Pioneer cinematographer George Folsey started out in 1914 as an errand
boy with the Lasky Feature Play Company in New York. His introduction
to camerawork came, when he was asked by cinematographer
H. Lyman Broening to assist with
post-production (tracking dissolve and fades for intercutting). By the
time he was 21, he had worked his way up the ladder to lighting
cameraman. During the 1920's, Folsey established a reputation for
fluidity of camera movement and for his use of subtle lighting, rather
than the harsher contrasts prevalent in silent pictures up to that
time. This proved somewhat more flattering to the stars. Indeed,
Alice Brady, leading lady in his first
motion picture as fully-fledged cinematographer,
His Bridal Night (1919), was so
impressed by his work that she wished him to shoot all of her future
films.
After a sojourn at Associated First National, Folsey joined Paramount
under contract to shoot the
Rouben Mamoulian melodrama
Applaus (1929) and followed this with
the first outings of the Marx Brothers:
The Cocoanuts (1929) and
Animal Crackers (1930). He stayed
until 1932 and the following year signed with MGM, remaining there
until 1959. His collaboration with the director
Vincente Minnelli was particularly
fruitful and culminated in the lavish Technicolour musical
Heimweh nach St. Louis (1944).
Many of his films in the 40's and 50's stand out for their striking,
lush colours, as, for example, the sci-fi classic
Alarm im Weltall (1956), which
owes much of its cult status to the cinematographer. Folsey was a
favorite of director Frank Borzage and of
star actress Joan Crawford.
George Folsey was nominated for thirteen Oscars, without ever winning a
single one. Nonetheless, he did pick up the prestigious 'George Eastman
Medal of Honour' in 1957. He was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement
Award by the American Society of Cinematographers in March 1988.
