Nicholas Cavaliere

Nicholas Cavaliere (July 23, 1899 North Branford, New Haven, Connecticut – January 10, 1995 North Branford, New Haven, Connecticut) was a cinematographer who filmed Frank Buck’s films Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932), Wild Cargo (1934), and Fang and Claw (1935).[1]

Nicholas Cavaliere
Left to right: Cavaliere, Carl Berger, director Clyde E. Elliott, and star Frank Buck ready to leave for the far east to film Bring 'Em Back Alive
c.1932
Born(1899-07-23)July 23, 1899
North Branford, New Haven, Connecticut
DiedJanuary 10, 1995(1995-01-10) (aged 95)
North Branford, New Haven, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
OccupationCinematographer
Known forWork with Frank Buck

Early years

In 1927, when Leroy G. Phelps opened his industrial motion picture laboratory in New Haven, he engaged Cavaliere to do the developing and printing. This lasted about a year. Then Cavaliere launched himself upon a career as a free-lance, out-of-doors cameraman. He was so good that he soon became a staff photographer for Pathé Revue.[2]

Work with Frank Buck

Van Beuren Studios hired Cavaliere in 1932 to photograph Bring 'Em Back Alive with Frank Buck. Early in 1933, Buck was making plans for another trip into southern Asia, where he hoped to fill a stack of orders from circuses and zoos and make a new movie, Wild Cargo (1934). He asked Cavaliere to suggest a second cameraman for the expedition. Cavaliere named Leroy G. Phelps and Phelps readily accepted.

A third film, Fang and Claw (1935), took nine months to make. Cavaliere came off without a scratch, but a 27-foot-long (8.2 m) python, which cameraman Harry E. Squire was helping Buck to force into a box, left a 4-inch (100 mm) wound on Squire’s right arm.[3] Some of the scenes Cavaliere had filmed in the first three movies were used in Jungle Cavalcade (1941).

References
  1. Lehrer, Steven (2006). Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Best of Frank Buck. Texas Tech University press. pp. x–xi. ISBN 0-89672-582-0.
  2. Wesley S. Griswold. Stalking Asia's fiercest wildlife with a movie camera involved New Haven photographer in thrilling adventures. Hartford Courant April 8, 1934, p D1
  3. Buck Cameraman relates thrills of jungle treks. Evening Independent - Google News Archive - Feb 19, 1936
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