The Light on Her Face

Joseph B. Walker is among the artists most responsible for the distinctive "look" of Hollywood's Golden Age. In his long and exciting career he photographed some 160 feature productions, invented several vital pieces of production equipment, and made many Hollywood's most beautiful women look more gorgeous than Cleopatra or Helen of Troy. He was an innovator long before he cranked his first movie camera, having pioneered in the wireless field while still in his teens. He started the first wireless store department, made the first wireless news report, installed the first airplane and auto wireless sets, and made wireless reports from the battlefronts of the Mexican Revolution. For several years he was a freelance movie cameraman, shooting newsreels and documentaries. His first feature production took him to the Arctic, where he photographed Back To God's Country under incredible conditions (the leading man died, his lungs frozen). Meantime, he was inventing things—such as an ancestral zoom lens in 1922 and a special effects compositing system that was subsequently used in hundreds of films. Walker's greatest fame came during his 24 years at Columbia Studios, where he photographed 18 of Frank Capra's 24 productions, including It Happened One Night and Lost Horizon. He became the studio's leading "glamour" photographer, who could make a portly opera star into a reigning movie queen after experts had declared her "unphotographable" and could add greater beauty to even the most beauty actresses. Drama, adventure and romance were constant companions of Joseph Walker throughout his career. His memory for details is astonishing, and he and his author-photographer wife, Juanita, have set down his extraordinary story. The result is a reminiscence both perceptive and exciting, told with penetrating wit, of the great years of the cinema.