Oscar Profile #621: Franz Planer

Born March 29, 1894, Franz Planer was born into a wealthy family in Karlsbad, Austria-Hungary, now part of the Czech Republic.

The Planer family was very influential, owning large tracts of farmland, businesses, libraries, and shops, including several properties in and around Vienna, some of which were stolen by several low-ranking officers for their own families’ use in the mid to late 1930s using falsely issued papers and threats.

Planer worked as a portrait painter in Vienna in 1910, filming his first newsreels in Paris in 1919. In 1920, he became the chief cameraman for Emelka, the Munich based German studio that would later become Bavaria Studios. During the 1920s and early 1930s he acquired a reputation for style, having worked as cinematographer for such renown directors as F.W. Murnau and William Thiele.

Anticipating the Anschluss, the forcible annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany under Hitler, Planer left Austria in 1937. He joined the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and worked under contract at Columbia from 1938-45, going to Universal in 1947-48 and returning to Columbia in 1949, turning independent in 1950, eventually making more than 160 films.

Planer’s first film for Columbia was George Cukor’s 1938 classic, Holiday, but it was his first film for Universal, Max Ophul’s 1948 classic, Letter from an Unknown Woman that made critics as well as audiences sit up and take notice of his exquisite cinematography. In 1949 he had major successes for both Universal with Criss Cross, and Columbia with Champion, for which he received his first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, winning the Globe.

Cyrano de Bergerac, Stanley Kramer’s 1950’s film for United Artists, earned him a second Golden Globe but no Oscar nomination. Death of a Salesman, Laslo Benedek’s 1951 film for Columbia earned him nominations for both. That same year he was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Anatole Litvak’s film for 20th Century-Fox, Decision Before Dawn. He was not nominated by either organization for that same year’s The Blue Veil directed by Curtis Bernhardt for RKO.

Roman Holiday, William Wyler’s 1953 film for Paramount, earned Planer his third Oscar nomination, his first of five with Audrey Hepburn. In 1952, he shot both Edward Dymtryk’s The Caine Mutiny for Columbia and Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney.

Known primarily for his black-and-white films, Planer received some of his best notices for his work on the late 1950s color films, The Big Country, Wyler’s 1958 film for United Artists, and The Nun’s Story, Fred Zinnemann’s 1959 film for Warner Bros., his second film with Hepburn, for which he received his fourth Oscar nomination.

Planer directed three high profile 1961 films, Blake Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s, his third with Hepburn, Nicholas Ray’s King of Kings. and Wyler’s The Children’s Hour, his last with both Wyler and Hepburn, for which he received his fifth and final Oscar nomination.

Planer began work on Marilyn Monroe’s unfinished last film, Something’s Gotta Give, retiring when the film was cancelled.

Franz Palner died January 10, 1963 at 68.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

HOLIDAY (1938), directed by George Cukor

The Hollywood phase of Planer’s career began on a high note with his first film under his Columbia contract. Cukor’s remake of Philip Barry’s play first filmed in 1930 benefits not only from Cukor’s assured direction and the splendid performances of Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Lew Ayres, Doris Nolan, Jean Nixon, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Kolker, Binnie Barnes, and Henry Daniell, but from Planer’s equally assured cinematography that belies the fact that most of it takes place in a Manhattan townhouse. It would be the best work of his 1938-1945 contract with Columbia.

ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), directed by William Wyler

Planer received his third Oscar nomination in four years for this still amazing mix of studio and location cinematography, the first of four classic films directed by Wyler as well as the first of four to star Audrey Hepburn who won her only Oscar for her portrayal of the runaway princess opposite undercover reporter Gregory Peck. He would work again for Wyler on 1958’s The Big Country with Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Carroll Baker, and Oscar winner Burl Ives, and 1961’s The Children’s Hour with Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine for which he would receive his fifth Oscar nomination.

THE CAINE MUTINY (1954), directed by Edward Dymtryk

Planer’s ability to create a particularly realistic style in cramped quarters by utilizing sparse, functional interiors reached its zenith with the film version of Herman Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Sadly, he did not receive one of the film’s seven Oscar nominations which included those for Best Picture, Actor (Humphrey Bogart), and Supporting Actor (Tom Tully). The film also boasts strong performances from Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, and José Ferrer. It also earned kudos for his cinematography of the same year’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, directed by Richard Fleischman for Disney with Kirk Douglas and James Mason.

THE NUN’S STORY (1959), directed by Fred Zinnemann

Planer was reunited with Audrey Hepburn for four of his last five completed films. He photographed her to her third and fourth Oscar nominations for this and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, picking up a fourth Oscar nomination of his own for this and a fifth for The Children’s Hour with John Huston’s The Unforgiven in-between. Only Nicholas Ray’s 1961 biblical epic, King of Kings would not feature the Oscar winning actress who had perhaps her greatest role in this film as the devout nun who has had enough of the religious life and wants out. Peter Finch, Edith Evans, and Peggy Ashcroft co-star.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961), directed by Blake Edwards

Planer’s last completed comedy was another film that featured his celebrated ability to smoothly transition between intimate tight interiors and sweeping evocative location shots. Audrey Hepburn never looked lovelier than she did here, whether posing in front of the iconic jewelry store with George Peppard and her cat or strumming her guitar on her fire escape wistfully singing the Oscar winning “Moon River” in her own sweet voice. Planer ended his Hollywood career photographing Marilyn Monroe in the ill-fated Something’s Gotta Give, retiring after the film was cancelled following the star’s death.