#Rebeca of Sunny Brook Farms (1917)

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The Stradling’s

Born at the very beginning of the last century (1901 or 1902, according to the source) in Newark, New Jersey, he was the nephew of Walter Stradling, who shot a couple of movies by Mary Pickford after the First World War, and the father of Harry Stradling Jr., who was also a cinematographer. After working as a telegram courier during his youth, Stradling began working in the cinema around 1917 with Arthur Miller in New York. He became a cameraman in 1920 at the Whitman Bennett Studios (a few films starring Lionel Barrymore or Betty Blythe). He also did the lighting on a couple of stars of that time, like Constance Bennett or Pauline Frederick.

He also began working in Technicolor again by filming Esther Williams three times in her famous aqua-ballets (Bathing Beauty, Thrill of a Romance, and Easy to Wed). Finally recognized for his true worth, Stradling was assigned five films starring Judy Garland, produced by Arthur Freed during the golden age of musical comedies : Singing in the Rain ; The Pirate ; Easter Parade ; Words and Music, and In the Good Old Summertime).

Vincente Minnelli describes his first encounter with Harry Stradling during the filming of The Pirate : “When the first day of shooting began, besides a brief hello, there was no contact. I described to him what I wanted, he nodded. I don’t know whether I was speaking to a wall !

He would play cards with other members of the team and I would hesitate to interrupt their game, then he had still showed up to watch our rehearsals ! But when the time came to shoot the first scene, I came to watch the game of poker. Stradling lifted his eyes : “Are you ready for me ?” I nedded. After shooting a glance to the others that said, “I won’t be long” he came onto the set. “Well,” declared Stradling, “you want her to walk from this point to that one ? But there is a dark shadow in that corner ! It needs more light.” I didn’t know what attitude to adopt, I had never worked with someone so empirical and detached. Happily, the dailies, the following day, dissipated all of my fears. They were superb.”

When war was declared after a dozen years living in Europe, he definitively returned to the United States where he was hired by David Selznick for Intermezzo, in 1939, who then fired him because he was unhappy with the close-ups on Ingrid Bergman, replacing him with Gregg Toland.

Recontacted two years later by Selznick to film Rebecca, Stradling coldly turned down his offer in the following terms : “With the permanent obsession over wondering whether or not I am giving satisfaction or whether I will be fired from the film, I honestly don’t believe I’m able to honour you or your company by accepting to film Rebecca,”

In 1945, Albert Lewin (“one of the most cultivated directors in Hollywood,” according to Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Bertrand Tavernier) called on Stradling for his adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Gray.

Once again, Stradling demonstrated the breadth of his palette : rich gradient of the greys and depth of field in the vast residences, smooth face of actor Hurd Hatfield to highlight the eternal youth of Dorian Gray, and penumbra in the cabaret and tavern scenes.

On 7 March 1946, during the 18th annual Oscar awards ceremony, Harry Stradling received the famous statuette from the hands of David Wark Griffith in person for his black-and-white cinematography of Albert Lewin’s The Portrait of Dorian Gray. This award crowned 25 years of a prestigious career that began in France and England and garnered him fourteen nominations (four for black-and-white and ten for colour).

In 1951 his black-and-white masterpiece A Tramway Named Desire by Elia Kazan. Tennessee William’s universe was visually transposed onto a superb photography that associated contrast, shadow, and a rich range of ashy greys with masterfully structured and arbitrary lighting, in order to successfully convey the dual atmosphere of humidity and physical and psychological incarceration in the claustrophobic sets. At the same time, he preserved Vivian Leigh’s photogeneity throughout the slow degeneration of the character of Blanche Dubois. His cinematography was simultaneously superficial and of a great artistic beauty.

The Technicolor company considered the cinematography on Parrish (D. Daves, 1961) as the best example of the use of their process (which was in fact a Technicolor printing of an Eastmancolor negative).

He won his second Oscar for My Fair Lady (G. Cukor, 1964) shot in Super-Panavision 70. Cukor claimed that he had had some difficulties with his cameraman, but recognized that “he did a remarkable job, cameramen have lots of habits and you have to watch them very closely.”

He would end his career by lighting Barbara Streisand four times, who, when she received her Oscar for her role in Funny Girl (W. Wyler, 1968), justly thanked “My dear Harry Stradling.”