Joseph H. August

Birth : 1890-04-26, Idaho Springs, Colorado, USA

Death : 1947-09-25

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph H. August, A.S.C. (26 April 1890 – 25 September 1947) was an American cinematographer and co-founder of the American Society of Cinematographers. His films included Gunga Din (1939) for which he was nominated for Academy Award for Best Cinematography, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and Portrait of Jennie (1948). He died in 1947 shortly after completing filming of Portrait of Jennie. He received his second Oscar nomination, posthumously, for this film.

Movies

Portrait of Jennie
Director of Photography
A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.
They Were Expendable
Director of Photography
Shortly after Pearl Harbor, a squadron of PT-boat crews in the Philippines must battle the Navy brass between skirmishes with the Japanese. The title says it all about the Navy's attitude towards the PT-boats and their crews.
The Battle of Midway
Director of Photography
The Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened.
All That Money Can Buy
Director of Photography
Farmer Jabez Stone, about to lose his land, agrees to sell his soul to the devil, known as Mr. Scratch, who gives Jabez seven years to enjoy the fruits of his sale before he collects. Over that time, Jabez pays off his debts and helps many neighboring farmers, then becomes an advocate for the upstanding Sen. Daniel Webster. When Jabez's contract with Mr. Scratch concludes, he desperately turns to Webster to represent him in a trial for his soul.
Melody Ranch
Director of Photography
His Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration.
Primrose Path
Director of Photography
Ellie Mae lives on Primrose Hill with her good-hearted and fancy free mother, her drunken father, her younger sister and a mean-spirited grandmother. The Hill is not a good part of town, however. When she meets and falls for a hard-working man, they marry and she hides her past from him. When he discovers the truth it jeopardizes their marriage.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Director of Photography
Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.
Nurse Edith Cavell
Director of Photography
British nurse Edith Cavell is stationed at a hospital in Brussels during World War I. When the son of a former patient escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp, she helps him flee to Holland. Outraged at the number of soldiers detained in the camps, Edith, along with a group of sympathizers, devises a plan to help the prisoners escape. As the group works to free the soldiers, Edith must keep her activities secret from the Germans
Man of Conquest
Director of Photography
The story of Sam Houston, hero of the Texas revolution, statesman, and first president of the Republic of Texas.
Gunga Din
Director of Photography
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
Border G-Man
Director of Photography
A federal agent goes undercover in order to capture a gang that's been smuggling munitions and horses near the Texas border.
The Saint in New York
Director of Photography
A crime spree in New York forces the police commissioner to turn to Englishman Simon Templar, who fights lawlessness and corruption through unorthodox methods. Templar sets his sights on individual crimes bosses, and after bringing down two vicious leaders through disguise and deception, discovers that there is a mastermind behind all the city's crime.
This Marriage Business
Director of Photography
A cocky reporter turns a small town marriage license clerk into a media celebrity.
A Damsel in Distress
Director of Photography
Lady Alyce Marshmorton must marry soon, and the staff of Tottney Castle have laid bets on who she'll choose, with young Albert wagering on 'Mr. X'. After Alyce goes to London to meet a beau she is restricted to the castle to curb her scandalous behavior. Albert then summons Jerry to Alyce's aid in order to 'protect his investment'.
Music for Madame
Director of Photography
An Italian immigrant singer, Nino, hoping to succeed in Hollywood, falls in with a gang of crooks who use his talent to distract everyone at a party while they steal the jewels.
Super-Sleuth
Director of Photography
A movie actor playing a detective gets carried away with his role and starts trying to solve real-life crimes.
There Goes My Girl
Director of Photography
Jerry and Connie are engaged to be married, but they're also rival newspaper reporters, and when they're both assigned to cover the same murder case, the temptation to out-scoop the other threatens their relationship.
The Soldier and the Lady
Director of Photography
In the face of rebellion in Russia, Czar Alexander II sends soldier Michael Strogoff 2,000 miles away, with a critical message for Grand Duke Vladimir. On the train journey, Michael befriends a traveler and comes into contact with a mysterious spy, who both unexpectedly aid him in his quest. Once behind enemy lines, Michael is near his hometown and his mother, whom he must avoid in order to fulfill his mission.
Sea Devils
Director of Photography
Doris lives with her rough Coast Guardsman father. He has plans for her to marry an up and coming officer, but there is competition when a new, brash, Guardsman enters the picture. Dad hates the new guy, mostly because he is like himself.
The Plough and the Stars
Director of Photography
A husband clashes with his wife over his membership to the Irish citizen army during the Easter rebellion.
Mary of Scotland
Director of Photography
The recently widowed Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to reclaim her throne but is opposed by her half-brother and her own Scottish lords.
Every Saturday Night
Director of Photography
First of the Jones family movies with kids who ignore father and get consolation from mother through a series of family episodes.
Sylvia Scarlett
Director of Photography
When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others.
The Informer
Director of Photography
Gypo Nolan is a former Irish Republican Army man who drowns his sorrows in the bottle. He's desperate to escape his bleak Dublin life and start over in America with his girlfriend. So when British authorities advertise a reward for information about his best friend, current IRA member Frankie, Gypo cooperates. Now Gypo can buy two tickets on a boat bound for the States, but can he escape the overwhelming guilt he feels for betraying his buddy?
The Whole Town's Talking
Director of Photography
Ordinary man-in-the-street Arthur Ferguson Jones leads a very straightforward life. He's never late for work and nothing interesting ever happens to him. One day everything changes: he oversleeps and is fired as an example, he's then mistaken for evil criminal killer Mannion and is arrested. The resemblance is so striking that the police give him a special pass to avoid a similar mistake. The real Mannion sees the opportunity to steal the pass and move around freely and chaos results.
Among the Missing
Director of Photography
Seeking to avoid arrest while fleeing through a city park at night, two jewel thieves, Gordon and young Tommy, stash some just-stolen jewels on elderly, unknowing Martha Abbott. They then invite Martha to come live with them as their housekeeper, duping her into helping fence their goods. When Martha eventually becomes aware of the criminal activities, she strives to help Tommy reform.
Black Moon
Director of Photography
A woman returning to her island birthplace finds herself drawn to a voodoo cult.
Twentieth Century
Director of Photography
A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she proves a match for him.
Woman Haters
Director of Photography
The stooges join the "Women Haters" club and vow to have nothing to do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip.
No Greater Glory
Director of Photography
A frail boy fights to win acceptance from the leader of a street gang.
Man's Castle
Director of Photography
An unemployed man turns to crime when he gets his girlfriend pregnant.
As the Devil Commands
Director of Photography
Slowly dying of an unspecified illness, wealthy invalid Charles Sellon wants his aide Neil Hamilton to end his suffering. Hamilton won't do it, but villainous lawyer Alan Dinehart, in line to inherit Sellon's millions, is not so charitable. Dinehart kills Sellon, then makes it look as though Hamilton murdered the old guy for his money.
No More Orchids
Director of Photography
Despite loving another man, a young woman is talked into marrying a wealthy and boorish prince in order to help her financially-strapped father.
That's My Boy
Director of Photography
Featuring members of the 1931 National Champion football team from the University of Southern California Trojans, with team members Russell Saunders and Oscar "Dutch" Hendrian also cast in roles other than just team members.
Vanity Street
Director of Photography
A New York policeman helps a hungry and penniless young woman start life anew by arranging to get her a job in "The Follies".
Mystery Ranch
Director of Photography
Megalomaniacal rancher is a law unto himself, until a Ranger is called-upon to bring him to justice.
The Silent Witness
Director of Photography
A London nobleman (Lionel Atwill) takes the blame and stands trial after his son strangles a lover (Greta Nissen).
Charlie Chan's Chance
Director of Photography
Charlie is the intended murder victim here, and he avoids death only by chance. To find the murderer (since, of course, murder does occur), Charlie must outguess Scotland Yard and New York City police.
Charlie Chan's Chance
Producer
Charlie is the intended murder victim here, and he avoids death only by chance. To find the murderer (since, of course, murder does occur), Charlie must outguess Scotland Yard and New York City police.
The Brat
Director of Photography
A society novelist brings a brash young chorus girl home in order to study her for inspiration for his new novel. His family is distraught, but soon her behavior has forever altered their snobbish ways.
Quick Millions
Director of Photography
A truck driver "too lazy to work and too nervous to steal" gets mixed up in racketeering. Naturally his underhanded business practices make him a pillar of the community.
Up the River
Director of Photography
Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious business. Two prisoners escape in order to help paroled Steve from being blackmailed by his girlfriend's ex-partner-in-crime.
On Your Back
Director of Photography
On Your Back is a 1930 American drama film directed by Guthrie McClintic and written by Howard J. Green. The film stars Irene Rich, Raymond Hackett, H. B. Warner, Wheeler Oakman, Marion Shilling and Ilka Chase.
Double Cross Roads
Director of Photography
Based on a novel by William R. Lipman
Men Without Women
Director of Photography
Made during the early days of sound cinema, this tense submarine adventure is an intriguing example of a hybrid silent-talkie. A disgraced English sub commander changes his name to Burke and joins the American Navy. When the U.S. submarine on which he is serving as a torpedo launcher begins to sink, Burke must make the ultimate sacrifice to save as many crew men as possible..
The Black Watch
Director of Photography
Captain Donald King of the British Army goes to India just as World War I breaks out, convincing his comrades that he is a coward. In reality, he is on a secret mission to rescue British soldiers held prisoner there.
Strong Boy
Director of Photography
"Strong Boy" is offered a promotion for saving a child from being crushed by a trunk, but to the frustration of his girlfriend Mary, he is not ambitious enough to take a white-collar position. But when he thwarts an attempted train robbery and saves the Queen of Lisonia's jewels, he is viewed as a hero and Mary finally agrees to marry him.
Napoleon's Barber
Director of Photography
Arthur Caesar's classic about the barber who held the fate of France in his hands, has been produced on lavish feature-film scale by John Ford, the man who made The Iron Horse and Four Sons.
Soft Living
Director of Photography
Nancy Woods, secretary to a divorce lawyer, is tantalized by the idea of collecting alimony payments, she marries Stockney Webb with the intention of fleecing him after the honeymoon. Realizing that he has been fooled, Webb determines to teach Nancy, whom he truly loves, a lesson in humility and wifely behavior by taking her to his cabin in the wilderness.
The Beloved Rogue
Director of Photography
François Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an occasional criminal, and an ardent patriot.
Fig Leaves
Director of Photography
Adam, a plumber, is happily married to Eve, a wardrobe-obsessed housewife, until she accidentally meets a supercilious fashion designer. At the prompting of her neighbor, who has secret designs on Adam, Eve secretly becomes a fashion model by day, knowing that her husband would disapprove.
The Fighting Heart
Director of Photography
This film is the story of a small-town boy and girl. The hero, Denny Bolton, thrashes the town bully only to meet him later in the boxing ring in New York City. Ambition has swept him to Broadway, but the search for love brings him back to the Main Street of his home town.
Lightnin'
Director of Photography
Set in a hotel straddling the border between California and Nevada, this early John Ford comedy follows a female hotel owner's efforts to turn a profit and get some work out of her husband.
The Temple of Venus
Director of Photography
Venus, the Goddess of Love (Celeste Lee) sends Cupid to Earth to look for romance.
Big Dan
Director of Photography
Dan O'Hara, known as "Big Dan," returns from the war, and finding that his wife has left him, turns his home into a boys' camp and begins to train boxers. He meets Dora Allen, rescues her from an unwanted suitor, and gives her shelter in the camp. For a time, their relationship, which has become serious, is complicated by the intrusion of another suitor and by a woman who informs Dora that O'Hara is already married. The wife dies, however, and O'Hara wins Dora.
The Man Who Won
Director of Photography
Bill is a gambler, whose friend Scipio goes in search of his wife Jessie. Jessie, fed up with her life of poverty, has run off with the wealthy and villainous James. She has left behind her two children on James' promise that she can send for them later. Scipio leaves the tots with Bill when he goes on his search..
Travelin' On
Director of Photography
A Western involving William S Hart as an outlaw who comes to the aid of a preacher in a small town through his infatuation with the preacher's wife. Rarely screened but considered one of his best; the version at the Library of Congress is missing one of the middle reels.
Three Word Brand
Director of Photography
Ben Trego dies defending his twin sons from Indian attack. Separated, the two boys grow up very differently, one as Paul Marsden, the other as a cowboy named Three Word Brand. Paul becomes governor of Utah while Brand partners with George Barton in a ranch. The owner of the adjacent ranch plots to get Barton and Brand out of the way in order to control water rights. When Governor Marsden comes to the area to investigate, Brand sees the resemblance between them, though neither knows about his twin. Brand waylays Paul and takes his place as governor in an attempt to thwart the crooked rancher in the water rights scheme.
The Whistle
Director of Photography
Robert must avenge his son who was killed in a workplace accident.
The Testing Block
Director of Photography
The tough outlaw 'Sierra' Bill falls in love with the traveling girl violinist Nelly Gray. Sierra forces her into marrying him. They have a child, but family life is interrupted by the gambler Ringe, who not only persuades Nelly to leave her husband but ruins Sierra at the gaming table. With thoughts of vengeance, the angry Sierra breaks out of jail and goes after Ringe.
The Cradle of Courage
Director of Photography
Former crook 'Square' Kelly serves in the First World War. When he returns from the war, one of his comrades-in-arms convinces him to join the police force. But Kelly finds himself confronting the very criminals who made up his old gang.
Sand
Director of Photography
Railroad station agent Dan Kurrie is fired from his job by his rival in love, Joseph Garber. Believed false by the girl he loves, Margaret , Kurrie must prove himself by unmasking a gang of bandits preying on the trains.
Wagon Tracks
Director of Photography
Buckskin Hamilton guides a wagon train across the wasteland, caring well for the pioneers he escorts, but hoping to solve the murder of his brother by one of the travellers.
The Money Corral
Director of Photography
Cowhand Lem Beason wins a shooting contest at a Western rodeo, and as a result is hired by railroad president Gregory Collins to return to Chicago with Collins to take charge of security for Collins' vaults. Lem is reluctant to go, but Collins' pretty niece Rose changes his mind. In Chicago, Lem finds a great deal of criminal activity, but none of it can get the best of him.
The Poppy Girl's Husband
Director of Photography
A silent romantic love triangle crime melodrama about a man who gets out of prison after ten years and discovers that his wife has divorced him and married the man who sent him to prison. Worse yet, she fears he will want to exact revenge, so she sets up her new husband to frame her first husband, so he will be sent back to prison!
Branding Broadway
Director of Photography
Drunk and disorderly cowpoke Robert Sands is banished from an Arizona frontier town and hops on a freight train heading for New York. Arriving in Manhattan, the rough-and-tumble cowboy obtains a position as "physical guardian" to a spoiled member of the social register.
Shark Monroe
Director of Photography
In this 1918 film, newly restored by MoMA, Hart is a ship's captain in the Pacific Northwest who abandons his post to pursue a woman who does not love him (MacDonald) across the Klondike, eventually rescuing her from the grip of a white slaver.
The Tiger Man
Director of Photography
Outlaw Hawk Parsons, notoriously successful in his pursuits, has been caught by the local sherif of a New Mexico town in the 1850s. The overly prideful sherif and his lawmen are outsmarted and Parsons escapes. In the desert, he falls in with a reverend, his wife, and their group of missionaries, who hope to establish a church. After coming under attack by a tribe of Native Americans, Parsons strikes a deal: in exchange for the safe keeping of the missionaries, he takes the reverend's wife for himself. Ultimately a parable of Christian values, the film's narrative establishes and overcomes obstacles that test the virtue of men in the American West.
'Blue Blazes' Rawden
Director of Photography
Rawden, a lumberjack in the North woods, fights with crooked dance hall owner 'Ladyfingers' Hilgard over the affections of Babette DuFresne. Hilgard is killed. When Hilgard's mother and younger brother arrive in the remote logging town, Rawden attempts to ease their suffering by creating the fiction that Hilgard had been a well-loved man who died naturally. But when young Eric Hilgard learns the truth of his brother's death, he comes gunning for Rawden.
The Silent Man
Director of Photography
A hard-working prospector enters the town of Bakeoven to stake his claim, only to have his rights stolen and his face on "Wanted" posters. He plans reprisal.
The Cold Deck
Director of Photography
Gambler "On-the Level" Leigh (William S. Hart) is forced to leave his high rolling lifestyle to move his ailing sister Alice (Mildred Harris) to the healing climate the mountains. Financial strain compels him to resume his favored vocation. Unfortunately for Level, the dance hall girl Coralie (Alma Rubens) doesn't take rejection well and convinces the dealer to clean him out with a "cold deck". A desperate robbery ensues, leading to Level wanted for murder!
Golden Rule Kate
Director of Photography
The setting is the Old West town of Paradise, Nevada, where a young woman, Mercedes Murphy (played by Louise Glaum), co-owns and operates a combination saloon and dance hall called the Red Hen with her business partner, Slick Barney (played by Jack Richardson). Her little half-sister, Olive "Live" Sumner (played by Mildred Harris), who is crippled, lives with her and she makes every effort to protect the child. A tough, but good-hearted businesswoman, Mercedes shows a tender side at home with Live. Her partner, Slick, and a cowboy called the Heller (played by John Gilbert), who has a heart of gold, are both interested in Live.
Wolf Lowry
Cinematography
William S. Hart was the great solitary Western hero of silent film who rode his horse off to new adventures once his job was done. In WOLF LOWRY, he meets a young settler played by Margery Wilson, herself a director in the early 1920s whose films are all considered lost.
The Desert Man
Director of Photography
William S. Hart directs and stars in a film that is a typical Western of the era. He plays Jim, a prospector who lands in the town of Broken Hope, and the name pretty much describes its inhabitants. Jim meets and falls in love with Jennie (Margery Wilson), whose father (Walt Whitman) is gravely ill. Jim rounds up a reluctant doctor from another town to tend to the old man, but he dies anyway. The doctor, however, gains Jennie's trust and she runs off with him. Only then does he tell her he's already married. She leaves immediately, but is too proud to go home so she finds work as a dance hall girl at Tacoma Jake's saloon. Jim, meanwhile, finds gold near Broken Hope, which raises its inhabitants' attitudes considerably. But the bad element is still there, and Jim is chasing after a group of kidnappers when he enters Tacoma Jake's saloon and sees Jennie. Jim not only overcomes the bad guys, he gets the girl, too.
The Gun Fighter
Director of Photography
Cliff Hudspeth, the leader of a band of outlaws in Arizona, has won his place by the killing of notorious gun-bullies. At their headquarters, in the Gila Mountains, in consultation with "Ace High," his lieutenant, he plans depredations on the neighboring settlements. Although Hudspeth is powerful, their rule is disputed by El Salvador, a half-breed, and his following of desperadoes. Desert Pass is the scene of many conflicts between the contending bands. Rumors of the arrival of miners with gold causes El Salvador to send "Cactus" Fuller, his henchman, to levy tribute by a hold-up, which is successful. Flushed with triumph, he boasts in the "Golden Fleece" saloon of the ignominies to which he would treat Cliff Hudspeth if he ever met him.
The Return of Draw Egan
Director of Photography
A small town marshal’s secret past as an outlaw comes back to haunt him when an old associate shows up and threatens to expose his former dark deeds.
The Captive God
Director of Photography
A Spanish boy is shipwrecked and cast ashore in Mexico in the sixteenth century. He is raised as a god by the Tehuan tribe, who have never before seen a white man, and is named Chiapa. Then at manhood he rules the Tehuans. Chiapa loves the priestess Tecolote but she is kidnapped by the Aztec warrior Mexitli, so he follows in the hopes of rescuing her.
Civilization
Director of Photography
Count Ferdinand, a submarine commander and secret pacifist refuses to torpedo a defenseless passenger ship during wartime. His submarine is sunk in the following fracas. In the spirit world, Christ commends the captain, and returns to earth in the commander's body to promote His message of peace.
The Aryan
Director of Photography
Steve Denton, rich from years of prospecting, is fleeced by the citizens of Yellow Ridge. In his rage, he kidnaps the woman most responsible and makes her his slave in a desert hideaway.
The Patriot
Director of Photography
Family relationships of a New Mexico family are just one part of this silent cowboy western about a war veteran who finds a goldmine. He wants to earn enough money to take care of his young son, but crooked officials swindle him out of the mine, and then his son is killed. He swears vengeance and joins up with Mexican bandit, "Pancho Zapilla", who intends to destroy his whole town.
Hell's Hinges
Director of Photography
When Reverend Robert Henley and his sister Faith arrive in the town of Hell's Hinges, saloon owner Silk Miller and his cohorts sense danger to their evil ways. They hire gunman Blaze Tracy to run the minister out of town. But Blaze finds something in Faith Henley that turns him around, and soon Silk Miller and his compadres have Blaze to deal with.
Between Men
Director of Photography
When Ashley Hampdon becomes the target of a scheme to ruin him by his daughter's suitor, Hampdon sends for his old friend Bob White. Bob discovers that the suitor, Gregg Lewiston, cannot hope to win Lina Hampdon while her father's wealth remains intact. Lewiston hopes that if her family becomes destitute, she will turn to him. But Bob White is there to upset the scheme.
The Coward
Director of Photography
Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel and Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.
The Disciple
Director of Photography
Jim Houston, the "Shootin' Iron" Parson, comes to Barren Gulch to reform the morals of the frontier community.
The Italian
Director of Photography
An immigrant leaves his sweetheart in Italy to find a better life across the sea in the grimy slums of New York.
The Bargain
Director of Photography
After the bandit Jim Stokes robs the stage he is wounded fleeing. Recuperating at a ranch, he falls in love with and marries the daughter. Now wishing to go straight he tries to return the money but is recognized and captured. When the Sheriff then loses the recovered money at a crooked roulette table, he and Stokes strike a bargain.