Clyde De Vinna
Encyclopedia
Clyde De Vinna was an American
film and television
cinematographer
and director of photography. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
for White Shadows in the South Seas
presented by American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in 1930 at their 2nd Academy Awards show.
and began his career began when he joned Inceville studios in 1915 as First Cameraman. In 1916 he shot The Raiders, the first film to be shot at what was to become MGM. He was also an avid ham radio enthusiast, serving as an army radio operator, and carrying a portable transmitter with him on all location shoots. While shooting Trader Horn
(1931) on location in Kenya
, he seconded as the project's ham radio operator, keeping the production crew in the Africa
n bush in contact with their base camp in Nairobi
.
When on location in Alaska
for eleven months for the filming of Eskimo
(1933), he kept the production company in contact with their base. While working in a small shack made air-tight against the cold, De Vinna was in short wave contact with a ham operator in New Zealand
, and was overcome by carbon monoxide
fumes emitted by his gasoline heater. When De Vinna's keystrokes faltered, the ham in New Zealand realized something was wrong, and put out a call for help to a ham in Hawaii
, who in turn relayed the message to a ham in Alaska, which led to De Vinna receiving the necessary emergency aid.
De Vinna's life as a cameraman, world traveler, and adventurer was captured in the 1939 Pete Smith
MGM short film Radio Hams, written by Buddy Adler and directed by Felix E. Feist
, with actor Alonzo Price starring as Clyde De Vinna.
De Vinna was also accomplished in aerial cinematography. His scenes shot in Air Cadet, were referred to as "exciting air sequences" that were the "true highlights in this routine drama".
Television
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
and director of photography. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
for White Shadows in the South Seas
White Shadows in the South Seas
White Shadows in the South Seas is a silent film adventure romance produced by Cosmopolitan Productions in association with MGM and distributed by MGM. The movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred Monte Blue and Raquel Torres...
presented by American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
in 1930 at their 2nd Academy Awards show.
Background
De Vinna was cinematographer on over 120 film and television projects from 1916 through 1953. He graduated from the University of ArkansasUniversity of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
and began his career began when he joned Inceville studios in 1915 as First Cameraman. In 1916 he shot The Raiders, the first film to be shot at what was to become MGM. He was also an avid ham radio enthusiast, serving as an army radio operator, and carrying a portable transmitter with him on all location shoots. While shooting Trader Horn
Trader Horn (1931 film)
Trader Horn is the first non-documentary film shot on location in Africa. The 1931 movie tells of the adventures of real-life trader and adventurer Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn on safari in Africa. It featured many authentic shots of African wildlife and a great deal of inauthentic plot. It was...
(1931) on location in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, he seconded as the project's ham radio operator, keeping the production crew in the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n bush in contact with their base camp in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
.
When on location in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
for eleven months for the filming of Eskimo
Eskimo (film)
Eskimo was a 1933 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke. It was the first major studio film made in Alaska, and starred Ray Mala, a half-Inupiat actor, and was one of the first dramatic films to use a nearly all-native cast. In 1934, it received the first Academy Award for Best Film Editing, awarded to...
(1933), he kept the production company in contact with their base. While working in a small shack made air-tight against the cold, De Vinna was in short wave contact with a ham operator in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and was overcome by carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
fumes emitted by his gasoline heater. When De Vinna's keystrokes faltered, the ham in New Zealand realized something was wrong, and put out a call for help to a ham in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, who in turn relayed the message to a ham in Alaska, which led to De Vinna receiving the necessary emergency aid.
De Vinna's life as a cameraman, world traveler, and adventurer was captured in the 1939 Pete Smith
Pete Smith (film producer)
Pete Smith was a film producer and narrator of "short subject" films from 1931 to 1955....
MGM short film Radio Hams, written by Buddy Adler and directed by Felix E. Feist
Felix E. Feist
Felix Ellison Feist was a film and television director born in New York City.Feist was the son of MGM sales executive, Felix F. Fiest , and nephew of publishing house magnate, Leo Feist. He was educated at Columbia University...
, with actor Alonzo Price starring as Clyde De Vinna.
De Vinna was also accomplished in aerial cinematography. His scenes shot in Air Cadet, were referred to as "exciting air sequences" that were the "true highlights in this routine drama".
Partial filmography
Films- The Three Musketeers (1916)
- CivilizationCivilization (film)Civilization is a 1916 American pacifist allegorical film about a submarine commander who refuses to fire at a civilian ocean liner supposedly carrying ammunition for his country's enemies. The film was a big-budget spectacle that was compared to both Birth of a Nation and the paintings of...
(1916) - The Little BrotherThe Little BrotherThe Little Brother is a 1917 American silent drama directed by Charles Miller and starring William Garwood and Australian actress Enid Bennett...
(1917) - Unfaithful (1918)
- Blindfolded (1918)
- Adele (1919)
- Leave It to Me (1920)
- Lost and Found on a South Sea IslandLost and Found on a South Sea IslandLost and Found on a South Sea Island is a 1923 drama film directed by Raoul Walsh and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. The movie was filmed on location in Tahiti. One reel from this film survives according to a new bio on director Raoul Walsh.-Plot:...
(1923) - Crimson Gold (1923)
- The Victor (1923)
- The Wild Party (1923)
- Ben-HurBen-Hur (1925 film)Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace...
(1925) - War PaintWar Paint (1926 film)War Paint is a 1926 western film directed by W. S. Van Dyke. The film stars Tim McCoy. Louis B. Mayer observed the profits made by other studios with western franchises such as Tom Mix, Buck Jones or Hoot Gibson. He selected a genuine army officer who had lived with Indian tribes to come to...
(1926) - Winners of the WildernessWinners of the WildernessWinners of the Wilderness is a MGM silent film, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Tim McCoy and Joan Crawford. In this costume drama, set during the French-Indian War, Rene Contrecouer , the daughter of a French general falls for a soldier of fortune...
(1927) - California (1927)
- Foreign Devils (1927)
- The Law of the Range (1928)
- Wyoming (1928)
- The AdventurerThe AdventurerThe Adventurer is a novel by Finnish author Mika Waltari, published in 1948. It is a fictional tale of young Finnish man, Mikael Karvajalka , set in 16th century medieval Europe...
(1928) - White Shadows in the South SeasWhite Shadows in the South SeasWhite Shadows in the South Seas is a silent film adventure romance produced by Cosmopolitan Productions in association with MGM and distributed by MGM. The movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred Monte Blue and Raquel Torres...
(1928) - The PaganThe Pagan (1929 film)The Pagan is a 1929 silent/part talking film romance filmed in Tahiti and produced and distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The director of the picture was W. S. Van Dyke, and the cinematographer was Clyde De Vinna, both who had previously visited Tahiti in 1928 to film White Shadows in the South...
(1929) - Trader HornTrader Horn (1931 film)Trader Horn is the first non-documentary film shot on location in Africa. The 1931 movie tells of the adventures of real-life trader and adventurer Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn on safari in Africa. It featured many authentic shots of African wildlife and a great deal of inauthentic plot. It was...
(1931) - Shipmates (1931)
- PoliticsPolitics (disambiguation)Politics is the process observed in all human group interactions by which groups make decisions, including activism on behalf of specific issues or causes.Politics may also refer to:...
(1931) - Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
- Bird of ParadiseBird of Paradise (1932 film)Bird of Paradise is a 1932 American film directed by King Vidor, starring Dolores del Río, Joel McCrea, and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher and released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Plot:...
(1932) - EskimoEskimo (film)Eskimo was a 1933 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke. It was the first major studio film made in Alaska, and starred Ray Mala, a half-Inupiat actor, and was one of the first dramatic films to use a nearly all-native cast. In 1934, it received the first Academy Award for Best Film Editing, awarded to...
(1933) - Tarzan and His MateTarzan and His MateTarzan and His Mate is a Tarzan film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was the second in the Tarzan film series to star Johnny Weissmuller....
(1934) - Lazy RiverLazy River (film)-Cast:* Jean Parker as Sarah Lescalle* Robert Young as William 'Bill' Drexel* Ted Healy as William 'Gabby' Stone* Nat Pendleton as Alfred 'Tiny' Smith* C. Henry Gordon as Sam Kee* Ruth Channing as Ruby Drexel* Maude Eburne as Miss Minnie Lescalle...
(1934) - Viva Villa!Viva Villa!Viva Villa! is a 1934 American film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from a biography by Edgecumb Pinchon and Odo B. Stade. The picture was directed by Jack Conway. There was special, uncredited help with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin...
(1934) - Treasure IslandTreasure Island (1934 film)Treasure Island is a 1934 movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel Treasure Island. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and...
(1934) - West Point of the AirWest Point of the AirWest Point of the Air is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery about pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1930's. The supporting cast includes Robert Young, Lewis Stone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Rosalind Russell, and Robert Taylor. The movie was directed by Richard Rosson...
(1935) - China SeasChina Seas (film)China Seas is a 1935 adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as an extremely suspicious-looking character...
(1935) - Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! (film)Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel...
(1935) - Old HutchOld HutchOld Hutch is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Wallace Beery as a man who finds $100,000 in the depths of the Depression.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Hutch Hutchins*Eric Linden as Dave Jolly...
(1936) - The Good Old SoakThe Good Old SoakThe Good Old Soak is a 1937 drama film directed by J. Walter Ruben, with a screenplay by A. E. Thomas based upon the stage play of the same name by Don Marquis. The film stars Wallace Beery with a supporting cast of Una Merkel, Eric Linden, Betty Furness, and Ted Healy.According to E.J...
(1937) - SaratogaSaratoga (film)Saratoga is a 1937 film written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway. The movie stars Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in their sixth and final film collaboration....
(1937) - Big CityBig City (1937 film)Big City is a 1937 drama film directed by Frank Borzage. The film was also released as Skyscraper Wilderness.-Plot:Joe Benton and his wife Anna are suspects of starting a taxi war. Although they are innocent, they are blamed for everything that has happened and the officials demand for Anna to be...
(1937)
- The Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of Brimstone is a 1937 Western film starring Wallace Beery and Virginia Bruce, and directed by J. Walter Ruben. Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr...
(1937) - Of Human HeartsOf Human HeartsOf Human Hearts is a 1938 film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Walter Huston, James Stewart and Beulah Bondi. Bondi was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress....
(1938) - Fast CompanyFast Company (1938 film)Fast Company is a 1938 mystery film starring Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice as married rare-book dealers who try to solve a murder case. It was based on the novel of the same name by "Marco Page"...
(1938) - Passing ParadePassing ParadeThe Passing Parade, a.k.a. John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was an American radio series created, written, and narrated by John Nesbitt which was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects...
(1938) - Too Hot to HandleToo Hot to Handle (1938 film)Too Hot to Handle is a 1938 film about a newsreel reporter, the aviatrix he is attracted to, and his fierce competitor, played by Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and Walter Pidgeon respectively...
(1938) - Football RomeoFootball RomeoFootball Romeo is a 1938 Our Gang short comedy film directed by George Sidney. It was the 173rd Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1938) - New RoadwaysPassing ParadeThe Passing Parade, a.k.a. John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was an American radio series created, written, and narrated by John Nesbitt which was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects...
(1939) - Unseen Guardians (1939)
- All About HashAll About HashAll About Hash is a 1940 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 189th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1940) - The Hidden MasterPassing ParadeThe Passing Parade, a.k.a. John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was an American radio series created, written, and narrated by John Nesbitt which was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects...
(1940) - 20 Mule Team (1940)
- Bubbling TroublesBubbling TroublesBubbling Troubles is an American 1940 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 187th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1940) - Phantom Raiders (1940)
- WyomingWyoming (1940 film)Wyoming is a 1940 Western film starring Wallace Beery. The movie was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as "Reb" Harkness* Leo Carillo as Pete Marillo* Ann Rutherford as Lucy Kincaid* Lee Bowman as Sgt...
(1940) - American Spoken HerePassing ParadeThe Passing Parade, a.k.a. John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was an American radio series created, written, and narrated by John Nesbitt which was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects...
(1940) - Fightin' FoolsFightin' FoolsFightin' Fools is a 1941 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 195th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1941) - The Bad ManThe Bad ManThe Bad Man is a 1941 Western film starring Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, and Ronald Reagan. The movie was written by Wells Root from the Porter Emerson Browne play, and directed by Richard Thorpe...
(1941) - The Penalty (1941)
- Barnacle BillBarnacle Bill (1941 film)Barnacle Bill is a 1941 feature film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:* Wallace Beery as Bill Johansen* Marjorie Main as Marge Cavendish* Leo Carillo as Pico Rodriguez...
(1941) - The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
- Come Back, Miss PippsCome Back, Miss PippsCome Back Miss Pipps is a 1941 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 198th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1941) - Tarzan's Secret TreasureTarzan's Secret TreasureTarzan's Secret Treasure is a 1941 Tarzan film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is the fifth in the MGM Tarzan series to star Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.-Plot:An expedition team arrives on Tarzan's escarpment...
(1941) - The Bugle SoundsThe Bugle SoundsThe Bugle Sounds is a 1942 World War II movie starring Wallace Beery as a cavalry sergeant resistant to replacing horses with tanks. The supporting cast includes Marjorie Main, Lewis Stone, George Bancroft, Donna Reed, and Chill Wills. The film was directed by S...
(1942) - A Yank on the Burma Road (1942)
- Jackass MailJackass MailJackass Mail is a 1942 Western comedy film starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main. The movie was directed by Norman Z. McLeod.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Just Baggot*Marjorie Main as Tina Tucker*J...
(1942) - Whistling in DixieWhistling in DixieWhistling in Dixie is a 1942 crime comedy film, the second of three starring Red Skelton as murder mystery writer and amateur crime solver Wally Benton and Ann Rutherford as his girlfriend...
(1942) - Rio RitaRio Rita (1942 film)Rio Rita is a 1942 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello. It was based upon the 1927 Flo Ziegfeld Broadway musical, which was previously made into a 1929 film also titled Rio Rita that starred the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey.-Plot:...
(1942) - Ship AhoyShip AhoyShip Ahoy is the title of a 1942 musical-comedy film produced by MGM, starring Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton.-Background:This was the first of two films in which Powell and Skelton co-starred...
(1942) - The Omaha TrailThe Omaha TrailThe Omaha Trail is a 1942 film directed by Edward Buzzell. It stars James Craig and Pamela Blake.-Cast:* James Craig as Pat Candel* Pamela Blake as Julie Santley* Dean Jagger as Pipsestone Ross* Edward Ellis as Mr...
(1942) - A Yank at EtonA Yank at EtonA Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. All of it was filmed in the United States and none of it at Eton...
(1942) - The Battle for the Marianas (1944)
- The Caribbean MysteryThe Caribbean MysteryThe Caribbean Mystery is a 1945 film directed by Robert D. Webb. It stars James Dunn and Sheila Ryan.-Cast:*James Dunn as Mr. Smith*Sheila Ryan as Mrs. Jean Gilbert*Edward Ryan as Gerald McCracken Jr.*Jackie Paley as Linda Lane...
(1945) - Within These Walls (1945)
- It's a Joke, Son!It's a Joke, Son!- Cast :*Kenny Delmar as Senator Beauregard Claghorn*Una Merkel as Mrs. Magnolia Claghorn*June Lockhart as Mary Lou Claghorn*Kenneth Farrell as Jefferson "Jeff" Davis*Douglass Dumbrille as Big Dan Healey*Jimmy Conlin as Senator Alexander P...
(1947) - Sword of the Avenger (1948)
- The JungleJungle (disambiguation)A jungle is a dense forest in a tropical climate.Jungle or The Jungle may also refer to:- Fiction :* The Jungle, a 1906 novel by Upton Sinclair* The Jungle , a lost film based on the Upton Sinclair novel...
(1952) - Air Cadet (1951)
Television
- The Silver Theatre (2 episodes, 1950)
- The Roy Rogers ShowThe Roy Rogers ShowThe Roy Rogers Show is an American Western television series that broadcast 100 episodes on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietor of the Eureka Cafe in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as...
(2 episodes, 1951-1952) - I Married JoanI Married JoanI Married Joan is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1952 to 1955. It starred veteran vaudeville, film, and radio comedienne Joan Davis as the manic wife of a mild-mannered community judge, Bradley Stevens .-Synopsis:...
(3 episodes, 1953)
Awards and nominations
- 1930, Won Academy Award for Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
for the film White Shadows in the South SeasWhite Shadows in the South SeasWhite Shadows in the South Seas is a silent film adventure romance produced by Cosmopolitan Productions in association with MGM and distributed by MGM. The movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred Monte Blue and Raquel Torres...
(1928)
External links
- Clyde De Vinna at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...