Background
Wong Tung Jim was born on August 28, 1899 in Taishan, Guangdong, China. He was the son of Wong How and Dang Shee. He immigrated to the United States at age five and grew up in Washington.
Howe with his wife, Sanora Babb
James Wong Howe (rightmost) on the set of silent film The Alaskan.
(Bob Hope narrates this fascinating look at American cultu...)
Bob Hope narrates this fascinating look at American culture in the 5-year period between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Korean War.
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Long-Ago-Bob-Hope/dp/B007F2RE2S/?tag=2022091-20
1925
(Ralph Prescott (Marmont) is a New York divorce lawyer tir...)
Ralph Prescott (Marmont) is a New York divorce lawyer tired of his clientele. Woodbury (Pallette), who runs a ladies hosiery business across the hall, suggests that they get away from the city and camp in Mantrap, Canada.
https://www.amazon.com/Mantrap-Clara-Bow/dp/B013XMZP1A/?tag=2022091-20
1926
(Nick Charles (William Powell), a retired detective, and h...)
Nick Charles (William Powell), a retired detective, and his wife Nora (Myrna Loy) are attempting to settle down. They are based in San Francisco but decide to spend the Christmas holidays in New York. There, Nick is pressed back into service by Dorothy Wynant (Maureen O'Sullivan), a young woman whose father, Clyde (Edward Ellis), was an old client of Nick's. Clyde, the title's "thin man", was supposed to be on a secret business trip and promised to be home before his daughter's wedding, but has mysteriously vanished. She convinces Nick to take the case, much to the amusement of his socialite wife. It starts out as a missing person case, but when Julia Wolf (Natalie Moorhead), Clyde's former secretary and love interest, is found dead, evidence points to Clyde as the prime suspect. Dorothy refuses to believe that her father is guilty. The detective uncovers clues and eventually solves the mystery of the disappearance.
https://www.amazon.com/Thin-Man-Snap-case/dp/B00006FDCS/?tag=2022091-20
1934
(During the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I, a young ...)
During the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I, a young naval officer (Laurence Olivier) spies on the Spanish and discovers their plans to send the Armada against England. This wins him the love of the Queen's lady-in-waiting (Vivien Leigh) as he takes the British fleet into battle.
https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Over-England-Vivien-Leigh/dp/B00G6KYWIE/?tag=2022091-20
1937
(Pepe Le Moko (Boyer) is a notorious thief, who, after his...)
Pepe Le Moko (Boyer) is a notorious thief, who, after his last great heist, escaped from France to Algeria. Since his escape, Moko became a resident and leader of the immense Casbah, or "native quarter", of Algiers. French officials who arrive insisting on Pepe's capture are met with unfazed local detectives, led by Inspector Slimane (Calleia), who are biding their time. Meanwhile, Pepe begins to feel increasingly trapped in his prison-like stronghold, a feeling which intensifies after meeting the beautiful Gaby (Lamarr), who is visiting from France. His love for Gaby soon arouses the jealousy of Ines (Gurie), Pepe's Algerian mistress.
https://www.amazon.com/Algiers-Charles-Boyer/dp/B00006II5I/?tag=2022091-20
1938
(In 1890s New York City, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) falls ...)
In 1890s New York City, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) falls in love with strawberry-blonde society girl Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth). However, Biff's more enterprising "pal" Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson) wins Virginia's affections. Biff ends up marrying Virginia's less-glamorous best friend, Amy Lind (Olivia de Havilland), who Biff eventually realizes was the right one for him all along.
https://www.amazon.com/Strawberry-Blonde-VHS-James-Cagney/dp/6301977254/?tag=2022091-20
1941
(A brilliant research psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Venner, is dr...)
A brilliant research psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Venner, is driven out of Budapest by another researcher who has taken false credit for Venner's work. After going to London, Dr. Venner is offered a job in a Scottish sanitarium where he can continue his research on dementia praecox, a disease from which his father had suffered.
https://www.amazon.com/Shining-Victory-James-Stephenson/dp/B07BN6X9CF/?tag=2022091-20
1941
(Beautifully shot by James Wong Howe and tightly scripted ...)
Beautifully shot by James Wong Howe and tightly scripted by Brecht and Lang in their only collaboration, this noir-like espionage thriller is set in occupied Czechoslovakia and revolves around the successful plot by the Czech resistance to assassinate Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia "Hangman" Reinhard Heydrich and the hunt by the Gestapo to track down the killers.
https://www.amazon.com/Hangmen-Also-Die-Brian-Donlevy/dp/B00NFCRWKQ/?tag=2022091-20
1943
(A group of United States Army paratroopers led by Captain...)
A group of United States Army paratroopers led by Captain Nelson (Errol Flynn) are dropped into Burma to locate and destroy a camouflaged Japanese Army radar station that is detecting Allied aircraft flying into China. For their mission, they are assigned Gurkha guides, a Chinese Army Captain and an older war correspondent (Henry Hull) whose character is used to explain various procedures to the audience. The mission is an overwhelming success as the 36-man team quickly take out the station and its personnel. But when the airborne troops arrive at an old airstrip to be taken back to their base, they find the Japanese waiting for them at their rendezvous site. Captain Nelson makes the hard decision to call off the rescue planes, and hike out on foot. To reduce the likelihood of detection, the group then splits up into two smaller units to meet up at a deserted Burmese village. But when Nelson arrives at the meeting place, he finds that the other team had been captured, tortured and mutilated by the Japanese. Only Lt. Jacobs survives, and he too dies after telling Nelson what had happened. The surviving soldiers are then attacked and are forced again to retreat into the jungle. The men must then cross the swamps in their attempt to make it back to safety through enemy-occupied jungle. Fighting an almost constant rearguard action, Nelson's paratroopers also succeed as decoys leading Japanese troops away from the site of the British 1944 aerial invasion of Burma.
https://www.amazon.com/Objective-Burma-Errol-Flynn/dp/B00009PBHO/?tag=2022091-20
1945
(Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes ...)
Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempts the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Soul-Blu-ray-John-Garfield/dp/B0080JG2LE/?tag=2022091-20
1947
(A columnist (Burt Lancaster) and a press agent (Tony Curt...)
A columnist (Burt Lancaster) and a press agent (Tony Curtis) tear into the maelstrom of midtown Manhattan's night creatures in a sinister game that involves money, power and ultimately survival.
https://www.amazon.com/Success-Lancaster-Harrison-Nichols-Barbara/dp/B00HVNZKRW/?tag=2022091-20
1957
黃宗霑
Wong Tung Jim was born on August 28, 1899 in Taishan, Guangdong, China. He was the son of Wong How and Dang Shee. He immigrated to the United States at age five and grew up in Washington.
After his father's death, the teenaged James Wong Howe moved to Oregon to live with his uncle and briefly considered (1915-1916) a career as a bantamweight boxer. After compiling a record of 5 wins, 2 losses and a draw, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in hopes of attending aviation school but ran out of money and went south to Los Angeles. Once there, James Wong Howe took several odd jobs, including work as a commercial photographer's delivery boy and as a busboy at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
After a chance encounter with a former boxing colleague who was photographing a Mack Sennett short on the streets of Los Angeles, James Wong Howe approached cinematographer Alvin Wyckoff and landed a low-level job in the film lab at Famous Players-Lasky Studios. Soon thereafter he was called to the set of The Little American to act as an extra clapper boy, which brought him into contact with silent film director Cecil B. DeMille. Amused by the sight of the diminutive Asian holding the slate with a large cigar in his mouth, DeMille kept Howe on and launched his career as a camera assistant. To earn additional money, James Wong Howe took publicity stills for Hollywood stars.
In 1922 James Wong Howe became chief cameraman for Famous Players. He later worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers, Columbia, and RKO, then freelanced after 1948.
He worked on many silent films, exploring all the developments in film, stock, camera mobility, and lighting techniques; then, with the invention of sound, he developed ways to circumvent the restrictions that it imposed on camera movement. He much preferred black and white film, which brought out his dramatic use of light and shade, although his colour work was as exemplary as his black and white; he was at home in a studio or on location, and he was a master of all moods.
In Transatlantic (1931) James Wong Howe pioneered in using a wide-angle lens, deep focus, and ceilinged sets to replicate shipboard claustrophobia. He was one of the first cameramen to use a hand-held camera. James Wong Howe shot the boxing scenes in Body and Soul (1947) while being pushed on roller skates and increased his mobility for He Ran All the Way (1951) by shooting from a wheelchair.
After working on The Molly Maguires (1970), Howe's health began to fail, and he entered semi-retirement. In 1974, he was well enough to be selected as a replacement cinematographer for Funny Lady. He collapsed during the filming; American Society of Cinematographers president Ernest Laszlo filled in for Howe while he was recovering in the hospital. Funny Lady earned Howe his tenth and final Oscar nomination. Three documentaries were made about Howe during the last two decades of his life.
(Beautifully shot by James Wong Howe and tightly scripted ...)
1943(A group of United States Army paratroopers led by Captain...)
1945(A columnist (Burt Lancaster) and a press agent (Tony Curt...)
1957(During the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I, a young ...)
1937(Bob Hope narrates this fascinating look at American cultu...)
1925(In 1890s New York City, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) falls ...)
1941(Nick Charles (William Powell), a retired detective, and h...)
1934(Story of boyhood chums who remain adult friends although ...)
1934(Pepe Le Moko (Boyer) is a notorious thief, who, after his...)
1938(Ralph Prescott (Marmont) is a New York divorce lawyer tir...)
1926(Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes ...)
1947(A brilliant research psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Venner, is dr...)
1941James Wong Howe met his wife, a white woman named Sanora Babb, before World War II. They traveled to Paris in 1937 to marry, but their marriage was not recognized by the state of California until 1948, after the law banning interracial marriage was abolished. Due to the ban, the "morals clause" in Howe's studio contracts prohibited him from publicly acknowledging his marriage to Babb. They would not cohabit due to his traditional Chinese views, so they had separate apartments in the same building.