MovieChat Forums > Baby Doll (1956) Discussion > Excellent cinematography

Excellent cinematography

posted 8 years ago by urgeking
2 replies | jump to latest

The compositions and camera angles are quite striking; they make good creative use of the indoor locations. And the lighting, especially in the night scenes, is terrific, especially for a film made 60 years ago-- very complex, subtle, and realistic. Watch the last fifteen minutes, for example. It's a fine example of moviemaking as visual art. Such scenes in many other 1950s and '60s movies (and TV shows) are burdened with simplistic, phony-looking lighting that detracts from whatever emotional effect the after-dark environment was meant to provide. But these guys got it right.

[–] The_TJT 8 years ago

I think you're selling 50s & 60s cinema way short there.

But I agree with you about this film... the cinematography is great and serves the story instead of drawing attention to itself. Or in other words the filming is subtle and one doesn't really even notice it much. Imo the best example on cinematography serving the story/atmosphere would be The Innocents (1961).

[–] urgeking 8 years ago

Oh, by no means would I say that ALL night scenes from that era were poorly photographed. But many of them were crudely over-lit (as if the characters were standing near a large, harsh movie light, as was often the case), or were shot, not always convincingly, as 'day-for-night'. (For those readers not familiar, day-for-night is the deliberate underexposure of a sunny daytime scene to approximate moonlight. It can be done well-- or not so well, as when a car approaches in what is supposed to be 'night' but the headlights look very dim at best.)