Best of James Wong Howe: Body and Soul (1947)

Video by Mark Laurila
"With all our modern technology, there is no one who can match James Wong Howe's ability to control light in the service of story." Roger Deakins, Cinematographer
James Wong Howe was a legendary Hollywood cameraman who remains too little known today, despite having been nominated ten times for Academy Awards (and winning twice). This video presents the highlights of Wong Howe's cinematography in the 1947 John Garfield Film Noir boxing drama "Body and Soul." The movie shows how money, along with sex, can lead to corruption, a theme often found in Garfield's movies.
As the film's Director of Photography, Wong Howe, a master of black and white, brought his characteristic, nuanced control of darkness and light to the cinematography. This video demonstrates Wong Howe's brilliance in several modes: Emotion and the Moving Camera (in which emotions are enhanced through the choice to move the camera through space), Romance Night and Day (showing how the mood could be created differently, depending on the time), Picturing Lust (in which he used a composition to suggest objectification), Noir Style, Deep Focus, and Pioneering Hand-held Camera. (A more in-depth analysis of the film's boxing scenes can be found in my video "James Wong Howe on Rollerskates." • James Wong Howe on Rol... )
"Body and Soul" was created through Garfield's own independent production company and resulted in a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Garfield. It won for Best Editing by Robert Parrish. The film co-stars Lili Palmer, Hazel Brooks, William Conrad, Canada Lee, and Lloyd Gough (billed here as Lloyd Goff).
The film's director Robert Rossen, its screenwriter Abraham Polonsky, and Garfield were all eventually targeted by HUAC, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, during the Hollywood Blacklists in the 1950s. Because of his blacklisting, Garfield's career was destroyed, and he soon died of a heart attack at the age of 39.
Music
"Wait Just a Moment" and "Yellow Leaves" by Nocturnal Spirits
Licensed through Epidemic Sound www.epidemicsound.com/

[@jamakaya1332]

Excellent. Wong Howe was amazing. Thank you.

[@marechal1937]

Thank you for the feedback. It’s the only comment I’ve received for this video. It definitely has a different feel than the more Noirish ones.

[@jamakaya1332]

@@marechal1937 I liked your focus on different scenes in this one movie and that you used a good quality print. Some of the YT vids on JWH are video cassette quality -- not the best way to appreciate a great cinematographer!

[@marechal1937]

@@jamakaya1332 I figured that if my focus was on the cinematography, I needed to use the best source material I could find. Unfortunately, so many older films are only available in scratched, washed out dupes that give no sense of the film’s original qualities. Thanks again for your kind words.