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The moody fog-bound atmosphere of Schüfftan’s lighting recalls his photography of Le Quai des brumes, which has itself been seen as a precursor to the American film noir (Vincendeau, 2007: 26-27) (see Figure 43). Indeed, there are also a number of plot points and stylistic elements which recall Le Quai des brumes, suggesting that the film could have been an influence upon Gunman in the Streets, or that Schüfftan could have created a stylistic consistency between the two films due to the similar plots. For instance, Eddy Roback, like Jean in Le Quai des brumes, is an army deserter, and similarly, both characters are seeking to flee the borders of France (though in Roback’s case, this is due to his criminal gangster activities). This overlap between the two films can also be seen in the visually inventive opening to the film, in which we see the interception of Eddy’s police van by the mob reflected in a window in a nearby shop (see Figure 44). Ricochets smash the glass window of the shop, and then the bottles inside the window, obscuring our view of the action in the mirror. This recalls Carné’s predilection for framing action in mirrors, and through doorways, an effect which is dotted throughout Le Quai des brumes.

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Figure 44: Action from Gunman in the Streets is shot in the reflection of a mirror.

However, the overriding influence on the film is the American film noir which it sought (and succeeded, given that is now remembered as an American production) to imitate. In this sense, Gunman in the Streets shares an affinity with a group of French gangster films of the 1950s, by the likes of Jules Dassin, which all looked to the American cinema as their influence (Vincendeau, 2007: 35).

The French industry of the 1950s (where, if anywhere, Schüfftan was most settled during this turbulent period) offered more varied opportunities to Schüfftan than had the same industry of the 1930s, or the Hollywood of the 1940s, allowing him to experiment in genres and styles beyond those of the psychological dramas with which he had become so closely associated. Such an opportunity presented itself to Schüfftan following the completion of Gunman in the

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Streets in April 1950. The film in question was Les Joyeux pélerins/The Happy Pilgrims, a musical comedy directed by the Turkish born actor Fred Pasquali, which marked a complete shift from the moody atmosphere of Gunman in the Streets. Filming took place between September and November 1950, both on location on the Côte d'Azur and in the studios of Paris, in order to tell the story of Lui-même (Aimé Barelli) and his band members, who are taking a pilgrimage to Rome. The story takes an unusual turn when a bomb explodes and the whole cast suddenly find themselves in Heaven. This particular scene was created by Schüfftan through the use of superimpositions giving the image an ethereal and unreal quality (see Figure 45). This use of special effects techniques also links back to Schüfftan’s earliest introduction to the film industry with the Schüfftan Process, and his continuing interest in special effects throughout his career.

Figure 45: Heaven in Les Joyeux Pélerins.

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Schüfftan's next project, another comedy, was to prove a significant one, both culturally and personally. Le Banquet des fraudeurs/The Smugglers’ Banquet was one of the earliest European bi-lateral productions following the war which involved West Germany, with production taking place between August and October, 1951 (Bergfelder, 2005: 61-62). In this case a West German and Belgian co-production, Le Banquet des fraudeurs was similarly interested in crossing borders within its narrative, taking a satirical look at smuggling across the Franco-German customs border. In fact, the film was written by Charles Spaak (one of

France’s top scriptwriters of the period), whose brother was the president of the European Council. For Schüfftan, this was his earliest opportunity to reconnect with a nation and an industry he had been forced to flee from so many years previously. Of course, the war and the subsequent dissolution of the nation into the Democratic West and the Communist East had changed the face of Schüfftan's homeland and the industry within which he had spent his formative years beyond all recognition.

Despite the relative freedom that Schüfftan was experiencing following the effective censorship of his art in America, he was still keen to return to America if he could guarantee work as a cinematographer. After all, it was now a decade since he had arrived on American shores and first been denied admission to the union. In the time that had passed following the end of the war, immigration to America had eased and Schüfftan had become a US citizen. However, in a letter dated 24th January 1951, Elizabeth Dickinson of the Paul Kohner agency wrote to Schüfftan stating that she had 'discussed the possibility of your chances here. At the moment the situation does not look too good and you can be sure the Union would not act favorably if we asked. Curt Courant31 is still without work after his long fight and your cases

31 Curt Courant's story is certainly analogous to that of Schüfftan's. He began his career in Germany where was highly productive until the rise of the Nazis. From Germany he emigrated to Britain and then Paris, where he shot The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock, 1934), and like Schüfftan was a key figure to the aesthetic of Poetic Realism for shooting La Bête humaine (Renoir, 1938). He also worked with Schüfftan on films in France such as Le Drame de Shanghaï

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are similar.'32 This ongoing situation of the union blocking him continued therefore despite

Schüfftan’s American citizenship. This is perhaps why Schüfftan proves to be such a dislocated subject during this period, being unable to make films where he would choose, and even being subject to restrictions by the French film industry (as was the case for Carné’s La Marie du port).

These problems with the American industry were perhaps fortuitous, for this period of work in Europe ultimately proved to be highly productive for Schüfftan, who was able to enjoy his newfound freedom to act in the role of cinematographer on a variety of different projects and thereby leave a credited legacy. Furthermore, he was working once more in France, a country which had always acclaimed his greatness. Remarkably at this late juncture in his career, Schüfftan was also afforded the opportunity to direct a film, his first since Das Ekel in 1931. The film was L'Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune, a documentary short about the famous hospital in Beaune, for which Schüfftan was recognised in 1951 with the 'Prix du Tourisme Français'. This choice of project on the part of Schüfftan demonstrates his continuing interest in realism, upon which he had founded his career in cinematography, but which (as we know), had become side-lined by the expectations placed upon him for Expressionism.

On Boxing Day, 1951, Le Rideau cramoisi/The Crimson Curtain moved into production, a short film for Alexandre Astruc, who had recently moved into directing having previously worked as a film critic. The film was based upon the short novel by Barbey D'Aurevilly and told the story of a Napoleonic soldier whose sexual encounter with the daughter of the family with whom he has been billeted has disastrous consequences. The film proved a success

(Pabst, 1938) and De Mayerling à Sarajevo (Ophüls, 1940). However, Courant's move to America when the Nazis occupied France proved even less successful than Schüfftan's. The union similarly blocked his membership, and he was unable to find other roles in the film production. Hollywood ended his career therefore, and the only subsequent credit to his name following his move to America came as late as 1962, on It Happened in Athens (Marton).

32 From the Paul Kohner files at the Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin.

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when shown out of competition at the 1952 Cannes film festival, and would find a theatrical release in 1953 under the title Les Crimes de l'amour, when paired with another forthcoming Schüfftan project, Mina de Vanghel. However, it would seem that Schüfftan's own uniquely developed style still could not break the shackles of his past (mis)association with German Expressionism, with Ulrich Gregor noting of the film in 1957 'a thoroughly expressionistic photography, an obviously Murnau-inspired sensitivity to the dramatic contrast of light and dark.' (Bacher, 1978: 84) Though delivered in praise, such a comment is a misleading representation of the complex development of Schüfftan's own style, in which the sensitive use of chiaroscuro lighting is a result of balancing this technique alongside his formative experience in realism and the atmospheric lighting techniques employed during Poetic Realism. To ascribe the lighting techniques used in this film to a single director and his work in Expressionism is therefore a diminution of Schüfftan's own nuanced style.

Production was completed on Le Rideau cramoisi in January 1952 after a brief six day shoot, and Schüfftan rapidly moved on to another French project, La Putain respectueuse/The Respectful Prostitute, which began filming in March, 1952. Schüfftan's presence on this production is perhaps in part thanks to Alexandre Astruc's role as writer on this adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's original play. It tells the story of Lizzie (Barbara Laage), a prostitute who is witness to the murder of a black man at the hands of Fred (Yvan Desny), the white son of a senator (Marcel Herrand). The only other witness is another black man whom Fred attempts to frame by persuading Lizzie to give evidence which states that he had attempted to rape her.

Although a French film based upon a French play, La Putain respectueuse is embedded in an American context in that it deals with race relations and the prejudice of American law enforcement. In adherence to the narrative therefore, the directors Charles Brabant and

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Marcel Pagliero33 have attempted to create an American style of film, to which presumably Schüfftan, with experience of the American industry, would have been an essential element. This was helped by the casting of Barbara Laage in the starring role of Lizzie, who had recently failed to ignite a film career in America. Her experience as a Parisian theatre actress struggling to break into film was chronicled in Life on 3rd June 1946, which, among other things, noted her American style (Leen, 1946: 107). Following the success of this article, Laage was brought to America by agent William Morris, in order to woo producers (also chronicled by Life) (Anon., 1946). The starring role of The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947) was in fact written for Laage, however, for some reason the part was awarded to Rita Hayworth and Laage returned to France having failed to establish a Hollywood film career.

La Putain respectueuse presents a deliberate play on this Hollywood construction of beauty, to which Laage’s Life articles attest so well.34 On the one hand Lizzie fulfils the stereotype of the ‘dumb blonde’ that was currently being propagated in Hollywood in the form of Marilyn

Monroe. Laage wears exaggerated make-up, as can be seen in Figure 46, and in the early stages of the film even speaks in a squeaky high-pitched voice, reminiscent of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) in Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952), which was released during the filming of La Putain respectueuse. This functions to make comment upon societal presumptions and prejudices. At the start of the film Lizzie is therefore presented as a rather ridiculous characterization. However this outward appearance is intended to feed into our presumptions and prejudices, in order to create a greater impact as we come to learn of Lizzie’s moral integrity. For whilst Sartre’s play has been remembered for its racial politics, the play and the film also highlight the injustices that are enacted upon

33Pagliero was a product of Italian Neorealism, having acted in Rosselini’s Roma, città aperta/Rome, Open City (1945), and directed Roma città libera/Rome Free City (1946).

34Hayworth was Welles’ then wife, though their relationship fell-apart soon after the release of The Lady from Shanghai.

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Lizzie for her profession. Lizzie stands up for what she believes to be right, despite being seen by the Senator and his family as morally bankrupt. The key to Schüfftan’s lighting of

Lizzie in fact lies in the title of the film, La Putain respectueuse. Schüfftan aids in this construction of Lizzie’s character by employing classic female star lighting at the beginning of the film, in particular a strong use of back light, and a high angled key light on Laage to emphasize her high cheek bones. However, as the film continues Schüfftan’s lighting techniques of Lizzie become more complex, reflecting our greater understanding of Lizzie and we begin to see beyong her constructed image. This new lighting structure for Lizzie can be characterized through a greater use of shadow and low-key lighting (suggesting the complexity of her character), and a greater use of soft-focus for emotional empathy from the spectator.

Figure 46: Barbara Laage in La Putain respectueuse.

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Schüfftan completed work on La Putain respectueuse in May. His next project was another radical shift in style and genre, in what was proving to be the most erratic period of

Schüfftan’s career. From making a film about racial politics based on a Sartre play,

Schüfftan then worked upon the biblical epic Le Chemin de Damas/Road to Damascus, which began filming in June. The film was directed by Max Glass, who was well known as a writer during the 1920s and 30s in Germany, but who was forced to leave at a similar time to Schüfftan, moving primarily into producing in France. Michel Simon stars in this biblical epic, depicting the events surrounding the conversion of Paul. Le Chemin de Damas stands as unusual example in the French context, of an attempt to replicate the Hollywood successes of the sword and sandal epics. There is somewhat of a pattern developing in the 1950s therefore, of Schüfftan working upon American-influenced projects in France. These films can be viewed as a consequence of the Blum-Byrnes agreement 1948, which allowed American studios to flood the French market at a time when audiences were eager for American films following the war (Hayward, 2005: 24-25). Such American-influenced products can therefore be seen as an attempt by the French market to appropriate the American success. As for Schüfftan, similarly to La Putain respectueuse and Gunman in the Streets, his presence on Le Chemin de Damas could be due to his time spent in Hollywood, and the will of the directors to appropriate an American genre, even though the historical epic was not a genre that Schüfftan had experience of during his time in America.

Following this Schüfftan worked on Mina de Vanghel, a short film directed by Maurice Clavel and Maurice Barry, which represented yet another shift in genre for the cinematographer. Based upon the novella by the French author Stendhal, the film tells the story of Mina, who falls in love with a married man. In an effort to get close to him she takes a job as a servant in the household, but after she has seduced him and they spend the night together Mina commits suicide. The film was released alongside the thematically similar

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short Le Rideau cramoisi (also shot by Schüfftan) in the following year under the title Les Crimes de l'amour. The year of 1952 had seen a degree of settlement for the Schüfftans, with a number of filmmaking projects based in France. However, this came to an end in the winter of 1952 when the Schüfftans were on the move once more, this time to Zurich for the film Die Venus vom Tivoli/Venus of Tivoli, under the direction of Leonard Steckel, an AustroHungarian better known for his acting, and who had in fact acted a part in Unsictbare Gegner in 1933, under the gaze of Schüfftan's camera. The film follows the time spent by a young actress in Switzerland, before she must leave for South America.

Shooting on Die Venus vom Tivoli ran until February of 1953, at which point Schüfftan moved to Rome for the production of Ulisse/Ulysses, where he stayed until the start of December. This was Schüfftan’s biggest film for some time, perhaps even his biggest to this date, although his role was rather less involved than unusual. Rather than cinematography, Schüfftan was hired to work on ‘Special Photographic Effects’, a return to his very first introduction to the industry with the Schüfftan Process. Ulisse was a large-scale superproduction for Lux Films by the producing team of Carlo Ponti and Dino De Laurentiis, who were keen to bring the European 'Art' film to a wider mainstream audience, and saw an adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey as their opportunity to achieve this. Once again, this project had a strong flavour of the transnational, between European and American filmmaking. The film was made under the direction of Mario Camerini with a predominantly European crew. However, this was headlined by the American cinematographer Harold Rosson, and the otherwise Italian cast starred the American actors Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. Even the Italian script was nuanced by the American screen and playwright, Ben Hecht. This cross-fertilization sought to both target European audiences and appeal to American distributors.

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