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This chapter sets out the book’s purpose, which is to provide a brief history of the Arriflex 35 in North America from the end of the Second World War up to the introduction of the 35mm Arriflex BL in 1972. The book argues that the Arriflex’s impact proved particularly marked in three areas: in the encouragement the camera provided for location shooting; in the options the camera gave cinematographers for intensifying visual style and content; and in the doors the camera opened for low-budget and independent production.

This chapter describes the use of the Arriflex 35 in the early postwar years. The camera’s international reputation grew during World War II as a result of the high-quality wartime and combat footage taken with it by German cameramen. As German cameramen and their equipment fell into Allied hands, the U.S. military commissioned an imitation—the Cineflex—in order to take advantage of the reflex viewing system, After the end of the war, Arriflex 35mm cameras began appearing in the used-camera market in North America. The 35mm Arriflex was also used extensively as a news camera, first for theater newsreels and later for television news broadcasts.

This chapter describes the use of the Arriflex 35 in the 1950s. American filmmakers recognized the value of the Arriflex for shooting shorts and documentaries for theatrical distribution. In television production, the Arriflex 35 was used in news, sports, and documentary shooting, and in dramatic production. Arriflexes were also increasingly used in feature film production. In most of these cases, the Arriflex served as a secondary camera for getting special shots—shots that would be difficult or even impossible to attempt with a studio Mitchell.

This chapter describes the use of the Arriflex 35 in low-budget films. These include films such as Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence (1961), Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls (1962), and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). Skill with an Arriflex also launched the careers of a number of important cinematographers, most famously, Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs.

The design of the Arriflex 35 remained largely unchanged up until the manufacture of the final Arriflex IIC in 1979. Additional technical developments continued, however, improving the camera’s performance and flexibility. This chapter focuses on these developments, beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the 1960s.

The Arriflex 35 assumed a more significant role in the production of feature films and television dramas in the 1960s. This chapter focuses on its use as a secondary camera, called upon in situations in which a Mitchell (or later, a studio Panavision camera) would be too difficult, expensive, or time-consuming to use. This accounts by far for the largest amount of Arriflex use on American feature films and television dramas during this period.

This chapter presents some final thoughts. It discusses how the Arriflex notched up the visual intensity of American films; the role of the Arriflex 35 in the so-called “Hollywood New Wave”; and the availability of the long-awaited 35mm self-blimped Arriflex BL in North America in 1972.

This chapter examines the use of the Arriflex 35 as a principal camera on various mainstream projects. These include the TV series I Spy and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; Woody Allen’s directorial debut Take the Money and Run; the crime film Bullitt (1968), starring Steve McQueen; The French Connection (1971); and Easy Rider (1969).