Joseph MacDonald(1906-1968)
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Versatile Mexico City-born cinematographer Joseph Patrick MacDonald was initially trained as a mining engineer at the University of Southern California. He served a lengthy
apprenticeship, starting as assistant cameraman at First National in the early 1920's before
eventually graduating to first camera operator by the beginning of the
following decade. He became a full director of photography only after
joining 20th Century Fox in 1941, staying at this studio until 1959. He was equally adept working
with black-and-white or with colour film and was skilled in every genre, from films
noir, to westerns, to musicals.
Most representative of his work are the gritty films noir Call Northside 777 (1948) and Hoảng Sợ Trên Đường Phố (1950); and two of the most sumptuous-looking films with Marilyn Monroe at her very peak: Niagara (1953) and Lấy Chồng Triệu Phú (1953) (incidentally, the first picture shot in CinemaScope). In stark contrast, MacDonald also shot one of the most visually evocative westerns of the period, John Ford's seminal My Darling Clementine (1946)and Elia Kazan's sweeping outdoor biopic Zapata Muôn Năm (1952), partly filmed on location in Durango, Mexico.
Most representative of his work are the gritty films noir Call Northside 777 (1948) and Hoảng Sợ Trên Đường Phố (1950); and two of the most sumptuous-looking films with Marilyn Monroe at her very peak: Niagara (1953) and Lấy Chồng Triệu Phú (1953) (incidentally, the first picture shot in CinemaScope). In stark contrast, MacDonald also shot one of the most visually evocative westerns of the period, John Ford's seminal My Darling Clementine (1946)and Elia Kazan's sweeping outdoor biopic Zapata Muôn Năm (1952), partly filmed on location in Durango, Mexico.