James Wong Howe

Born Wong Tung Jim in Canton , China (now Guangzhou , China ) on August 28, 1899, James Wong Howe, as he was known in America , is considered one of the greatest cinematographers in the history of motion pictures. When Howe died in West Hollywood on July 12, 1976, he had more than one hundred twenty-five films to his credit.  He was known for his artful use of light and shadow and his innovative yet unobtrusive camera work. For "Body and Soul" (1947), he shot a boxing match on roller-skates with a small handheld camera, drawing the viewer into dynamic and intimate involvement with the action. He also was one of the first to use "deep focus" photography, where both the foreground and distant background are clearly seen. "Citizen Kane," photographed by Gregg Toland, is perhaps the classic example of this technique.  Howe received an Academy Award in 1955 for his work on "The Rose Tattoo," starring Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster, and in 1963 for "Hud," with Paul Newman. 

Howe arrived in the United States when he was five with the dream of becoming a boxer. His first job as a teenager was as an assistant to a commercial photographer and he soon found his life's work. Known as Jimmie to his colleagues and friends, Howe began his career in motion pictures in Hollywood in 1917, working as an assistant in a studio editing room.  Hollywood was only a few years beyond being a small rural Los Angeles suburb when Howe arrived. Later he was "slate boy" for the famous director Cecil B. DeMille, holding up the small sign that identifies each scene before it is shot. It wasn't long before he was working as an assistant cameraman. By 1922, he was a full-fledged director of photography and Los Angeles was the movie capital of the world. Howe's original screen credit was James or Jimmie Howe, but during his early years at MGM, "Wong" was added, "for exotic flair," according to one writer.

During the era of the silent movie, Howe made his first film as director of photography: "On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (1923). Other silents include "Mantrap" (1926), starring sexy flapper Clara Bow, and "Laugh Clown Laugh," (1928), with romantic leads John Gilbert and Joan Crawford.

With the coming of sound, heralded by "The Jazz Singer" in 1928, Howe came into his own.  Examples of his classic work during this period include "The Power and the Glory" (1933), "The Thin Man" (1934), "Fire Over England" (1937), "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1938), "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1940), "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), "Air Force" (1943), "Body and Soul" (1947), "The Brave Bulls" (1951), "The Rose Tattoo" (1955), "Picnic" (1955), "Sweet Smell of Success) (1957),"Old Man and the Sea" (1958), "Last Angry Man" (1958), "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958), "Hud" (1963), "This Property is Condemned" (1966),"Hombre" (1967), "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" (1968) and his final film, which earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1975, "Funny Lady," starring Barbra Streisand.

During his long and distinguished career James Wong Howe also worked a few times as a director and even as an actor, but it was the power of his images as a cinematographer that will last forever. In 1949 he was honored with the super secret assignment of shooting test footage for a proposed comeback film ("La Duchesse de Langeais") for the legendary Greta Garbo. The comeback never happened for Garbo, but is was a mark of the high esteem in which Howe was held at the time, and ever since.

-- Contributed by Jon Wilkman, 1999

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