Stanley Cortez

Stanley Cortez

Birth : 1908-11-04, New York, New York, USA

Death : 1997-12-23

History

American cinematographer. He worked on over seventy films, including Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955), Nunnally Johnson's The Three Faces of Eve (1957), and Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor (1963) and The Naked Kiss (1964).

Profile

Stanley Cortez

Movies

Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
Self
Short documentary about Charles Laughton's 1995 film "The Night of the Hunter," with interviews with the cast and crew.
Un autre homme, une autre chance
Director of Photography
Claude Lelouch's Another Man, Another Chance begins in France in 1870. Napoleon III has just lost the war against Prussia and left the country in poverty. Young Jeanne (Genevieve Bujold) falls in love with photographer Francis (Francis Huster), who soon takes her with him when he emigrates to America. In a small town in the still wild west, they build up a small photo shop. Meanwhile animal doctor David (James Caan) lives on his lonesome farm together with his unlucky wife. It takes years and two tragic accidents until Jeanne and David meet. She has already decided to return to France as soon as possible, but love, and fate, have other plans.
Doomsday Machine
Director of Photography
Spies discover that the Red Chinese have built a "doomsday machine" capable of destroying the surface of the Earth, and that they plan to use it within a matter of days. Meanwhile, Project Astra, a manned U.S. space mission to Venus, is in its final hours before launch when it is taken over by the military and nearly half of its all-male crew is replaced by women. The reason for this becomes apparent when, shortly after Astra leaves orbit, the Earth is completely destroyed in a global cataclysm! Is the human race doomed? What dangers and wonders await the crew of the Astra on their journey to Venus?
Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
Director of Photography
Four elderly ladies with a lot of time on their hands get the idea to create a fictional "girl" for a computer dating service. However, things take a turn for the worse when their description of the "girl" attracts a psychopath.
The Bridge at Remagen
Director of Photography
In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.
They Saved Hitler's Brain
Director of Photography
At the end of WWII, Nazi officials spirited the living head of Adolf Hitler out of Germany to a hiding place in the South American country of Mandoras, in order to revive the Third Reich at a later date. By the 1960s, the time has come, so a top scientist is kidnapped in order to help keep Hitler alive. This film is a re-edit of The Madmen of Mandoras released in theaters in 1963.
Blue
Director of Photography
A young man is torn between the woman he loves and his loyalty to his father, the leader of a mexican gang.
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
Director of Photography
US Navy battles monsters unearthed from the frozen arctic.
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
Director of Photography
A corpse has 24 hours to mastermind a good deed without leaving his crypt, to go "up there" and have his youth restored.
The Naked Kiss
Director of Photography
A former prostitute works to create a new life for herself in a small town, but a shocking discovery could threaten everything.
The Madmen of Mandoras
Director of Photography
A group of Nazi survivors save Hitler's brain keeping it alive in a huge jar hooked up to a machine. The Nazis plan to release a deadly gas destroying all life on the planet. To ensure their success they kidnap Professor Coleman the only man on the planet with the antidote to the poison gas.
Shock Corridor
Director of Photography
With the help of his girlfriend Cathy and Dr. Fong, a psychiatrist, ambitious journalist Johnny Barrett poses as a madman in order to be admitted to a mental institution where a bloody murder has been committed.
Back Street
Director of Photography
Ambitious but thwarted, Rae Smith meets handsome Marine Paul Saxon, (of the Saxon department store chain), as he passes through Lincoln, Nebraska, on his way home from World War II. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. Later she learns he's married. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble.
Dinosaurus!
Director of Photography
After undersea explosions near a Caribbean island, prehistoric creatures are unleashed on the unsuspecting population.
Vice Raid
Director of Photography
A prostitute sets out to frame a cop.
The Angry Red Planet
Director of Photography
The first manned flight to Mars returns after having been out of communications since it had arrived on Mars. What would it reveal?
The Three Faces of Eve
Director of Photography
A doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.
Top Secret Affair
Director of Photography
A publisher uses her magazine and charm to derail a general on the Washington fast track.
Man from Del Rio
Director of Photography
Mexican gunfighter Dave Robles outdraws the town's outlaw-turned-sheriff and is invited to fill the dead man's shoes. But a tin star doesn't bring automatic respectability and Robles is shunned by the town's leading citizens. His popularity with its less-savory element, particularly saloonkeeper Bannister, wanes dramatically, too, as he starts to take his job seriously. It is his love for a decent, caring woman that keeps Dave in town, but can she convince him to lay down his gun and start a new life?
The Night of the Hunter
Director of Photography
In the Deep South, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Black Tuesday
Director of Photography
Vicious gangster Vincent Canelli pulls off a daring prison escape just moments before going to the electric chair, taking with him Peter Manning – a bank robber and cop killer who was to die right after him. Taking several hostages along, they try to get their hands on the loot from Manning’s robbery to finance their escape from the country.
Apache
Director of Photography
Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a Florida reservation. On the way he manages to escape and heads for his homeland to win back his girl and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas though.
Dragon's Gold
Cinematography
Murder and intrigue follow an insurance investigator Mack Rossiter (John Archer) after he is dispatched to China to investigate the disappearance of 7M worth of gold.
Riders to the Stars
Director of Photography
Three men gamble their lives in space to change the history of the world
The Diamond Queen
Director of Photography
A French jeweler travels to India in search of a fabulous diamond.
The Neanderthal Man
Director of Photography
A scientist develops a formula which will cause animals to regress to the form of their primitive ancestors, and tries it on himself with disastrous results.
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Director of Photography
Two hapless waiters in a tavern on the Spanish Main play cupid between aristocratic Lady Jane and tavern co-worker Bruce Martindale, but the two bumpkins mix-up a love letter with Captain Kidd's treasure map of Skull Island, leading to them being kidnapped and taken off to the notorious pirate's island.
Stronghold
Director of Photography
In 1850s Mexico, the beautiful owner of a silver mine is kidnapped by a bandit leader, who needs money to finance his revolt against the Emperor Maximilian.
Furia roja
Cinematography
Mother and daughter return to Mexico to escape the US Civil War... and get caught up in the conflict between the French army and the fighters for independence.
Fort Defiance
Director of Photography
It's just after the Civil War and Ben Shelby arrives looking for Johnny Tallon whom he plans to kill. Shelby was the only survivor of a battle due to the cowardice of Tallon. Thinking Tallon dead, another man who lost a brother at the same battle arrives to kill Tallon's blind brother. Tallon arrives to find Shelby and his brother fleeing. Then they are attacked by Indians and Shelby and Tallon must now fight together postponing the inevitable showdown.
The Admiral Was a Lady
Director of Photography
Ex-WAVE encounters four fun-loving, work-hating men, all of whom want to marry her.
The Underworld Story
Director of Photography
A blacklisted reporter brings his shady ways to a small-town newspaper after being fired from a big city daily.
The Man on the Eiffel Tower
Director of Photography
A down-and-out student is hired to kill a wealthy woman. When someone else is suspected of the crime, the student taunts police until they realize that they may have to wrong man.
Smart Woman
Director of Photography
A crusading DA falls for a defense attorney with a criminal past.
Secret Beyond the Door
Director of Photography
After a whirlwind romance in Mexico, a beautiful heiress marries a man she barely knows with hardly a second thought. She finds his New York home full of his strange relations, and macabre rooms that are replicas of famous murder sites. One locked room contains the secret to her husband's obsession, and the truth about what happened to his first wife.
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
Director of Photography
A nightclub singer uses alcohol in excess to sooth her painful life.
Since You Went Away
Director of Photography
While husband Tim is away during World War II, Anne Hilton copes with problems on the homefront. Taking in a lodger, Colonel Smollett, to help make ends meet and dealing with shortages and rationing are minor inconveniences compared to the love affair daughter Jane and the Colonel's grandson conduct.
Flesh and Fantasy
Director of Photography
Anthology film of three tales of the supernatural. The first story is set at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The second involves a psychic who predicts murder. The third is about a man who literally meets the girl of his dreams.
The Powers Girl
Director of Photography
Two small-town sisters who've come to New York City for very different reasons find themselves competing for the affections of a brash magazine photographer. Comedy.
The Magnificent Ambersons
Director of Photography
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Eagle Squadron
Cinematography
An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.
Sealed Lips
Director of Photography
There's something very odd about Romano, a notorious gangster serving time in the federal pen. For one thing, Romano doesn't sound much like himself. For another, he always seems to be hiding something. Detective Lee suspects that something's amiss, and he's probably right!
Badlands Of Dakota
Director of Photography
Up-and-coming Universal leading man Robert Stack made his western-movie debut in Badlands of Dakota. Set in the Dakotas during the days of the Great Gold Boom, the story finds brothers Jim and Bob Holliday (Stack and Broderick Crawford) dukeing it out over the affections of pretty Anne Grayson (Ann Rutherford). While all this is going on, Wild Bill Hickok (Richard Dix) does his best to neutralize the local criminal element-and to fend off the romantic overtures of boisterous Calamity Jane (Frances Farmer).
A Dangerous Game
Cinematography
Detectives Dick Williams and Andy McAllister find themselves trying to solve several crimes at an isolated mentally-ill hospital, where the patients range from slightly daffy to criminally insane, and they don't know which is which. A gang is out to steal a fortune inherited by one of the patients and, before Dick and Andy solve the case, several patients are transferred to the cemetery. And 'tiddlie-winks" are indeed involved.
The Black Cat
Director of Photography
Greedy heirs wait in a mansion for a rich cat lover to die, only to learn her cats come first.
The Leather Pushers
Director of Photography
A shifty boxing promoter places an amateur in fixed fights, then hands his contract over to an suspicious female investigative reporter as a raffle prize. He later regrets his actions, however, when the boxer becomes an honest champion.
For Love or Money
Director of Photography
To dim-bulb accountants find themselves working for a bookie in this comedy. Their jobs and their lives are placed in jeopardy when they accidently fumble $50,000 worth of the bookie's cash over to the secretary who wastes no time in spending $44,000 of it in less than 8 hours. The bookkeepers are given 36 hours to get all of the money back by their infuriated boss.
Risky Business
Director of Photography
Radio commentator Dan Clifford takes desperate chances to save the life of a young girl who has been kidnapped.
Danger on the Air
Director of Photography
Trouble begins when a hated cad of a sponsor is found murdered during the climax of a live radio show. A radio engineer then tries to solve the murder.
Armored Car
Director of Photography
Larry Willis and Bill Wane are security guards who ride in the back of Banks Co. armored trucks. When they barely avoid a robbery, they return to headquarters, where their boss John Hale introduces them to detective Tom Sheridan, who will be working with them to uncover a new gang of robbers.
Lady with a Past
Camera Operator
A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.