Wow.
I saw this half a dozen times as I was learning about movies, but never really noted the beautiful post-noir blacks in the compositions. Often the middle ground in a room is lost to blackness with a large face in the foreground and a tableau off to one side. While still maintaining nice middle grays.
Beautiful photography!
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This must be why, before I even had any sense of what gave a movie quality, I suspected this movie had some quality.
And I agree. I was watching it thinking, "These compositions are really remarkable! ...unusually good." Some of the best.
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Joe Biroc was a master of mood cinematography, using dark blacks and deep shadows to create atmosphere. Even some of Bill Castle's hapless thrillers (13 GHOSTS, I SAW WHAT YOU DID) were given an unearned dignity by Biroc's work. So a genuinely good film like CHARLOTTE was just made even better.
He shot IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, got an Oscar nom for CHARLOTTE, and eventually won for TOWERING INFERNO (a color disater film from the 1970s).
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