Oscar Profile #582: Karl Struss

Born November 30, 1886 in New York, N.Y., Karl Struss was taken out of high school by his father after an illness to work in his factory, the Seybel & Strauss wire bonnet factory. Having developed an interest in photography, Struss was given an exhibition of his work by Alfred Stieglitz in 1910. He studied photography at night at Teachers College at Columbia University, graduating in 1912.

Struss became a professional photographer whose work was produced in high quality magazines of the period, interrupted by service in World War I. In 1919, he went to work for Cecil B. DeMille as a cameraman on such films as Forbidden Fruit and Saturday Night. He later worked on Fred Niblo’s 1925 production of Ben-Hur and F.W. Murnau’s 1927 film Sunrise for which he and Charles Rosher shared the first Oscar for Cinematography.

The Oscar winner’s subsequent films included the Mary Pickford films, Coquette and The Taming of the Shrew, D.W. Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln with Walter Huston, Norman Taurog’s Skippy with Jackie Cooper, Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Fredric March for which he received a second Oscar nomination, and 1932’s The Sign of the Cross with March and Charles Laughton for which he received a third Oscar nomination.

The prolific cinematographer’s films during the remainder of the 1930s included Erle C. Kenton’s Island of Lost Souls with Laughton and Bela Lugosi, Stephen Roberts’ The Story of Temple Drake with Miriam Hopkins and One Sunday Afternoon with Gary Cooper, DeMille’s Four Frightened People with Claudette Colbert, Leo McCarey’s Belle of the Nineties with Mae West, Alexander Hall’s Goin’ to Town and Every Day’s a Holiday both with West, and Wesley Ruggles’ Sing You Sinners with Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray. He even did uncredited work on Gone with the Wind.

The 1940s found him working with Charlie Chaplin on The Great Dictator, Orson Welles on Journey into Fear, George Marshall’s Riding High with Dick Powell and Dorothy Lamour, H. Bruce Humberstone’s Wonder Man with Danny Kaye, and Zoltan Korda’s The Macomber Affair with Gregory Peck and Joan Bennett.

The 1950s found Struass at work mostly on B-pictures and TV series except for two major works, Charlie Chaplin’s 1952 film, Limelight and Kurt Neumann’s 1958 horror film, The Fly with Vincent Price.

Karl Struss retired in 1959. He died on December 16, 1981 at 95.

Forty years after his death, Struss’ cinematography was on display in the 2021 documentary, Voice of Land.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

SUNRISE (1927), directed by F.W. Murnau

Struss and Charles Rosher shared the first ever Oscar for Cinematography for the tricky camerawork involved in bringing Murnau’s late silent masterpiece to the screen. Although it is unclear which one photographed which scenes, it is generally thought that Rosher filmed the scenes on the farm where Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien lived and the nearby lake while Struss filmed the scenes in the city where they went for the visit that rekindled their relationship. The most difficult part of the farm and lake scenes was the candlelit lake at night. The most difficult part of the city scenes was the aspect ratio of the foreground to the background.

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931), directed by Rouben Mamoulian

Struss received his second nomination for another film with tricky camerawork, particularly in the scenes where Fredric March as the kindly Dr. Jekyll turns into the fiendish Mr. Hyde right before our eyes. Those transition scenes were accomplished by manipulating a series of variously colored filters in front of the camera lens. The actor’s makeup was in various colors so that his appearance registered on film depending on which color filter was being shot through. The pre-code film also starred Miriam Hopkins as a brazen prostitute, her character turned into a barmaid in the inferior 194 remake with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman.

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932), directed by Cecil B. DeMille

Struss received his third Oscar nomination for this spectacular in which Rome burns while Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) fiddles and righteous Prefect of Rome (Fredric March) gallantly joins Christian Elissa Landi in being fed to the lions. Claudette Colbert famously bathes in asses’ milk as Laughton’s Empress Poppaea. Struss’ nomination was the first official Oscar nomination given to a DeMille film. It was the only nomination accorded the film that restored the legendary director’s reputation after a series of box-office flops. Also in key roles were Ian Keith, Arthur Hohl, Harry Beresford, and Tommy Conlon.

THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940), directed by Charlie Chaplin

Nominated for five Oscars, cinematography wasn’t one of them. Struss, who later photographed Chaplin’s 1952 film, Limelight said that Chaplin had no knowledge of camera direction, that his films were completely “theatre”. He said it was very routine work with him; you would just set up the camera and let it go. He and the other actors would play in front of it, he never even tried for cinematic effects. The film’s five nominations were for Best Picture, Actor (Chaplin as a barber who resembled a certain dictator), Supporting Actor (Jack Oakie), Screenplay (Chaplin), and Score (Meredith Willson).

THE FLY (1958), directed by Kurt Neumann

This huge box-office hit was the last success of Struss’ career. He retired the following year. It was the biggest success of director Neumann’s career, but he never knew it, having died before the film went into general release. David Hedison (billed as Al Hedison) starred as the scientist whose genes get mixed up with a fly while in a time travel machine, with Patricia Owens as his frightened wife and Charles Herbert as his young son. Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall have key supporting roles. Price would soon appear almost exclusively in horror films beginning with 1959’s The House on Haunted Hill.