Claude Friese-Greene (3 May 1898 – 6 January 1943) was a British-born cinema technician, filmmaker and cinematographer, most famous for his 1926 collection of films entitled '' The Open Road''.

Biography

The Friese-Greene grave in Highgate Cemetery

Claude, born Claude Harrison Greene in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, London, was the son of

William Friese-Greene William Friese-Greene (born William Edward Green, 7 September 1855 – 5 May 1921) was a prolific English inventor and professional photographer. He was known as a pioneer in the field of motion pictures, having devised a series of cameras bet ...

, a pioneer in early cinematography. He was the grandfather of musician and music producer

Tim Friese-Greene Timothy Alan Friese-Greene is an English musician and record producer, producer. He worked with the band Talk Talk from 1983 to their breakup in 1991. He currently releases solo albums under the name Heligoland. He is the grandson of filmmaker Cl ...

. He died in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London. He is buried in

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

with his parents.

Colour cinematography

Claude's father William began the development of an additive colour film process called Biocolour. This process produced the illusion of true colour by exposing each alternate frame of ordinary black-and-white film stock through two different coloured filters. Each alternate frame of the monochrome print was then stained red or green. Although the projection of Biocolour prints did provide a tolerable illusion of true colour, like the more famous

Kinemacolor Kinemacolor was the first successful colour motion picture process. Used commercially from 1909 to 1915, it was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906. It was a two-colour additive colour process, photographing a black-and-white film behind ...

process of George Albert Smith it suffered from noticeable colour flicker (a potentially headache-inducing defect known technically as 'colour bombardment') and from red-and-green fringing around anything in the scene that moved very rapidly. In an attempt to overcome these problems, a faster-than-usual frame rate was used. After William's death in 1921, Claude Friese-Greene continued to develop the system during the 1920s and renamed the process Friese-Greene Natural Colour then the Spectrum Colour Film process. Claude went on to be a highly-respected cinematographer on more than 60 films from 1923 to 1943 and a was one of the first to shoot in Technicolor in Britain. He died as the result of an accident when filming at the

Denham Film Studios Denham Film Studios (''later dubbed Anvil Studios)'' was a British Film studio, film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda, in Buckinghamshire. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and D ...

in January 1943. In 2006, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

ran a series of programmes called '' The Lost World of Friese-Greene''. The series, presented by Dan Cruickshank, included '' The Open Road'', Claude Friese-Greene's film of his 1920s road trip from

Land's End to John o' Groats Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the length of the island of Great Britain between two List of extreme points of the United Kingdom#Extreme points within the UK, extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional di ...

. '' The Open Road'' was filmed using the Spectrum Colour Film process, and the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

used computer processing of the images to minimise the red and green fringes around rapidly moving objects.

List of films in Spectrum Colour Film process

*''Dance of the Moods'' (1924) featuring modern dancer Margaret Morris *'' Moonbeam Magic'' (1924) *''Quest of Colour'' (1924) *'' The Open Road'' (1924–1926) restored by the

2005

Selected filmography

* '' Moonbeam Magic'' (1924) * '' Home at Last'' (1926) * ''

Tommy Atkins Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is slang for a common soldier in the British Army.Widecombe Fair Widecombe Fair is an annual fair in England, held in the Dartmoor village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor on the second Tuesday of September. It is well known as the subject of the folk song of the Widecombe Fair (song), same name, featuring Uncle Tom ...

'' (1928) * ''

Under the Greenwood Tree ''Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School'' is the second published novel by English author Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his seri ...

'' (1929) * '' A Romance of Seville'' (1929) * '' Loose Ends'' (1930) * '' The Middle Watch'' (1930) * '' Uneasy Virtue'' (1931) * '' The Flying Fool'' (1931) * '' The Shadow Between'' (1931) * '' Mr. Bill the Conqueror'' (1932) * '' Fires of Fate'' (1932) * '' For the Love of Mike'' (1932) * ''

A Southern Maid ''A Southern Maid'' is an operetta in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham (poet), Harry Graham and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor No ...

'' (1933) * '' The Song You Gave Me'' (1933) * '' Give Her a Ring'' (1934) * '' Girls Will Be Boys'' (1934) * '' The Luck of a Sailor'' (1934) * '' Menace'' (1934) * ''

The Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is the fourth novel by English author Charles Dickens; being one of his two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 t ...

'' (1934) * ''

No Monkey Business ''No Monkey Business'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Gene Gerrard, June Clyde and Renée Houston. Plot After a music hall performer has his performing partner, an ape, confiscated by his financial credi ...

'' (1935) * '' Music Hath Charms'' (1935) * '' Invitation to the Waltz'' (1935) * ''

Drake of England ''Drake of England'' is a 1935 British drama film directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Matheson Lang, Athene Seyler and Jane Baxter. It depicts the life of Francis Drake and the events leading up to the defeat of the Armada in 1588. ...

'' (1935) * ''

Gypsy Melody ''Gypsy Melody'' is a 1936 British musical comedy film directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starring Lupe Vélez, Alfred Rode and Jerry Verno. It was made at Elstree Studios.Wood p.90 The sets were designed by art director John Mead. The fi ...

'' (1936) * '' Public Nuisance No. 1'' (1936) * '' Our Fighting Navy'' (1937) * '' Star of the Circus'' (1938) * ''

Jane Steps Out ''Jane Steps Out'' is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Diana Churchill, Jean Muir, Peter Murray-Hill and Athene Seyler. There was a television remake on BBC in 1957. It was also remade in India as the Hindi ...

'' (1938) * '' Oh Boy!'' (1938) * '' The Gang's All Here'' (1939) * ''

Murder in Soho Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

'' (1939) * '' Just like a Woman'' (1939) * '' The Middle Watch'' (1940) * '' The Flying Squad'' (1940) * ''

The Farmer's Wife ''The Farmer's Wife'' is a 1928 British silent romantic comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis and Gordon Harker. It is adapted from a 1916 play of the same name by British novelist, poet an ...

'' (1941) * ''

Hard Steel ''Hard Steel'' is a 1942 British drama film directed by Norman Walker and starring Wilfrid Lawson, Betty Stockfeld and John Stuart. It was written by Lydia Hayward based on the novel ''Steel Saraband'' by Roger Dataller. The film was one of f ...

'' (1942) * '' The Great Mr. Handel'' (1942) * '' Banana Ridge'' (1942)

References

External links