American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918 - Paperback

by James W. Castellan (Editor), Ron Van Dopperen (Editor), Cooper C. Graham (Editor)

At the start of hostilities in World War I, when the United States was still neutral, American newsreel companies and newspapers sent a new kind of journalist, the film correspondent, to Europe to record the Great War. These pioneering cameramen, accustomed to carrying the Kodaks and Graflexes of still photography, had to lug cumbersome equipment into the trenches. Facing dangerous conditions on the front, they also risked summary execution as supposed spies while navigating military red tape, censorship, and the business interests of the film and newspaper companies they represented. Based on extensive research in European and American archives, American Cinematographers in the Great War, 1914-1918 follows the adventures of these cameramen as they managed to document and film the atrocities around them in spite of enormous difficulties.

Author Biography

James W. Castellan is an independent scholar who has done extensive research on cinematographer Wilbur H. Durborough and journalist Oswald Schuette.

Ron van Dopperen studied history at the University of Utrecht, Holland, where he wrote his academic thesis on American World War I documentary films.

Cooper C. Graham is a retired film curator for the Library of Congress and author of Leni Riefenstahl and "Olympia."