ARTHUR C. MILLER

Born: 8 July 1895, Roslyn, Long Island, N.Y., USA, as Arthur Charles Miller.

Died: 13 July 1970, Hollywood, Calif., USA.

Career: In 1908, after a brief career as a professional jockey, he was hired as a laboratory asst for Fred J. Balshofer's Crescent Film Company. When Balshofer went to Los Angeles, Miller stayed in New York and worked as c.asst and lab tech for the Reliance Motion Picture Company. In 1912 he joined Pathé Frères as a newsreel [for Pathé News Weekly] and studio cameraman. In 1915 he went to work for the Esperanto Film Company of Detroit and later the Astra Film Corporation [Louis J. Gasnier]. In 1916 he became a member of the New York Cinema Camera Club. [This club merged with the California Cinema Camera Club ('Static Club') in 1918 to form the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in January 1919]. In 1917 he came under a personal 8-year contract to dir George Fitzmaurice. In 1918 he accompanied Fitzmaurice to Hollywood and started working for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. Went to London to help establish the Famous Players Studios at Islington. Worked under contract for directors William A. Seiter and Raoul Walsh and joined Fox Studios [later 20th Century-Fox] in 1931 [until 1950]. At Fox he ph 12 films with child star Shirley Temple. 'I had trouble with Fox when Zanuck went to Europe, mainly contract problems; they refused to pay for my six-week vacation a year. They claimed they'd wired Zanuck and he'd supported the refusal; but I thought it was a lie. I said, 'All right, we'll just part friends.' And we did. [...] I was supposed to do 'The African Queen', and I went to get the shots for various diseases. And through the examination the fellow found tuberculosis in my right lung. So I went home and went to bed for a year. The doctor said, 'Do you have to work?' I said 'No.' And he told me I'd live longer if I didn't work again.' He returned to limited participation in the film industry, but not as a working cinematographer.

Was a member and president [1954-56] of the ASC.

In 1966, he and Charles G. Clarke dir the doc 'Milestones of the Movies' for the ASC.

Miller and Fred J. Balshofer [1877-1969] wrote the book 'One Reel a Week' [1967; descriptions of early filmmaking in New Jersey].

His brother William J. Miller was a doph.

Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1939; b&w] for 'The Rains Came'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1940; color; shared] for 'The Blue Bird'; 'Oscar' AA [1941; b&w] for 'How Green Was My Valley'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1942; b&w] for 'This Above All'; 'Oscar' AA [1943; b&w] for 'The Song of Bernadette'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1945; b&w] for 'The Keys of the Kingdom'; 'Oscar' AA [1946; b&w] for 'Anna and the King of Siam'.

Arthur C. Miller: 'The basic principle I have had in making pictures was to make them look like real life, and then emphasize the visuals slightly. If we had a restaurant with white tiles in a scene I'd show it even more white and shining on the screen. I'd make everything as sharp and clear as possible. Of course, an audience's eyes can't adjust from dark scenes to bright ones immediately, so in order to consider the pupil of the eye I would always work a gradual change of light when you came into the restaurant. From daylight to a brilliant interior with soft shades of grey in between.

'I was never a soft-focus man. I like the focus very hard. I liked crisp, sharp, solid images. As deep as I could carry the focus, I'd carry it, well before 'Citizen Kane'. There were no secrets in our crew, at 20th, in the good days. When we used an effect everyone knew exactly what the diffusion was, the intensity of each arc. And we'd work right in with the electricians... I had the same gaffer for eighteen years and in the end we'd just have to look at each other and we knew what we were going to do. There was no need for words; we were like a lot of dummies all through shooting.' [From interview in 'Hollywood Cameramen' by Charles Higham, Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1970.]

190?        A Skate on Skates [Fred J. Balshofer] b&w

190?        Troublesome Baby [F.J. Balshofer] b&w

190?        Young Heroes of the West [F.J. Balshofer] b&w

190?        Fink's Holiday [F.J. Balshofer] b&w

190?        It Won't Do to Hit a Lady [F.J. Balshofer] b&w

1913        The Adventures of Kathlyn [Francis J. Grandon] b&w; 13-part serial; other ph: Robert L. Carson; this was the first true

                    motion picture serial (not series!) prod Selig Polyscope Company

1913        The Perils of Pauline [Louis J. Gasnier (superv) & Donald MacKenzie] b&w; 20-part serial; other ph: ?; AM replaced the

                    original ph, because Gasnier was impressed by his newsreel footage of Niagara Falls; released in Europe in 9 ep; prod

                    Pathé/Wharton Inc.

1914        The Hazards of Helen [J.P. McGowan (#1-48) & James Davis (#49-119)] b&w; 119-part serial, 1914-16; other ph: ?;

                    prod Kalem Company

1914        The Exploits of Elaine [Louis J. Gasnier, George B. Seitz & Leopold Wharton] b&w; 14-part serial; prod Wharton Inc.

1915        The New Exploits of Elaine [Louis J. Gasnier, Leopold & Theodore Wharton] b&w; 10-part serial; prod Wharton Inc.

1915        The Romance of Elaine [George B. Seitz, Leopold & Theodore Wharton] b&w; 12-part serial; other ph: Levi Bacon &

                    Robin Townley; prod Wharton Inc.

1915        Doll House Baby [Cora Adams] b&w; prod Esperanto Film Company

1915        Toot, the Tailor [E. Mason Hopper] b&w; prod Astra Film Corporation

1915        At Bay [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; prod Pathé

1916        ph 34 serials between 1916-19

1916        New York [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; prod Pathé

1916        Big Jim Garrity [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; prod Pathé

1916        Arms and the Woman [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; prod Astra Film Corporation (all films until 1919)

1916        The Romantic Journey [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; cred by AFI to doph Harold Louis Miller

1916        Kick In [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; cph: John W. Boyle; 5 reels; remade in 1922

1917        The Hunting of the Hawk [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        The Recoil [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        The Iron Heart [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        Blind Man's Luck [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        Sylvia of the Secret Service [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        The On-the-Square-Girl/Fifth Avenue [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1917        Stranded in Arcady [Frank Crane] b&w; 5 reels

1917        The Mark of Cain [George Fitzmaurice (other sources: Frank Crane)] b&w; 5 reels

1917        Vengeance Is Mine [Frank Crane] b&w; 5 reels; cred by AFI to doph Harry Wood (probably the 2nd cameraman)

1917        Convict 993 [William Parke] b&w; 5 reels

1918        The Naulahka [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 6 reels

1918        The Hillcrest Mystery [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1918        The House of Hate [George B. Seitz] b&w; 20-part serial; other ph: ?

1918        A Japanese Nightingale [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; cph: Percy Hilburn

1918        The Narrow Path [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; cred by AFI to doph Percy Hilburn

1919        Common Clay [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; as Charles Miller

1919        The Cry of the Weak [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1919        The Profiteers [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1919        The Avalanche [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; prod Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (all films until 1923)

1919        Our Better Selves [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; AM's last film for the Astra Film Corporation

1919        The Witness for the Defense [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels; cred by AFI to doph Hal Young

1919        A Society Exile [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 6 reels

1919        Counterfeit [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 5 reels

1919        On with the Dance [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; cph: Georges Benoît

1919        His House in Order [Hugh Ford] b&w; 5 reels

1920        Lady Rose's Daughter [Hugh Ford] b&w; 5 reels

1920        The Right to Love [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1920        Idols of Clay [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1920        Paying the Piper/Money Mad [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 6 reels

1921        Experience [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1921        Forever/Peter Ibbetson/The Great Romance [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1921        Three Live Ghosts [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; 6 reels

1922        To Have and to Hold [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1922        Kick In [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; remake of film (1916)

1923        Bella Donna [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1923        The Cheat [George Fitzmaurice] b&w

1923        The Eternal City [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; prod Madison Prods (Samuel Goldwyn)

1924        Cytherea/The Forbidden Way [George Fitzmaurice] b&w + c (Cuban seq); prod Madison Prods (Samuel Goldwyn)

1924        Tarnish [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; cph: William Tuers; prod Samuel Goldwyn

1924        In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter/So This Is Hollywood [Alfred E. Green] b&w; cph: Harry Hallenberger; prod

                    Samuel Goldwyn

1924        A Thief in Paradise [George Fitzmaurice] b&w; prod George Fitzmaurice Prods presented by Samuel Goldwyn

1925        His Supreme Moment [George Fitzmaurice] b&w + c seq (Moorish harem); prod George Fitzmaurice Prods presented by

                    Samuel Goldwyn

1925        The Coming of Amos [Paul Sloane] b&w; 6 reels; prod Cinema Corporation of America (CCA)

1925        Made for Love [Paul Sloane] b&w; prod CCA

1926        The Volga Boatman [Cecil B. DeMille] b&w; cph: Peverell Marley & Fred Westerberg; prod DeMille Pictures Corporation

                    (all films until 1928)

1926        Eve's Leaves [Paul Sloane] b&w

1926        The Clinging Vine [Paul Sloane] b&w

1926        For Alimony Only [William C. de Mille] b&w

1926        Nobody's Widow [Donald Crisp] b&w

1927        Vanity [Donald Crisp] b&w; 6 reels

1927        The Fighting Eagle/Brigadier Gerard [Donald Crisp] b&w

1927        The Angel of Broadway [Lois Weber] b&w

1927        The Blue Danube/Honour Above All [Paul Sloane] b&w

1928        Hold 'Em Yale/At Yale [Edward H. Griffith] b&w

1928        The Cop [Donald Crisp] b&w

1928        Annapolis/Branded a Coward [Christy Cabanne] b&w; silent & silent with sound efx + music; prod Pathé

1928        The Spieler/The Spellbinder [Tay Garnett] b&w; silent with sound seq; prod Ralph Block Prods

1928        Bellamy Trial [Monta Bell] b&w; silent & silent with sound seq; prod MGM

1929        Strange Cargo [Arthur Gregor (silent version) & Benjamin Glazer (sound version)] b&w; silent & sound versions;

                    prod Pathé

1929        The Flying Fool [Tay Garnett] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1929        Sailor's Holiday [Fred Newmeyer] b&w; 6 reels; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1929        Big News [Gregory La Cava] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1929        Oh, Yeah!/No Brakes [Tay Garnett] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1929        His First Command [Gregory La Cava] b&w + c seq; cph: John J. Mescall; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1929        Officer O'Brien [Tay Garnett] b&w; silent & sound versions; prod Pathé

1930        The Lady of Scandal/The High Road [Sidney Franklin] b&w; cph: Oliver T. Marsh

1930        The Truth About Youth [William A. Seiter] b&w; 69m

1930        See America Thirst [William J. Craft] b&w; cph: C. Allen Jones; silent & sound versions; prod Universal

1931        Father's Son/Boy of Mine [William Beaudine] b&w

1931        Bad Company [Tay Garnett] b&w

1931        The Big Shot/The Optimist [Ralph Murphy] b&w; 66m

1931        Panama Flo [Ralph Murphy] b&w

1931        A Woman Commands [Paul L. Stein; (add scenes) Harry Joe Brown, Horace Jackson & Val Paul] b&w; uncred ph add

                    scenes (filmed sporadically October-December); ph: Hal Mohr

1932        Young Bride/Veneer/Love Starved [William A. Seiter] b&w

1932        Okay, America!/The Penalty of Fame [Tay Garnett] b&w

1932        Breach of Promise [Paul L. Stein] b&w; 64m

1932        Me and My Gal/Pier 13 [Raoul Walsh] b&w

1933        Sailor's Luck [Raoul Walsh] b&w; 64m

1933        Hello, Sister!/Clipped Wings [Erich von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh (Coney Island seq) & (retakes) Edwin Burke & Alfred

                    Werker] b&w; 62m; ph retakes (filmed February-March); ph: James Wong Howe (filmed August-October 1932 as

                    'Walking Down Broadway')

1933        Hold Me Tight [David Butler] b&w

1933        The Man Who Dared [: An Imaginative Biography] [Hamilton MacFadden] b&w

1933        The Last Trail [James Tinling] b&w; 60m

1933        My Weakness [David Butler] b&w

1933        The Mad Game [Irving Cummings] b&w

1933        Ever Since Eve [George Marshall] b&w

1933        Bottoms Up [ David Butler] b&w

1934        Handy Andy [David Butler] b&w

1934        Love Time [James Tinling] b&w

1934        The White Parade [Irving Cummings] b&w

1934        Bright Eyes [David Butler] b&w

1934        The Little Colonel [David Butler] b&w-c; color seq ph: William V. Skall

1935        It's a Small World [Irving Cummings] b&w

1935        Black Sheep [Allan Dwan] b&w

1935        Welcome Home [James Tinling] b&w

1935        Paddy O'Day [Lewis Seiler] b&w

1936        White Fang [David Butler] b&w

1936        36 Hours to Kill/Thirty-six Hours to Live [Eugene Forde] b&w; 65m

1936        Pigskin Parade/Harmony Parade [David Butler] b&w

1936        Stowaway [William A. Seiter] b&w

1937        Wee Willie Winkie [John Ford] b&w

1937        Heidi [Allan Dwan] b&w

1937        Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm [Allan Dwan] b&w

1937        The Baroness and the Butler [Walter Lang] b&w; uncred cph: Robert Planck

1938        Little Miss Broadway [Irving Cummings] b&w

1938        Just Around the Corner [Irving Cummings] b&w

1938        Submarine Patrol [John Ford] b&w

1938        The Little Princess [Walter Lang & (uncred) William A. Seiter] c; cph: William V. Skall

1939        Susannah of the Mounties [William A. Seiter (replaced Walter Lang, who fell ill)] b&w

1939        Young Mr. Lincoln [John Ford] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Bert Glennon

1939        The Rains Came [Clarence Brown] b&w; uncred cph: Bert Glennon (started film, but was replaced by AM); 'Clarence

                    Brown was from Metro on loan to Fox and he didn't want the cameraman they had given him. He wasn't 'brilliant'

                    enough. Bert Glennon was his name. Zanuck said to me, 'Tomorrow at noon, walk in to the set with your own gaffer,

                    your own regular crew.' They had been shooting the great scene of the Maharani's dinner-party; Brown wanted the

                    whole thing to shine. And Glennon had made it shadowy and soft. So I walked in at noon, and Brown said to me, 'The

                    trouble is we aren't getting enough light, enough brilliant sharpness, and I hope you and I can get along.' And we did,

                    and Glennon walked off.'*

1939        Here I Am a Stranger [Roy Del Ruth (replaced William A. Seiter)] b&w; replaced ph George Barnes

1939        The Blue Bird [Walter Lang] b&w-c; assoc ph: Ray Rennahan

1939        Johnny Apollo [Henry Hathaway] b&w

1940        On Their Own [Otto Brower] b&w; 65m

1940        Young People [Allan Dwan] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Edward Cronjager

1940        Brigham Young [: Frontiersman] [Henry Hathaway] b&w

1940        The Mark of Zorro [Rouben Mamoulian] b&w; 'I liked Mamoulian, he let me alone and didn't bother me; you can't go

                    wrong with a man like that. A great deal of the 'locations' in old Spanish California were in fact studio; I used powerful

                    sun arcs to simulate sunlight, and once again the shadows cast were very hard.'*

1940        Tobacco Road [John Ford] b&w; 'And now you're talking about the director I liked working with better than anybody in the

                    industry. You'd only talk, I think you might say, fifty words to him in a day; you had a communication with him so great

                    you could sense what he wanted. He knew nothing of lighting; he never once looked in the camera when we worked

                    together.'*

1941        Man Hunt [Fritz Lang] b&w

1941        The Men in Her Life [Gregory Ratoff] b&w; cph: Harry Stradling (took over from A. Miller, who was recalled to Fox to film

                    'How Green Was My Valley') & (uncred) Philip Tannura