John Alton

John Alton A.S.C. (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann (hung: Jenö) Altmann, in Sopron/Ödenburg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, was an American cinematographer.^[1] He was the first hungarian-born who won an Academy award in cinematography. Alton won an Academy Award for An American in Paris (1951).

He photographed some of the most famous film noirs of the classic period. He started out in Los Angeles as a lab technician in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years.^[2] He moved to France with Ernst Lubitsch to film backgrounds for The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and ended up staying for one year heading the camera department of Paramount Pictures's Joinville Studios. In 1932 he moved to Argentina where he shot many Spanish-language films and designed the country's first sound film studio for Lumiton and Argentina Sono Film.
He returned to Hollywood in the late 1930s, with two dozen film credits, and became one of the most sought after cinematographers in American cinema.^[3]
Alton was known for unconventional camera angles—especially low camera shots. His style is most notable in the film noirs: He Walked by Night, The Big Combo, The Amazing Mr. X, T-Men, and Raw Deal.
Alton also photographed many color movies including Slightly Scarlet (a color film noir).
--Trivia-- His mother-tongue seems to have been german, but he spoke also hungarian. His wife Rozália Kiss was an ethnic hungarian. He was the first hungarian-born (among three) who won an Academy Award in cinematography, 1951.(The second was Ernst László 1965 and the third Vilmos Zsigmond who also got one Academy Award each).

The Big Combo, 1955

The Big Combo, 1955

The Amazing Mr X, 1948

The Amazing Mr X, 1948

Alton wrote Painting with Light (1949), one of the first books written by a working studio cinematographer. The book put forth several controversial theories for the day, such as depth is created by placing the brightest object in the scene furthest from the camera, and that studio lighting must always simulate natural light in texture and direction. It addresses both conventional and unconventional methods of studio motion-picture lighting. While technical advances have made much of the content obsolete, it contains valuable information and ideas for lighting several difficult interior and exterior setups and situations.
The table of contents includes chapters such as "Mystery Lighting", "Special Illumination", and "Visual Symphony". This is a must - have for any serious student of lighting for film and video.