 The son of Stoll cameraman D.P. Cooper, Wilkie Cooper made his own name as a
cinematographer during the early 1940s at Ealing Studios, where (alongside
Ealing's other regular cameraman Ernest Palmer) he was responsible for
photographing many of the morale boosting war subjects which were the studio's
speciality at that time. Films like The Big Blockade and The Foreman Went to
France, both directed by Charles Frend in 1942, are shot in a characteristically
unobtrusive and naturalistic style. More interesting photographically is
Cavalcanti's Went the Day Well? (1943), the story of an invasion of a rural
village by a squad of German paratroopers disguised as Royal Engineers. For much
of the film the style is familiar, but Cooper injects an expressionist feel at
times to underscore the plot's darker moments. For example, when the fifth
columnist played by Leslie Banks is shot by the rather timid vicar's daughter
who loves him, the horror of the moment is underscored by low-key lighting, the
cross-cutting between high and low angles and the brief use of slow motion as he
falls dead.
Cooper subsequently became associated with the filmmaking team of Frank
Launder and Sidney Gilliat, how were part of the elite band of 'Independent
Producers' working under the Rank umbrella. He shot several of their films,
including The Rake's Progess (d. Gilliat, 1945), I See a Dark Stranger (d.
Launder, 1945), Green for Danger (d. Gilliat, 1946), Captain Boycott (d.
Launder, 1947) and London Belongs to Me (d. Gilliat, 1948), although compared to
the work of the other Independent Producers like Powell and Pressburger and
David Lean, the photographic stule of these tends to be rather restrained.
Cooper's other assignments during this period include the moody thriller Mine
Own Executioner (d. Anthony Kimmins, 1947) and Alfred Hitchcock's somewhat
substandard Stage Fright (1950). Cooper continued to be prolific but found
himself increasingly restricted to run of the mill subjects, including modest
special effects films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (US, 1958), Mysterious
Island (d. Cy Endfield, 1962), Jason and the Argonauts (d. Don Chaffey, 1963)
and One Million Years B.C. (d. Chaffey, 1966), before his career ran out of
steam in the early 1970s.
Duncan Petrie
This entry is taken from Duncan Petrie's The British Cinematographer (BFI, 1996). Used by permission.
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