[1] Born in Germany to English-German Jewish parents (original surname Hiller)[citation needed], he studied art in Berlin in the late 1920s.

He later moved to Elstree Studios, working on The Man Behind the Mask (1936) with Michael Powell,[4] who noted his "insane enthusiasm".

[6] Despite Powell's recent work with the three-strip Technicolour film process, war shortages meant a return to the black-and-white stock with which Hillier was familiar.

The film is a mixture of British realism and the German expressionist[7] use of extreme light and shade which Hillier has been trained in,[8] and is remembered for its depiction of the English landscape.

They asked Hillier to share cinematographic duties with the experienced Technicolor cameraman Jack Cardiff on A Matter of Life and Death.