R)
  • 1935: The Fall of Pompeii ( The Last Days of Pompeii, R)
  • 1935: Bengali ( The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, K)
  • 1937: Trouble in Morocco (R)
  • 1937: Outlaws of the Orient (R)
  • 1940: Dr. Cyclops ( Dr. Cyclops, R)
  • 1942: Eagle Squadron (K)
  • 1949: Panic for King Kong ( Mighty Joe Young, R)
  • 1952: This Is Cinerama (R)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schoedsack, Ernest B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schoedsack, Ernest Beaumont (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cinematographer, director and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Council Bluffs , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH 23rd December 1979
Place of death Los Angeles County