Thursday, September 16, 2010

Planet of the Apes, Cinemascope capture, 1968 by Leon Shamroy Cinematographer


One of the best composed shots and most powerful in all of cinema history by Leon Shamroy.
Leon Shamroy, A.S.C. (16 July 1901, New York City – 7 July 1974, Los Angeles) was an American film cinematographer. Together with Charles Lang, he holds the record for most number of Academy Award nominations for Cinematography. Throughout his five-decade career, he garnered eighteen nominations with four wins. From 1953 to his death in 1974, he was married to movie actress Mary Anderson. Shamroy was a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Planet of the Apes is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner loosely based on the novel La planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston and features Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, veteran Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison. The script was originally written by Rod Serling but had many rewrites before eventually being made. Changes included character names and a more primitive ape society, instead of the more expensive idea of having futuristic buildings and advanced technology.
The film was ground-breaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques by artist John Chambers, and was well received by critics and audiences, launching a film franchise, including four sequels, as well as a short lived television show, animated series, comic books, various merchandising, and eventually a remake in 2001. Roddy McDowall, in particular, had a long-running relationship with the Apes series, appearing in the original series of five films (one only via stock footage from an earlier film), and also in the television series.

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