Weekly Movie Challenge

Karl Freund

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890-May 3, 1969) was a cinematographer and film director. Born in Dvůr Králové (Königinhof), Bohemia, his career began in 1905 when, at age 15, he got a job as an assistant projectionist for a film company in Berlin where his family moved in 1901. He worked as a cinematographer on over 100 films, including the German Expressionist films The Golem (1920), The Last Laugh (1924) and Metropolis (1927). Freund emigrated to the United States in 1929 where he continued to shoot well remembered films such as Dracula (1931) and Key Largo (1948). He won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Good Earth (1937).

In 1937, he went to Germany to bring his only daughter, Gerda Maria Freund, back to the United States, saving her from almost certain death in the concentration camps. Karl's ex-wife, Susette Freund (née Liepmannssohn), remained in Germany where she was interned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp and eventually taken in March, 1942 to Bernburg Euthanasia Center where she was murdered.

Between 1921 and 1935, Freund also directed ten films, of which the best known are probably The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff, and his last film as director, Mad Love (1935) starring Peter Lorre. Freund's only known film as an actor is Carl Dreyer's Michael (1924) in which he has a cameo as a sycophantic art dealer who saves the tobacco ashes dropped by a famous painter. At the beginning of the 1950s, he was persuaded by Desi Arnaz at Desilu to be the cinematographer in 1951 for the televisions series I Love Lucy. Critics have credited Freund for the show's lustrous black and white cinematography, but more importantly, Freund designed the "flat lighting" system for shooting sitcoms that is still in use today. This system covers the set in light, thus eliminating shadows and allowing the use of three moving cameras without having to modify the lighting in-between shots. And where Freund did not invent the three camera shooting system, he did perfect it for use with film cameras in front of a live audience. Freund and his production team also worked on other sitcoms produced at/through Desilu such as "Our Miss Brooks".

Description above from the Wikipedia article Karl Freund, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Actor

Michael

1924

as LeBlanc - Art Dealer

Directing

Mad Love

1935

Director

Gift of Gab

1934

Director

I Give My Love

1934

Director

The Countess of Monte Cristo

1934

Director

Madame Spy

1934

Director

Moonlight and Pretzels

1933

Director

The Mummy

1932

Director

Dracula

1931

Co-Director

Camera

I Love Lucy: The Movie

1953

Director of Photography

Bright Leaf

1950

Director of Photography

Montana

1950

Director of Photography

South of St. Louis

1949

Director of Photography

The Decision of Christopher Blake

1948

Director of Photography

Key Largo

1948

Director of Photography

Wallflower

1948

Director of Photography

That Hagen Girl

1947

Director of Photography

This Time for Keeps

1947

Director of Photography

Undercurrent

1946

Director of Photography

Two Smart People

1946

Director of Photography

A Letter for Evie

1946

Director of Photography

Dangerous Partners

1945

Director of Photography

Without Love

1945

Director of Photography

The Thin Man Goes Home

1944

Director of Photography

The Seventh Cross

1944

Director of Photography

A Guy Named Joe

1943

Director of Photography

Cry 'Havoc'

1943

Director of Photography

Du Barry was a Lady

1943

Director of Photography

A Yank at Eton

1942

Director of Photography

The War Against Mrs. Hadley

1942

Director of Photography

The Affairs of Martha

1942

Director of Photography

Tortilla Flat

1942

Director of Photography

The Chocolate Soldier

1941

Director of Photography

Blossoms in the Dust

1941

Director of Photography

Comrade X

1940

Camera Operator

Pride and Prejudice

1940

Director of Photography

We Who Are Young

1940

Director of Photography

Florian

1940

Director of Photography

Green Hell

1940

Director of Photography

The Earl of Chicago

1940

Director of Photography

Balalaika

1939

Director of Photography

Barricade

1939

Director of Photography

Golden Boy

1939

Director of Photography

Rose of Washington Square

1939

Director of Photography

Tail Spin

1939

Director of Photography

Letter of Introduction

1938

Director of Photography

Port of Seven Seas

1938

Director of Photography

Three Comrades

1938

Director of Photography

Man-Proof

1938

Director of Photography

Conquest

1937

Director of Photography

Parnell

1937

Director of Photography

The Good Earth

1937

Director of Photography

Camille

1936

Director of Photography

The Great Ziegfeld

1936

Director of Photography

The Kiss Before the Mirror

1933

Director of Photography

Afraid to Talk

1932

Director of Photography

Air Mail

1932

Director of Photography

Back Street

1932

Director of Photography

Scandal for Sale

1932

Director of Photography

Murders in the Rue Morgue

1932

Director of Photography

Strictly Dishonorable

1931

Director of Photography

Personal Maid

1931

Director of Photography

Up for Murder

1931

Director of Photography

The Bad Sister

1931

Director of Photography

Dracula

1931

Director of Photography

The Boudoir Diplomat

1930

Director of Photography

The Lottery Bride

1930

Director of Photography

All Quiet on the Western Front

1930

Director of Photography

Sleeping Partners

1930

Director of Photography

Fräulein Else

1929

Director of Photography

A Knight in London

1928

Director of Photography

Lady Juan

1928

Director of Photography

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

1927

Director of Photography

Metropolis

1927

Director of Photography

Metropolis

1927

Camera Operator

Manon Lescaut

1926

Director of Photography

Tartuffe

1926

Director of Photography

Variety

1925

Director of Photography

The Last Laugh

1924

Director of Photography

Michael

1924

Director of Photography

The Finances of the Grand Duke

1924

Director of Photography

Driven from Home

1923

Director of Photography

Der Tiger des Zirkus Farini

1923

Director of Photography

Herzog Ferrantes Ende

1922

Director of Photography

Lucrezia Borgia

1922

Director of Photography

The Burning Soil

1922

Director of Photography

Marizza

1922

Director of Photography

Das blinde Glück

1922

Director of Photography

Torgus

1921

Director of Photography

The Rats

1921

Director of Photography

Der verlorene Schatten

1921

Director of Photography

The Golem: How He Came Into the World

1920

Director of Photography

Panic in the House of Ardon

1920

Director of Photography

The Head of Janus

1920

Director of Photography

The Hunchback and the Dancer

1920

Director of Photography

The Spiders: Part 2 - The Diamond Ship

1920

Director of Photography

Satanas

1920

Director of Photography

The Spiders: Part 1 - The Golden Sea

1919

Director of Photography

Die Arche. 2. Teil: Die letzten Menschen

1919

Director of Photography

The Arc

1919

Director of Photography

Intoxication

1919

Director of Photography

Emerald of Death

1919

Director of Photography

Augen

1919

Camera Department Manager

Phantome des Lebens

1919

Director of Photography

Die Dame, der Teufel und die Probiermamsell

1918

Director of Photography

Die blaue Laterne

1918

Director of Photography

Die Heimkehr des Odysseus

1918

Director of Photography

Das Maskenfest des Lebens

1918

Director of Photography

Agnes Arnau und ihre drei Freier

1918

Director of Photography

Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall

1918

Director of Photography

Auf Probe gestellt

1918

Director of Photography

Countess Kitchenmaid

1918

Director of Photography

The Giant's Fist

1917

Director of Photography

Die Claudi vom Geiserhof

1917

Director of Photography

Gefangene Seele

1917

Director of Photography

Christa Hartungen

1917

Director of Photography

Der Liebesbrief der Königin

1917

Director of Photography

Die Ehe der Luise Rohrbach

1917

Director of Photography

The White Roses

1916

Director of Photography

The Robber Bride

1916

Director of Photography

Das wandernde Licht

1916

Director of Photography

Little Angel's Wedding

1916

Camera Operator

Frau Eva

1916

Director of Photography

The Man in the Mirror

1916

Director of Photography

Bummelstudenten

1916

Director of Photography

The Hound of the Baskervilles

1914

Director of Photography

A Venetian Night

1914

Director of Photography

Zapata's Gang

1914

Director of Photography

Little Angel

1914

Director of Photography

The Film Prima Donna

1913

Director of Photography

The Suffragette

1913

Director of Photography

Poor Mother

1912

Director of Photography

Karl Freund

Actor

Directing

Production

Writing

Camera

Crew