Perhaps as well known for his movies as his photographs, Morris Engel is one of the few photographers who has been nominated for an Academy Award.
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Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn in 1918. He was trained in photography at the Photo League. He had his first exhibition in 1939 at the New School for Social Research. The Navy took him away from his work as a photojournalist for the newspaper PM.Â
While in the service he served as a combat photographer chronicling the Normandy invasion.
Engel mastered the art of using small hand-held cameras.  In 1953, Engel and his girlfriend fellow photographer Ruth Orkin joined their friend Raymond Abrashkin in shooting his first film. It was entitled Little Fugitive and cost them $30,000 to produce. The movie was shot in its entirety on location using a hand held 35mm camera. This film is considered one of the most successful American Independent films ever made and it earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.Â
This film’s storyline was about a seven year old boy who ran away from home and ended up at Coney Island. The main actor Richie Andrusco never appeared in another film and all of the other players in the film were also non professional actors. Although the film was a huge success Engel and Orkin, who by then had married, had a hard time finding funding for future films.
 They did manage to produce two more films over the next few years. Lovers and Lollipops and Weddings and Babies. Neither one received the same recognition as their first film.Â
The two things that Engel was best known for was his mastery of small hand held cameras and using primarily non actors in his films. His first film influenced some of the top directors who attempted to recreate his technique in their film production. Such prominent film makers as John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese and Francois Truffaut
Engel’s next venture involved directing television commercials and was followed by one final movie in the late 1960s. In the 1980s Engel began taking panoramic photographs, but shortly afterwards went back to moviemaking, this time trying his hand at video. He completed two works A Little Bit Pregnant in 1994 and Camillia in 1998.
Engel and Orkin remained married until Orkin’s death in 1985. Engel died of cancer in 2005.
Resources:
In Rememberance: Morris Engel
http://www.filmbuffonline.com/InRemembrance/MorrisEngel.htm
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Morris Engel Archives
http://www.engelphoto.com/photographs.php
Twenty Four Frames
http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/little-fugitive-1953-morris-engel-ruth-orkin-ray-ashbury/
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Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn in 1918. He was trained in photography at the Photo League. He had his first exhibition in 1939 at the New School for Social Research. The Navy took him away from his work as a photojournalist for the newspaper PM.Â
While in the service he served as a combat photographer chronicling the Normandy invasion.
Engel mastered the art of using small hand-held cameras.  In 1953, Engel and his girlfriend fellow photographer Ruth Orkin joined their friend Raymond Abrashkin in shooting his first film. It was entitled Little Fugitive and cost them $30,000 to produce. The movie was shot in its entirety on location using a hand held 35mm camera. This film is considered one of the most successful American Independent films ever made and it earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.Â
This film’s storyline was about a seven year old boy who ran away from home and ended up at Coney Island. The main actor Richie Andrusco never appeared in another film and all of the other players in the film were also non professional actors. Although the film was a huge success Engel and Orkin, who by then had married, had a hard time finding funding for future films.
 They did manage to produce two more films over the next few years. Lovers and Lollipops and Weddings and Babies. Neither one received the same recognition as their first film.Â
The two things that Engel was best known for was his mastery of small hand held cameras and using primarily non actors in his films. His first film influenced some of the top directors who attempted to recreate his technique in their film production. Such prominent film makers as John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese and Francois Truffaut
Engel’s next venture involved directing television commercials and was followed by one final movie in the late 1960s. In the 1980s Engel began taking panoramic photographs, but shortly afterwards went back to moviemaking, this time trying his hand at video. He completed two works A Little Bit Pregnant in 1994 and Camillia in 1998.
Engel and Orkin remained married until Orkin’s death in 1985. Engel died of cancer in 2005.
Resources:
In Rememberance: Morris Engel
http://www.filmbuffonline.com/InRemembrance/MorrisEngel.htm
Â
Morris Engel Archives
http://www.engelphoto.com/photographs.php
Twenty Four Frames
http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/little-fugitive-1953-morris-engel-ruth-orkin-ray-ashbury/