Archie Stout photo from August, 1945 article in American Cinematographer magazine available at the Internet Archive. | Cinematographer Archie Stout Birth name: |
In my years of loving and researching B westerns and serials, I've become a fan and critic of the cinematographer / cameraman.
A personal favorite is Archie Stout who may be best remembered for camera work on most of John Wayne's "Lone Star" westerns which were released by Monogram Pictures in 1933 - 1935. He did several later ones with Wayne, and they worked together in 29 films during 1933 - 1954. Stout's Hollywood career spanned about 35 years, circa 1920 through his retirement in 1954. Current stats in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has him doing about 135 films, and most were A and B grade westerns. Most of his films were black and white, but a few later ones were in Technicolor and WarnerColor. At the 25th Oscars ceremony in 1953, Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout received Academy Awards for their Technicolor filming of THE QUIET MAN (Republic, 1952). That wonderful movie was directed by John Ford and starred John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Archie was second unit cameraman, and mostly involved in the outdoor filming. This is his story. Archibald Job Stout was born March 30, 1886 in Renwick, Humboldt County, Iowa to Franklin Luther Stout (1854 - 1923) and Mary E. Disbrow (1865 - 1958). There's very little biographical info on Archie's early years - before his long stint as a cameraman, he may have dabbled in real estate and been a California forest ranger / game warden / conservation officer. In the 1920 census, Archie lived in Los Angeles ... and his occupation was "Camera man - Motion Pictures". His early cinema work were silent comedies for Mack Sennett and the Christie Brothers. An article in the August, 1945 American Cinematographer magazine outlines his early career. Fred Jackman was head of the Mack Sennett camera department and took a liking to Stout. Quote: " 'He was a natural born cameraman' explains Jackman. 'I gave him a job at once as a Sennett cameraman.' " (Link to that magazine article is further down this webpage.) More jobs came his way. He was one of the cinematographers on Cecil B. DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Paramount, 1923) and a couple Jack Holt starrers, THE THUNDERING HERD (Paramount, 1925) and WILD HORSE MESA (Paramount, 1925). Circa 1930, Archie became the camera department boss and principal cinematographer for B films churned out by Trem Carr (1891 - 1946) and producer Paul Malvern (1902 - 1993). And among their many films were 50+ low budget westerns starring Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Bob Custer, Rex Bell, Bill Cody, and John Wayne. Those were released under various company names including Syndicate, Tiffany, Sono-Art/World Wide, and Monogram Pictures.
1934 Monogram organization chart with boss Trem Carr, producer Paul Malvern, and Camera Department Head, Archie Stout.
1937 org chart for Hopalong Cassidy producer Harry Sherman with Archie Stout as Camera Department Head.
"Ford's favorite cameramen - Joseph August, Arthur Miller, Gregg Toland, George Schneiderman, Bert Glennon, Archie Stout - each had recognizable styles of their own, yet their work for Ford also looks Fordian. A Ford movie, it cannot be overstressed, is first of all an aesthetic pleasure visually; it demanded beautiful images."
Suffering from heart problems and advancing age, Stout retired after shooting Wayne's THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (Wayne-Fellows Prod./Warners, 1954) which was directed by William Wellman.
If you check Archie's IMDb filmography, you'll find that his westerns were with a small group of cowboy heroes. Stout did NOT do westerns with Autry, Rogers, Rocky Lane, Wild Bill Elliott, Charles Starrett, Range Busters, Three Mesquiteers, Tim McCoy, Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Lash LaRue, Eddie Dean, Jimmy Wakely, more. |
Above is a crop from a 1928 full page trade publication ad for the De Vry movie camera. Archie Stout was pictured as one of De Vry's users and his photo caption reads "Paramount Cameraman on 'Way of All Flesh' ". FLESH was released in 1927, starred Emil Jannings, and was directed by Victor Fleming. |
(Courtesy of the Motion Picture & Television Fund) | Left is producer Paul Malvern (1902 - 1993) at the 1989 Golden Boot ceremony where he was presented with a Golden Boot award. Stout filmed about 70 features produced by Malvern during 1930 - 1939. Most were westerns with Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Bob Custer, Bill Cody, Rex Bell, and John Wayne. Malvern remained busy and was involved with the "Tailspin Tommy" air adventures for Monogram. At Universal, he was producer or associate producer on several films and series, including the Bob Baker westerns as well as horror flicks, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Universal, 1944) and HOUSE OF DRACULA (Universal, 1945). Although some of the data may be incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Paul Malvern: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0540862 |
Some memorable scenes filmed by Archie Stout in John Wayne's 1933 - 1935 "Lone Star" westerns from Monogram Pictures. |
One of my favorite screen moments occurs at the tail end of THE TRAIL BEYOND (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934). Yakima Canutt (doubling John Wayne) gallops after a wagon driven by baddie Robert Frazer. Yak appears to get his foot caught in a stirrup, misses the horse to wagon transfer, and falls onto the dusty trail. He remounts, renews the chase, and successfully makes the jump to the speeding wagon. Archie Stout filmed it all - including Canutt's miss - and the entire chase is in the film. You can view the chase on YouTube and this link will open in a separate window / tab. Note the use of a stationary camera ... a camera truck following the wagon ... and lots of close-ups of Wayne and Frazer brawling in the wagon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L5rjogXy-w&t=2760s
In LAWLESS FRONTIER (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934), John Wayne is after Earl Dwire. Wayne winds up on foot ... finds a piece of wood ... and rides the wood plank down a water drainage chute. That water drain chute is also in Wayne's THE LUCKY TEXAN (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934) but in that oater, Wayne rides a broken tree limb during his chase of Eddie Parker. TRAIL OF TERROR (A. W. Hackel/Supreme, 1935) was another western with that drain chute. But Bob Steele was the hero in that. Common thread in all three of these was director Robert North Bradbury, Bob Steele's father. Wonder how difficult it was for Archie to get his camera and equipment in the chute ... and have some decent lighting.
In THE TRAIL BEYOND (Lone Star/Monogram, 1934), no-goods are after John Wayne and pal Noah Beery Jr., and they escape by riding their horses off a cliff in to a lake. Above are screen captures of Yakima Canutt doing that "horse off the cliff" stunt. |
Cameraman Archie Stout did lots of westerns ... and many films with John Wayne and director John Ford. |
Archie and Tom Tyler
1. GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE MAN (Syndicate, 1931)
Archie and Bob Custer
1. A SON OF THE PLAINS (Syndicate, 1931)
Archie and Bill Cody
1. THE MONTANA KID (Monogram, 1931)
Archie and Bob Steele
1. HEADIN' NORTH (Tiffany, 1930)
Archie and Rex Bell
1. FORGOTTEN WOMEN (Monogram, 1931) (non-western)
Archie and John Wayne
1. RIDERS OF DESTINY (Monogram, 1933)
❋ In 1953, Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout received Academy Awards for their Technicolor filming of THE QUIET MAN (Argosy/Republic, 1952). John Ford received an Oscar for directing that film.
Archie and William Boyd in Hoppy films
1. HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (Paramount, 1935)
Archie and Randolph Scott. And several were based on Zane Grey novels.
Above are Randolph Scott and Charlie Stevens in HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (Paramount, 1932). The above lobby card is from 1951 when the film was re-released as WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG.
1. HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (Paramount, 1932) (Zane Grey)
Archie filmed other silent and sound oaters for Paramount and some were based on Zane Grey novels.
Jack Holt:
Archie and director John Ford
1. THE HURRICANE (Samuel Goldwyn, 1937) (non-western)
❋ In 1953, Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout received Academy Awards for their Technicolor filming of THE QUIET MAN (Argosy/Republic, 1952). John Ford received an Oscar for directing that film. |
Although some of the data may be incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Archie Stout: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005887/
At the 25th Oscars ceremony in 1953, Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout received Academy Awards for their filming of John Ford's THE QUIET MAN (Republic, 1952).
Archie Stout photo and bio from August, 1945 American Cinematographer magazine at the Internet Archive. Mentions his early career as a California game warden. Photo of John Wayne with director James Edward Grant and cinematographer Archie Stout on the set of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (John Wayne Prod./Republic, 1947): https://x.com/tcm/status/1819878458828169296/photo/2 March, 1937 issue of The International Photographer magazine at the Internet Archive has an article on Stout and his work on the Hoppy films for Harry Sherman. Lots of praise on the wonderful exterior locations used in the Cassidy adventures: https://archive.org/details/internationalpho09holl/page/n79/mode/2up?view=theater Stout did filming on about 70 features produced by Paul Malvern during 1930 - 1939. Most were low budget westerns with Steele, Tyler, Cody, Custer, Bell, and Wayne: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0005887,nm0540862&sort=release_date,asc Archie worked with John Wayne in 29 A and B grade films scattered over the years 1933 - 1954. These were the Malvern "Lone Star" oaters and later films such as HONDO and THE QUIET MAN: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0000078,nm0005887&sort=release_date,asc In 1931 - 1935, Archie filmed 22 westerns directed by Robert North Bradbury (Bob Steele's father). There were a few with Bill Cody and Bob Custer. But most starred John Wayne and Bob Steele: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0005887,nm0102908&sort=release_date,asc
On the trail of Archie Stout
Ancestry.com has several family trees on Archie and he was married three times: his first was Laura Grace Fuller and son Junius Job Stout was born April 16, 1910. Wife number two was Minnie E. Arbios. And number three was Bernice Viola Weston.
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