Cinematographer James Wong Howe [1899-1976] Page at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store

B I O
h e r e

cousin of Anna May Wong, helped her get first movie job

In 1949, master cinematographer James Wong Howe was chosen to shoot test footage for the proposed comeback of Greta Garbo in the proposed movie "La Duchesse de Langeais".

he owned and co-managed with his wife the Ching Howe restaurant on Ventura Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley

James Wong Howe won Oscars for Best Black-and-White Cinematography
for "The Rose Tattoo" [1955] and for "Hud" [1963]
— out of 10 Oscar nominations [1939-1976]

He also received
two Golden Laurel Awards, in 1959 & 1970

The Association of Asian Pacific American Artists gave out several
James Wong Howe 'Jimmie' Awards, circa 1989-91

"Transatlantic" [Fox Aug 1931]

James Wong Howe filming off-shipside for "The Rescue" [1929]

An often-cited example of superb deep-focus work ten years before
"Citizen Kane" (so why no DVD?) Directed by William K. Howard;
b&w cinematography by James Wong Howe; starring Edmund Lowe,
Lois Moran, John Halliday, Greta Nissen, Myrna Loy, Jean Hersholt,
Earle Foxe & Billy Bevan
video/DVD not available; full credits at IMDb

"Hollywood Party" [M.G.M. May 1934]

Comedy jungle hero Schnarzan (Durante) needs a boost so he is buying real man-eating lions for his next film; animal keepers Laurel & Hardy track the lions down because the man selling to Durante paid for the lions with a bounced check; meanwhile, Durante's competition wants to get the lions for their own films. The original release included a Technicolor Disney-animated short "Hot Choc'late Soldiers", introduced by Mickey Mouse; because Walt Disney licensed only theatrical distribution rights to M.G.M., the sequence was excluded from TV showings until Turner Movie Channel negotiated for TV & video rights with Disney Studios in 1992. No director is credited; cinematography by James Wong Howe; starring Jimmy Durante, Laurel & Hardy, Jack Pearl, Lupe Velez, Charles Butterworth & Eddie Quillan; cameos by 'Wild Bill' Elliott, Ted Healy and The Three Stooges, Arthur Treacher & Robert Young
Warner Archive b&w/color DVD [12/2011] for $17.99

M.G.M./Warner b&w/color VHS [1/93] out of prodn/used
full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

"The Thin Man" [M.G.M. May 1934]

Nick Charles, a detective, has just retired but is pulled back into service by the disappearance of a friend, Clyde Wynant (the actual 'thin man') just after Wynant's girlfriend is found dead. Nick and his wife Nora consume martinis and exchange witticisms; the martini glasses pile up as do the dead bodies, until the murderer is revealed at a dinner-party gathering of all the suspects. Directed by W.S. VanDyke; script by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich, based on Dashiell Hammett's novel; cinematography by James Wong Howe; starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Asta & Cesar Romero; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script & Best Actor (WP); listed on the National Film Registry (1997)
Warner b&w DVD keepcase [8/2005] for $17.99
Warner b&w DVD snapcase [10/2002] out of prodn/used
Warner b&w VHS [7/2001] out of prodn/used
M.G.M./Warner b&w VHS [6/94] out of prodn/many used
full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

"Pursued" [1947] >> BHNOIR
Photographed in New Mexico in inky black and white by James Wong Howe, PURSUED finds Robert Mitchum revisiting his dark past in an attempt to unravel mysteries of the present. Perhaps the pivotal 'noir Western', it’s a complex melodrama-cum-Greek-tragedy, co-starring Teresa Wright, Dame Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger & Alan Hale, and directed by Raoul Walsh

"The Time of Your Life" [1948] /tt0040884/
Produced by William Cagney; directed by H.C. Potter; based on the William Saroyan stageplay, adapted by Nathaniel Curtis; cinematography by James Wong Howe; starring James Cagney, William Bendix, Wayne Morris, Jeanne Cagney, Broderick Crawford & Ward Bond

"The Baron of Arizona" [Lippert March 1950] /tt0042229/
Written & directed by Samuel Fuller; based on a story by Homer Croy; cinematography
by James Wong Howe; starring Vincent Price & Ellen Drew

"He Ran All The Way" [MGM/UA 1951] >> BHNOIR
Dir. John Berry; John Garfield's final film role, and one of his best. He talks a young woman (Shelley Winters) into inviting him home for dinner -- but he takes her family hostage once they realize he's wanted for a cop-killing. The daughter falls for him anyway, seeing a kindred spirit who only wants to escape tenement life. Taut and claustrophobic, with superb performances and bold cinematography by James Wong Howe

"The Fighter" [1952] /tt0044614/ with James Wong Howe based on story? by Jack London

"The World of Dong Kingman" [1953 short] /nm0455449/
15½-minute color short directed by James Wong Howe
watch for free via Internet Archive

"Go, Man, Go!" documentary feature [1954] /tt0047032/
Howe was hired to direct a feature-length biography of Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein

"The Invisible Avenger" [1958]
Howe directed his second feature (of two), an undistinguished B-movie in which
The Shadow, Lamont Cranston, investigated the murder of a New Orleans bandleader

"The Old Man and The Sea" [1958]
based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, directed by John Sturges

"Biography of A Rookie: The Willie Davis Story" TV documentary [Wolper Prodns Nov 1963] /tt0842917/
Co-produced & co-directed by Mel Stuart; co-directed by James Wong Howe

"The Glory Guys" [United Artists July 1965]

Glory Guys movie directed by Arnold Laven, script by Sam Peckinpah

A troop of hard-luck losers stuck in the cavalry of the U.S. Army set out on a suicide mission against battle-hardened Apache warriors (based on the Major Reno portion of the Battle of the Little Big Horn). Produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven; directed by Arnold Laven; script by Sam Peckinpah, from a novel by Hoffman Birney; cinematography by James Wong Howe; starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, Michael Anderson Jr., James Caan, Andrew Duggan, Slim Pickens, Peter Breck, Robert McQueeney, Wayne Rogers & William Meigs
M.G.M. color VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used
full credits from IMDb
based on the 1956 novel "The Dice of God" by Hoffman Birney
Henry Holt & Co. hardcover [1956] out of print/used

"Hombre" [1967] starring Paul Newman /tt0061770/
based on a novel by Elmore Leonard

"The Molly Maguires" [1970] /tt0066090/
http://www.amazon.com/Molly-Maguires-Sean-Connery/dp/B0001FGBLG/
http://www.amazon.com/Molly-Maguires-VHS-Sean-Connery/dp/6300216144/

three documentaries were made about Howe during the last two decades of his life

"James Wong Howe: Cinematographer" documentary ]1973]
featuring lighting tutorials with Howe

"James Wong Howe: A Lesson In Lighting" [1974] from Davidson Films of San Francisco

"James Wong Howe: Adventures" [1993 'video recording'] from Davidson Films of Davis, CA
Howe talks of his experiences in Hollywood and demonstrates some of his techniques

	"James Wong Howe, Cinematographer" [1982] by Todd Rainsberger A.S. Barnes & Co. 10¾x8½ hardcover [3/82] out of print/used
	"Film Lighting: Talks With Hollywood's Cinematographers and Gaffers" [1986] by Kris Malkiewicz Interviews with gaffers {chief electricians} and cinematographers who know their business, including John Alonzo ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, Conrad Hall ASC, James Wong Howe ASC, Haskell Wexler ASC, Vilmos Zsigmond ASC, among others; book is divided into cinematography, lighting equipment, image manipulation, and studio & location lighting; with glossary Fireside Books 9x7 pb [8/86] for $15.61
	"Five American Cinematographers: Interviews with Karl Struss, Joseph Ruttenberg, James Wong Howe, Linwood Dunn & William H. Clothier" [1987] by Scott Eyman Scarecrow Press 8¾x5½ hardcover [10/87] out of print/scarce
	"Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography" [N.H.K./A.F.I. Feb 1993] Co-directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy & Stuart Samuels; interviewees include Caleb Deschanel, William A. Fraker, Conrad Hall, James Wong Howe, László Kovács, Sven Nykvist, Vilmos Zsigmond, plus many more Image Ent. color DVD [5/2000] for $21.49 Fox color VHS [4/94] for $29.98 full credits from IMDb
	"Conversations With The Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: At The American Film Institute" [2006] by George Stevens, Jr. Knopf 9½x6½ hardcover [2/2006] for $23.10 interviews with 32 major writers, directors & cinematographers, including Ingmar Bergman, writer Ray Bradbury, Richard Brooks, Frank Capra, William Clothier, Stanley Cortez, George Cukor, Federico Fellini, George Folsey, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, James Wong Howe, John Huston, Elia Kazan, Gene Kelly, Stanley Kramer, Fritz Lang, David Lean, Ernest Lehman, Mervyn LeRoy, Harold Lloyd, Rouben Mamoulian, Satyajit Ray, Jean Renoir, George Stevens, King Vidor, Hal Wallis, Raoul Walsh, Billy Wilder, Robert Wise, William Wyler & Fred Zinnemann
	"James Wong Howe: The Camera Eye - A Career Interview" [2011] by Alain Silver Based on 15 hours of interviews conducted by film scholar Silver; includes a complete filmography (with some newly discovered credits), two essays about lighting & preparation written by Howe himself, a biographical summary, select bibliography, and a complete index. CreateSpace 5½x4 pb [2/2011] for $19.95

Whose Names Are Unknown novel by Sanora Babb Howe

"Whose Names Are Unknown: A Novel" [2004]
by Sanora Babb Howe, Foreword by Lawrence R. Rodgers
Upstaged in 1939 by John Steinbeck's best-selling "The Grapes of Wrath", Babb's novel about the travails of a Depression-era farm family was shelved by Random House; at 97, Babb reaped long-overdue praise for the novel when it was rescued by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2004
Univ OK Press 8½x6¼ pb [1/2006] for $14.96
Univ OK Press hardcover [4/2004] for $29.95

Magic Lantern Video & Book StorecinematographerJames Wong Howe [1899-1976]

Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
cinematographer
James Wong Howe
[1899-1976]