Erwin Hillier
Encyclopedia
Erwin Hillier was a German
-born cinematographer
known for his work in British cinema
from the 1940s to 1960s.
in the late 1920s. Impressed by Hillier's paintings, the director F. W. Murnau offered him a job as camera assistant on Tabu
(1931), but Hillier's father intervened because of Murnau's homosexuality. Fortunately, Murnau recommended him to director Fritz Lang
at UFA studios
, who employed him on his classic M. Soon after he moved to Britain to pursue a career in film.
In Britain he worked as a camera assistant for Gaumont Pictures
, where he worked with Hitchcock
. He later moved to Elstree Studios
, working on The Man Behind the Mask (1936) with Michael Powell
, who noted his "insane enthusiasm". His debut as cinematographer
came with The Lady of Lisbon (1942).
(1943) for their Archers Film Productions, Powell & Pressburger
('The Archers') hired Hillier as cinematographer on A Canterbury Tale
(1944), a film about which Powell later said Hillier "did a marvelous job". Despite Powell's recent move to colour film, war shortages meant a return to the black and white stock that Hillier was familiar with. The film is a mixture of British realism and the German expressionist
use of extreme light and shade
which Hillier has been trained in, and is notable for its depiction of the English landscape. In his autobiography, Powell recalled his obsession with clouds — he would often beg for filming to be delayed until a cloud had appeared to break up a clear sky.
His next film I Know Where I'm Going!
(1945), again with The Archers, continued the style of its predecessor. It is notable for Hillier's technical accomplishments, including mixing studio shots with exteriors, concealing the fact that Roger Livesey
, the film's male lead, was working in London
whilst the film was being shot in Scotland
.
With the war at an end, Powell & Pressburger at last had access to colour film. They asked Hillier to share cinematographic duties with the experienced Technicolor
cameraman Jack Cardiff
on A Matter of Life and Death — unwilling to be sidelined, he declined, bringing his intensely creative partnership with Powell & Pressburger to an end.
, although he would often return to work in black and white, typical of many British films of the 1940s and 1950s. His films would retain a distinctive expressionist influence in both mediums.
In 1949 he worked for director Michael Anderson on Private Angelo, the first of many collaborations together. (The last was to be 1968's opulent The Shoes of the Fisherman). Their most famous film would be The Dam Busters
(1954), featuring some amazing aerial photography by Hillier.
He continued to work until 1970. He died in London
in 2005, aged 93.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
known for his work in British cinema
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
from the 1940s to 1960s.
Early career
Born in Germany to English-German parents, he studied art in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the late 1920s. Impressed by Hillier's paintings, the director F. W. Murnau offered him a job as camera assistant on Tabu
Tabu (film)
Tabu is a 1931 film directed by F.W. Murnau. The film is split into two chapters, the first called "Paradise" depicts the lives of two lovers on a South Seas island until they are forced to escape the island when the girl is chosen as a holy maid to the gods...
(1931), but Hillier's father intervened because of Murnau's homosexuality. Fortunately, Murnau recommended him to director Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
at UFA studios
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
, who employed him on his classic M. Soon after he moved to Britain to pursue a career in film.
In Britain he worked as a camera assistant for Gaumont Pictures
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
, where he worked with Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
. He later moved to Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
, working on The Man Behind the Mask (1936) with Michael Powell
Michael Powell (director)
Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...
, who noted his "insane enthusiasm". His debut as cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
came with The Lady of Lisbon (1942).
Work with The Archers
Impressed by his work on The Silver FleetThe Silver Fleet
The Silver Fleet was written and directed by British filmmakers Vernon Sewell and Gordon Wellesley and produced by Powell & Pressburger under the banner of The Archers.-Plot:...
(1943) for their Archers Film Productions, Powell & Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
('The Archers') hired Hillier as cinematographer on A Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale is a 1944 British film by the film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played several small roles. For the postwar American release, Raymond Massey narrated...
(1944), a film about which Powell later said Hillier "did a marvelous job". Despite Powell's recent move to colour film, war shortages meant a return to the black and white stock that Hillier was familiar with. The film is a mixture of British realism and the German expressionist
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
use of extreme light and shade
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
which Hillier has been trained in, and is notable for its depiction of the English landscape. In his autobiography, Powell recalled his obsession with clouds — he would often beg for filming to be delayed until a cloud had appeared to break up a clear sky.
His next film I Know Where I'm Going!
I Know Where I'm Going!
I Know Where I'm Going! is a 1945 romance film by the British-based film-makers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and features Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie and Petula Clark in her fourth film appearance....
(1945), again with The Archers, continued the style of its predecessor. It is notable for Hillier's technical accomplishments, including mixing studio shots with exteriors, concealing the fact that Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going! and A Matter of Life and Death...
, the film's male lead, was working in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
whilst the film was being shot in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
With the war at an end, Powell & Pressburger at last had access to colour film. They asked Hillier to share cinematographic duties with the experienced Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
cameraman Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff, OBE, BSC was a British cinematographer, director and photographer.His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor to filmmaking in the 21st century...
on A Matter of Life and Death — unwilling to be sidelined, he declined, bringing his intensely creative partnership with Powell & Pressburger to an end.
Post-war career
In 1946 Hillier made his first colour film London Town, starring Sid FieldSid Field
-Early Years:Sid Field was an English comedy entertainer. He was born Sidney Arthur Field in Ladywood, Birmingham, son of Albert and Bertha . Field spent most of his childhood at 152 Osborn Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham.Field had entertainment in his blood from an early age...
, although he would often return to work in black and white, typical of many British films of the 1940s and 1950s. His films would retain a distinctive expressionist influence in both mediums.
In 1949 he worked for director Michael Anderson on Private Angelo, the first of many collaborations together. (The last was to be 1968's opulent The Shoes of the Fisherman). Their most famous film would be The Dam Busters
The Dam Busters (film)
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
(1954), featuring some amazing aerial photography by Hillier.
He continued to work until 1970. He died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2005, aged 93.
Selected filmography
- The Interrupted JourneyThe Interrupted JourneyThe Interrupted Journey is a 1949 British thriller film directed by Daniel Birt and Valerie Hobson, Richard Todd, Christine Norden and Tom Walls. A man fleeing with his mistress narrowly escapes a train crash after he pulls the emergency chord and is wracked with guilt...
(1949) - Father's Doing FineFather's Doing FineFather's Doing Fine is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring Richard Attenborough, Heather Thatcher, Noel Purcell and Sid James. It was based on the 1950 play Little Lambs Eat Ivy by Noel Langley.-Cast:...
(1952) - Go to BlazesGo to Blazes (1962 film)Go to Blazes is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Michael Truman and starring Dave King, Robert Morley, Norman Rossington, Daniel Massey, Dennis Price, Maggie Smith, David Lodge. It also featured Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, later to feature prominently in Dad's Army...
(1962) - Sammy Going SouthSammy Going SouthSammy Going South, retitled A Boy Ten Feet Tall for its later US release, is a 1963 British adventure film directed by Alexander Mackendrick, photographed by Erwin Hillier, and starring Edward G. Robinson, Fergus McClelland and Constance Cummings. The film was based on a novel by W.H. Canaway and...
(1963) - The Quiller MemorandumThe Quiller MemorandumThe Quiller Memorandum is a film adaptation of the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Trevor Dudley-Smith under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and Alec Guinness. The film was shot on...
(1966)
External links
- Erwin Hillier at screenonline.
- Obituary from The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. - Obituaries at the Powell & Pressburger pages