John J. Mescall

John J. Mescall, A.S.C. (January 10, 1899 – February 10, 1962) was an American cinematographer.^[1] He photographed such silent films as Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), but he is best known for his work in the 1930s at Universal Pictures, where he often worked on the films of James Whale. Mescall was famous for his elaborate, some might say grandiose, effective camera movements, in which the camera would often track completely across or around a set, or even one performer (as it does around Paul Robeson while he sings Ol' Man River in the 1936 film version of Show Boat). He did not always use these kinds of camera movements (The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg has none), but his most famous films all have them.

^ Hanson, Patricia King (June 1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931-1940. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07908-3 – via Google Books.
- Babington, Bruce; Barr, Charles (2018). The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-86196-954-8 – via Google Books.

[1] Hanson, Patricia King (June 1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931-1940. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07908-3 – via Google Books.
- Babington, Bruce; Barr, Charles (2018). The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-86196-954-8 – via Google Books.

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