Farciot Edouart was a pioneer in the field of movie special effects and, more specifically, the preeminent expert in process-screen photography. The son of a portrait photographer, Edouart was born in California in 1897 and became an assistant cameraman at the Realart Studios in Hollywood before reaching his twentieth birthday. When World War I arrived, Edouart enlisted in the Signal Corps, but, due to a bureaucratic tangle, was not (contrary to expectation) assigned to use his photographic skills on the battlefield. He then attended the Signal Corps' cinematographers course at Columbia University, and was so gifted with his craft that the university administrators invited him to stay on board as an instructor after he graduated. After teaching for a time, Edouart worked as war photographer in France both during and after The Great War. At Paramount in the 1920s, Edouart became adept at lining up "glass shots" (scenes in which small-scale models were seamlessly blended with life-size sets), then worked on the development of the blue-backing process, which allowed actors to be "matted" in front of an artificial background. As mentioned, however, the "process screen" became the crowning achievement of his career. This was a rear-projection technique creating the illusion of stationary actors driving, running, flying, etc... in front of a moving background. While others turned out plenty of bad or unconvincing process work in movies, Edouart was a master of the technique, and few of his films look blatantly "faked". To improve the technique, Edouart developed a triple-head process projector, which improved and sharpened the background image. Remaining as head of Paramount's "Transparency Department" until his retirement in the late '60s, Farciot Edouart won Academy Awards for I Wanted Wings (41) and Reap the Wild Wind (42), the latter film lensed in Technicolor. He earned one of his final credits as a special effects technician on the classic Rosemary's Baby (1968).
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rosemary's Baby
Special Effects |
1968 | |||
|
El Dorado
Cinematographer |
1967 | |||
| 1967 | ||||
|
The Spirit Is Willing
Special Effects |
1967 | |||
|
Red Line 7000
Special Effects |
1965 | |||
|
Ship of Fools
Special Effects |
1965 | |||
|
Roustabout
Cinematographer |
1964 | |||
|
The Disorderly Orderly
Special Effects |
1964 | |||
|
Donovan's Reef
Special Effects |
1963 | |||
|
It's Only Money
Special Effects |
1962 | |||
|
The Pigeon That Took Rome
Special Effects |
1962 | |||
|
On the Double
Special Effects |
1961 | |||
|
One-Eyed Jacks
Special Effects |
1961 | |||
|
Pocketful of Miracles
Special Effects |
1961 | |||
|
Visit to a Small Planet
Special Effects |
1960 | |||
|
The Young Captives
Special Effects |
1959 | |||
|
Teacher's Pet
Special Effects |
1958 | |||
|
Vertigo
Special Effects |
1958 | |||
|
Omar Khayyam
Special Effects |
1957 | |||
|
Three Violent People
Special Effects |
1957 | |||
|
Wild Is the Wind
Special Effects |
1957 | |||
|
The Proud and Profane
Special Effects |
1956 | |||
|
Run for Cover
Set Designer, Special Effects |
1955 | |||
|
The Desperate Hours
Special Effects |
1955 | |||
|
To Catch a Thief
Special Effects |
1955 | |||
|
Elephant Walk
Cinematographer |
1954 | |||
|
Sabrina
Special Effects |
1954 | |||
|
The Naked Jungle
Special Effects |
1954 | |||
|
Scared Stiff
Special Effects |
1953 | |||
|
Son of Paleface
Special Effects |
1952 | |||
|
The Turning Point
Special Effects |
1952 | |||
|
Let's Dance
Special Effects |
1950 | |||
|
Mr. Music
Special Effects |
1950 | |||
|
No Man of Her Own
Special Effects |
1950 | |||
|
Riding High
Special Effects |
1950 | |||
|
Sunset Boulevard
Special Effects |
1950 | |||
|
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Special Effects |
1949 | |||
|
Chicago Deadline
Special Effects |
1949 | |||
|
The Great Lover
Special Effects |
1949 | |||
|
Sealed Verdict
Cinematographer |
1948 | |||
|
The Paleface
Special Effects |
1948 | |||
|
Whispering Smith
Special Effects |
1948 | |||
|
Suddenly It's Spring
Special Effects |
1947 | |||
|
The Imperfect Lady
Special Effects |
1947 | |||
|
Unconquered
Special Effects |
1947 | |||
|
Variety Girl
Special Effects |
1947 | |||
|
Wild Harvest
Special Effects |
1947 | |||
|
Blue Skies
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
Monsieur Beaucaire
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
O.S.S.
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
Road to Utopia
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
The Searching Wind
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
To Each His Own
Special Effects |
1946 | |||
|
Duffy's Tavern
Cinematographer |
1945 | |||
|
Incendiary Blonde
Special Effects |
1945 | |||
|
Masquerade in Mexico
Special Effects |
1945 | |||
|
Salty O'Rourke
Special Effects |
1945 | |||
|
The Stork Club
Cinematographer |
1945 | |||
|
You Came Along
Special Effects |
1945 | |||
|
And Now Tomorrow
Cinematographer |
1944 | |||
|
Frenchman's Creek
Cinematographer |
1944 | |||
|
Practically Yours
Special Effects |
1944 | |||
|
The Lady in the Dark
Cinematographer |
1944 | |||
|
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Special Effects |
1944 | |||
|
The Uninvited
Special Effects |
1944 | |||
|
Till We Meet Again
Cinematographer |
1944 | |||
|
China
Cinematographer |
1943 | |||
|
No Time for Love
Special Effects |
1943 | |||
|
So Proudly We Hail!
Special Effects |
1943 | |||
|
Reap the Wild Wind
Special Effects |
1942 | |||
|
Sullivan's Travels
Special Effects |
1941 | |||
|
Dr. Cyclops
Special Effects |
1940 | |||
|
Northwest Mounted Police
Special Effects |
1940 | |||
|
Road to Singapore
Special Effects |
1940 | |||
|
The Ghost Breakers
Special Effects |
1940 | |||
|
Geronimo
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Honeymoon in Bali
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Midnight
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Never Say Die
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Rulers of the Sea
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Union Pacific
Special Effects |
1939 | |||
|
Artists and Models Abroad
Special Effects |
1938 | |||
|
Ride a Crooked Mile
Special Effects |
1938 | |||
|
Spawn of the North
Special Effects |
1938 | |||
|
Angel
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
Easy Living
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
I Met Him in Paris
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
Swing High, Swing Low
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
The Plainsman
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
Waikiki Wedding
Special Effects |
1937 | |||
|
Anything Goes
Special Effects |
1936 | |||
|
The Princess Comes Across
Special Effects |
1936 | |||
|
Thirteen Hours by Air
Special Effects |
1936 | |||
|
The Big Broadcast of 1936
Special Effects |
1935 | |||
|
Alice in Wonderland
Special Effects |
1933 | |||
|
Interference
Cinematographer |
1928 |
