Ted Tetzlaff

Talented cinematographer of lustrous black-and-white imagery who, after 20 years behind the lens in the 1930s and 40s, moved into the director's chair and showed a flair for suspense. Tetzlaff began as a lab and camera assistant before sharing cinematography credits on half a dozen minor films in 1926-27. He joined Columbia in 1928, working regularly with good contract directors Erle C. Kenton ("The Last Parade" 1931), Roy William Neill ("Behind Closed Doors" 1929), and the up-and-coming Frank Capra. Tetzlaff shot three films for Capra, starting with the enjoyable "The Power of the Press" (1928). He was prolific, too, lensing a dozen films in 1929 and eleven each in 1930 and 1931.