Anton Grot

Anton Grot was profoundly influenced by European modernism and expressionist art in both film and painting by the time he left Poland for the United States in 1909. Having studied illustration and design at Cracow and Koenigsberg, majoring in interior decoration, he was quick to embrace the burgeoning art deco movement and the low key, stylised design prevalent in early German cinema. His first film work was with Lubin in Philadelphia, as set painter and designer in 1913. He remained on the East Coast until 1922, and was then hired by Douglas Fairbanks and Cecil B. DeMille to work on the high profile Fairbanks swashbuckler Robin Hood (1922). During the next five years, Grot established his credentials at United Artists, leaving in 1927 to join First National. When that company was absorbed into Warner Brothers, Grot was appointed Head of the Art Department and held that position until his retirement in 1948. His first major assignment was the biblical disaster epic Noah's Ark (1928) for which Grot designed the set for massive Temple of Moloch and created the all-consuming torrent at the climax. This was the first of sixteen collaborations with top Warner's director Michael Curtiz. Grot excelled at creating the prevailing mood of a film, often enhancing the work of the cinematographer. Point in case, Svengali (1931) - with its stylised, expressionist-inspired Parisian buildings and labyrinthine streets - for which both he and Barney McGill garnered Oscar nominations. After 'Svengali', Grot was almost exclusively in charge of the studio's prestige output, including Captain Blood (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He was at his best, creating a sinister or foreboding atmosphere through sharply angled shadows, dramatic lighting and clever use of chiaroscuro. His many detailed and highly accomplished sketches for his sets are now housed at the UCLA library. While his work contributed to the gritty, realistic look typical of Warner Brothers films during this period, Grot was adaptable enough to handle glamorous subjects and musicals (Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Romance on the High Seas (1948)) with equal aplomb. Some of his most impressive sets involved water, or, rather, prodigious amounts of water. For the studio-bound Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk (1940), he created a 12 ft. deep lake on a brand new sound stage, which contributed greatly to the overall $1.7 million budget (as did the two full-scale sailing vessels used for the battle scenes). Grot subsequently won a special Academy Award for his creation of a 'ripple machine' which simulated weather effects on water. No less impressive were his interior sets, notably the spectacular giant map at the Spanish court on which the downfall of England is plotted, and the vast up and down stairwells which serve as the backdrop for the climactic duel between Flynn's Geoffrey Thorpe and arch villain Lord Wolfingham (Henry Daniell). After his retirement, Grot devoted much of his time to painting. He died in March 1974 at the age of 90 and was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame in 2004.