Erwin Hillier (2 September 1911 – 10 January 2005) was a German-born cinematographer known for his work in British cinema from the 1940s to 1960s. Early career Born in Germany to English-German Jewish parents (original surname Hiller), he studied art in Berlin in the late 1920s. Impressed by Hillier's paintings, the director F.W. Murnau offered him a job as camera assistant on Tabu (1931), but Hillier's father intervened because of Murnau's homosexuality. Fortunately, Murnau recommended him to director Fritz Lang at UFA studios, who employed him on his classic M (1931). Soon after he moved to Britain to pursue a career in film. In Britain, he worked as a camera assistant for Gaumont Pictures, where he worked with Hitchcock. He later moved to Elstree Studios, working on The Man Behind the Mask (1936) with Michael Powell, who noted his "insane enthusiasm". His debut as cinematographer came with Lady from Lisbon (1942). Work with The Archers Impressed by his work on The Silver Fleet (1943) for their Archers Film Productions, Powell & Pressburger ('The Archers') hired Hillier as cinematographer on A Canterbury Tale (1944), a film about which Powell later said Hillier "did a marvellous job". Despite Powell's recent work with the three-strip Technicolour film process, war shortages meant a return to the black-and-white stock that Hillier was familiar. The film is a mixture of British realism and the German expressionist use of extreme light and shade which Hillier has been trained in, and is remembered for its depiction of the English landscape. In his autobiography, Powell recalled his obsession with clouds; he often begged for filming to be delayed until a cloud had appeared to break up a clear sky. His next film I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), again with The Archers, continued the style of its predecessor. It is features Hillier's technical accomplishments, including mixing studio shots with exteriors, concealing the fact that Roger Livesey, the film's male lead, was working in London while the film was being shot in Scotland. With the war at an end, Powell & Pressburger at last had access to colour film. They asked Hillier to share cinematographic duties with the experienced Technicolor cameraman Jack Cardiff on A Matter of Life and Death. Unwilling to be sidelined, he declined, bringing his intensely creative partnership with Powell & Pressburger to an end. Post-war career Hillier made his first colour film London Town (1946), starring