Carlo Montuori

Carlo Montuori (3 August 1885 - 4 March 1968) was an Italian cinematographer and cameraman.

Born in Casacalenda, Campobasso, at twelve Montuori moved to Milan to live with his uncle, a photographer and a painter; in Milan he attended the Polytechnic University and followed courses in painting at the Brera Academy. He approached cinema in 1907 working in the production company "Comerio & C." and debuting as an operator in Dalla pietà all'amore, a 1909 Luca Comerio's documentary film about the 1908 Messina earthquake. At the same time Montuori started working at the photo studio Ganzini, where he learned the basics in the field of the use of artificial lighting. Starting from 1911 Montuori was among the first in Italy to test the application of these techniques in film, inventing a device based on rudimentary arc lamps, made of carbon bound with wire and connected to the electric current through resistors.

After collaborating with the Italian leading directors from the silent era such as Carmine Gallone and Augusto Genina, in 1925 he collaborated at the Fred Niblo's blockbuster Ben-Hur, and in 1929 he was the cinematographer of Sole, the directorial debut of Alessandro Blasetti, with whom he establishing a professional relationship that lasted for eight films.

After the war, Montuori "had a major role in the figurative culture of first neo-realism", often collaborating with Luigi Zampa and winning a silver ribbon for best cinematography for his work in Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves. His son Mario was also a cinematographer.

Selected filmography

• Goodbye Youth (1927)
• Sun (1929)
• Mother Earth (1931)
• The Man with the Claw (1931)
• The Table of the Poor (1932)
• The Blue Fleet (1932)
• Your Money or Your Life (1932)
• Seconda B (1934)
• Stadium (1934)
• Golden Arrow (1935)
• Thirty Seconds of Love (1936)
• The Ferocious Saladin (1937)
• Abandon All Hope (1937)
• For Men Only (1938)
• Goodbye Youth (1940)
• Sleeping Beauty (1942)
• The Countess of Castiglione (1942)
• Street of the Five Moons (1942)
• Yes, Madam (1942)
• The Courier of the King (1947)
• Alarm Bells (1949)
• Chains (1949)
• The Bread Peddler (1950)
• The Black Captain (1951)
• The Dream of Zorro (1952)
• Passionate Song (1953)
• What Scoundrels Men Are! (1953)
• Count Max (1957)