Distinguished pioneering cinematographer who had a career in motion pictures lasting six-decades. As a teenager, Hal built his own camera while still at school and took photos of local interest which he then developed and
printed. He sent a number of these pictures to the New York
Herald-Tribune and they were deemed good enough to invite interest from
Hollywood. After doing some free-lance work he was hired to shoot
newsreels for Sol Lesser's company, General
Films. In 1915, he began working in Hollywood, first as a film cutter
at Universal, eventually graduating to assistant director. During the
latter stages of the First World War he worked for the photographic
unit of the U.S.Army, and, afterwards, shot documentaries before turning
his attention to motion pictures.
In 1921, Hal became a fully-fledged director of photography. Many
of his early efforts were low budget productions although he compensated for
the lack of expensive sets by embracing elements of the German
expressionist movement: symbolism, stylised images, sombre lighting -
all designed to create mood and evoke a more profound understanding and
emotive reaction to the subject. Having spent almost a year in Paris
post-war, Hal had studied European film-making techniques.
During the 1920's, he worked closely with noted exponents of
expressionism, including the directors Paul Leni
and Michael Curtiz. He was an innovator
in the use of boom and dolly shots, producing exciting new visual
effects.
Significantly, he was director of photography on the first ever all-talking
picture, Der Jazzsänger (1927).
Over the years, Hal Mohr acquired a deserved reputation for best
serving each director's needs by creating the exact look and mood
required for each film. In the 1930's, he was one of the first to
employ deep-focus photography in films like
Wem gehört die Stadt? (1936) and
The Green Pastures (1936). For
the Errol Flynn swashbuckler
Unter Piratenflagge (1935), Hal
seamlessly integrated live action shots with 18 foot-long model ships
and location footage with back-lot shots. He won the first of two
Academy Awards (uncontested, through a 'write-in campaign') for
Ein Sommernachtstraum (1935).
His second Academy Award, he shared with
W. Howard Greene for his colour
photography of Universal's
Phantom der Oper (1943).
In 1957, Hal also won the George Eastman Award for Distinguished
Contribution to the Art of Film. Among other representative examples of
Hal Mohr's best work in Hollywood one has to include
Aus dem Dunkel des Waldes (1948)
and Der Wilde (1953). He also
shot two classic films with
Marlene Dietrich:
Der große Bluff (1939) and
Die Gejagten (1952). He was
very impressed with the actress, commenting: "She just knows from the
heat of the light on her when she is right for the camera" (New York
Times,May 12 1974). Hal Mohr served several times as President of the
American Society of Cinematographers, 1930-31, 1963-65, 1969-70. He was
married to the actress Evelyn Venable for
almost forty years. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame bears his
name.
