Trained at Germany's UFA studios, cinematographer Erwin Hillier's was
assistant cameraman Fritz Lang’s classic M (1931). After moving
to the UK, he quickly found work as a camera assistant at Gaumont, where
he contributed to films by Alfred Hitchcock and Victor Saville. It was
whilst working on "quota quickie" The
Girl in the Crowd (1935) that he came to the attention of director
Michael Powell, and
it was The Archers duo of Powell and Pressburger that afforded Hillier
his breakthrough in Britain on the offbeat Kentish A
Canterbury Tale (1944) and romantic drama I
Know Where I'm Going! (1945). In these films Hillier showed his
affinity for high-contrast, chiaroscuro lighting, angled compositions,
and a keen eye for landscapes.
The association came to an abrupt end when Powell decided to use Jack
Cardiff on A
Matter of Life and Death (1946); this was despite Powell offering
Hillier a shared credit. After the war, he became a regular collaborator
of director Michael Anderson, where Hillier's
work retained a strong noirish feel in films including Chase
A Crooked Shadow (1957) and The
Quiller Memorandum (1966), although their best-known work together
is The Dam Busters
(1955), with its spectacular aerial shots. Hillier also conjured up
similar gloomy atmosphere for Roy Ward Baker’s
psychological thriller The
October Man (1945). Hillier retired in 1968 after his last two films
were completed in the United States, Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and
The Valley of Gwangi (1969).
