I wanted to draw your attention to a new book:
1.) AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 by James W. Castellan, Ron von Dopperren, Cooper C. Graham
"At the start of hostilities in World War I when the United States was still neutral, American newsreel companies and newspapers sent a new kind of journalist, the film correspondent to Europe to record the Great War. These pioneering cameramen, accustomed to carrying the Kodaks and Graflexes of still photography, had to lug cumbersome equipment into the trenches. Facing dangerous conditions on the front they also risked summary execution a supposed spies while navigating military red tape, censorship, and the business interests of the film and newspaper companies they represented. Based on extensive research in European and American archives, American Cinematographers in the Great War 1914-1918 follows the adventures of these cameramen as they managed to document and film the atrocities around them in spite of enormous difficulties." --publisher.
2.) This relates to an article I researched for the New England Journal of Photographic History on the Ries Brothers (The Ries Brothers and Their Place in Hollywood History). The 5 brothers moved from Akron to Hollywood in 1915 with their widowed mother.
One of the 5 brothers, Paul, invented the Ries tripod, the eldest--Irving--went to Germany in 1915 to be embedded with the German Army as a newsreel cinamatographer while the US was still neutral. His identity was stolen by a German spy who was caught and executed in the Tower of London under Irving Ries's stolen identity. He was the only American Cinematographer awarded the Iron Cross by the German Army. (Since one of the brothers served in the US Army in WW-I, it must have been an interesting topic at subsequent family gatherings!)
In about 1956, Irving was nominated for an Academy Award for the special effects in Forbidden Planet. The next eldest brother, Ray, did the special effects in two 1939 blockbuster movies: The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. The brothers had a number of "firsts" in the film industry.
These are just a few of the highlights from an unbelievable story. For anyone who has a Ries tripod or is simply interested in the history of cinematography, both the book and the article in the current (2015) New England Journal of Photographic History should provide a good read. The owners of Ries Development ("Ries Tripods"), Spencer and Debby Hughes were as amazed as I was at the story we uncovered.
The article can be ordered here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/708540
1.) AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 by James W. Castellan, Ron von Dopperren, Cooper C. Graham
"At the start of hostilities in World War I when the United States was still neutral, American newsreel companies and newspapers sent a new kind of journalist, the film correspondent to Europe to record the Great War. These pioneering cameramen, accustomed to carrying the Kodaks and Graflexes of still photography, had to lug cumbersome equipment into the trenches. Facing dangerous conditions on the front they also risked summary execution a supposed spies while navigating military red tape, censorship, and the business interests of the film and newspaper companies they represented. Based on extensive research in European and American archives, American Cinematographers in the Great War 1914-1918 follows the adventures of these cameramen as they managed to document and film the atrocities around them in spite of enormous difficulties." --publisher.
2.) This relates to an article I researched for the New England Journal of Photographic History on the Ries Brothers (The Ries Brothers and Their Place in Hollywood History). The 5 brothers moved from Akron to Hollywood in 1915 with their widowed mother.
One of the 5 brothers, Paul, invented the Ries tripod, the eldest--Irving--went to Germany in 1915 to be embedded with the German Army as a newsreel cinamatographer while the US was still neutral. His identity was stolen by a German spy who was caught and executed in the Tower of London under Irving Ries's stolen identity. He was the only American Cinematographer awarded the Iron Cross by the German Army. (Since one of the brothers served in the US Army in WW-I, it must have been an interesting topic at subsequent family gatherings!)
In about 1956, Irving was nominated for an Academy Award for the special effects in Forbidden Planet. The next eldest brother, Ray, did the special effects in two 1939 blockbuster movies: The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. The brothers had a number of "firsts" in the film industry.
These are just a few of the highlights from an unbelievable story. For anyone who has a Ries tripod or is simply interested in the history of cinematography, both the book and the article in the current (2015) New England Journal of Photographic History should provide a good read. The owners of Ries Development ("Ries Tripods"), Spencer and Debby Hughes were as amazed as I was at the story we uncovered.
The article can be ordered here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/708540
