Lee Hill (cinematographer)

Lee M. Hill full name Leighton McLeod Hill (13 March 1907 – 5 June 1952) was a New Zealand film-maker and cinematographer. He was born in Carterton, attended Carterton School and Dannevirke High School, and died in Wellington.

He worked for J E Vinsen for ten years and as a freelance. He also worked with Rudall Hayward in the 1920s, making local "community comedies", but later made some himself in competition with Hayward e.g. Frances of Fielding. He was an Army photographer in the 2NZEF in World War II, being captured at Sidi Aziz in 1941 and spent several years as a German prisoner-of-war.

At the end of the War he was in Oflag IX A/Z at Rotenburg an der Fulda, where he showed German silent films to prisoners. When the camp was marched east in 1945 he took a series of photographs of the march. Examples of these are in the Turnbull Collection, New Zealand.

Postwar he was associated with Apex Films Ltd and his own Television Films Ltd. He took over the Vogue Theatre in Brooklyn, Wellington but died suddenly, leaving a wife and family.

The obituary does not mention Hollywood, but in an interview with Ronald Sinclair about the filming of Down on the Farm, Phar Lap's Son and The Wagon and the Star Sinclair said that:

It was Lee Hill that all of us relied on for guiding us in the production. He came to New Zealand from Hollywood, with a Hollywood background to put to use. Such background was considered vital, and Hill was highly revered by all of us because of the experience he brought with him.

Filmography (partial)

• The Bush Cinderella (1928) General assistant
• Down on the Farm (1935) Director of photography (New Zealand's first "talkie")
• Phar Lap's Son (1935) Technical advisor
• The Wagon and the Star (1936) Casting

References

• Biography at NZ Film Archive
• Frances of Fielding at NZ Film Archive
• Obituary in Evening Post, 6 July 1952
• Green, Peter "The March East 1945: the final days of Oflag IX A/H and A/Z", History Press, 2012