[...] A lton always strove to reinforce the depth of the images by arranging actors in several planes in front of the camera. Whereas many directors of cinematography would simply arrange for two actors to be equal distance from the camera, Alton loved to give us one actor up close, preferrably turned sideways to the camera, while another actor stood in the background. In T-Men , we see Dennis O'Keefe's profile as he grimaces in pain as Charles McGraw twists (and threatens to break) his fingers. And in Raw Deal, Raymond Burr lights some candles while O'Keefe gets the drop on him and steps into the back of the room. Alton's desire to create the illusion of depth also meant he used objects in a room to break up the frame, such as the light shade in T-Men : Alton shoots the scene by placing the camera below the lamp as O'Keefe and Wallace Ford inspect a counterfeit dollar, shooting up through the lamp shade and right into their faces. And in Raw Deal we get one of the hallmark shots of film noir: O'Keefe stands behind a venetian blind, the room sliced into horizontal slats of light as he peers down at the street. Alton also loved fog and steam and smoke. In He Walked by Night , Richard Basehart flees across a foggy alley as a car's headlights swing toward him, and later he struggles to get out of the Los Angeles sewer by pushing open a manhole cover--but smoke from a tear gas bomb envelopes him. And in Raw Deal , O'Keefe gets cornered in an alley as a thick fog threatens to obscure the action. In T-Men , several scenes take place in a steam bath, while the camera slips in close to show the beads of perspiration on the men's faces. Alton also loved shafts of light, such as the burst of light, like a lighthouse beacon, that blasts through the small window on the door of the steam bath in T-Men . And in Raw Deal , Alton gives us stunningly beautiful shafts of moon light that break through the forest tree tops and cascade down a hillside. A strong case could be made for John Alton as the real auteur of these movies. At times the expressionistic style runs against the subject matter. In both, He Walked by Night and T-Men the movies take an ostensibly semi-documentary approach, giving us a behind-the-scenes point of view as the police force (in the former) and treasury agents (in the latter) work to put crooks behind bars. We even get voice-over narration leading us through the story, Dragnet style. But the cinematography always reminds us that we aren't really watching a documentary, as Alton bathes the characters in sharp, dramatic lighting from the side (with beams of light aimed perpendicular to the camera). For example, in a masterpiece of composition from T-Men , Charles McGraw's face slides forward out of the darkness, as if he were part demon. We then watch as he coldly steps from the darkness and pulls the trigger of his gun. Alton's style owes nothing to the documentary or the newsreel. His precursors instead include the artful compositions of John Ford and Orson Welles, not to mention the expressionistic German filmmaking of the silent era. Gary Johnson