Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) was a British cinematographer whose career spanned for more than 60 years. Over his active lifetime he had worked with such notable film directors as Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston.

This bio-documentary (from 2010) explores the work of Cardiff. It also examines his legacy as being one of the most influential filmmakers in the world who became the absolute master of the Technicolor process.

The cinematographer Jack Cardiff might not be that well known. but he worked as director pf photography on some seminal productions, notably for Powell and Pressburger in the late 1940s. The visual style of THE RED SHOES (1948) and BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) is chiefly down to Cardiff's brilliant photography, allied to Powell's imagination. Cardiff began his career in the 1930s working on quota quickies in the British film industry, and was still working in 2007-8, when much of this documentary was filmed. In between he worked on other seminal productions, notably THE African QUEEN (1951), THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954), and THE VIKINGS (1957). Cardiff comes across as a modest person with a highly developed visual intelligence. The documentary also contains reminiscences from stars who are no longer with us, such as Sir John Mills, and Kathleen Byron, as well as such luminaries as Scorsese. Definitely worth a look for anyone interested in photography in the pre-digital era.

Jack Cardiff was a master cinematographer who became inspired through the Powell & Pressburger partnership with films such as Life and death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus which bagged him an Oscar for best colour cinematography.

Cardiff in interviews filmed over several years comes off as modest, engaging, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

We see the influence of paintings from the masters in his work as well as problem solving with the challenges he faced in the still early days of cinema, now it is the special effects people who take care of it all.

As well as numerous clips of films he had worked on, collaborators we have super fans such as Martin Scorsese who has previously expressed his admiration of the films of Powell & Pressburger.

It would had been nice to have heard from Francis Coppola another fan and some more British directors.

Cardiff later moved into directing and was Oscar nominated for Best Director for Sons and Lovers but when the directing work dried up he moved back into cinematography, even lighting Rambo: First Blood Part 2 a film I have in the past complained about not being able to see anything as all the action took place in the dark.

In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camera-work was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's "Black Narcissus".

Cardiff is not as well known as he should be, despite 80 years behind the camera and being key in bringing color to film. Color was inevitable, but he showed the world how to make it look good and made Technicolor a household name.

I love that the director was able to track down Martin Scorsese. Scorsese always has stories to share and knows more about film history than just about anyone -- is there a more passionate fan? I could hear him ramble for hours on the minutiae everyone else overlooks.

This is also great for Cardiff's anecdotes on Orson Welles and the stolen mink coat, John Wayne as a cowboy and Kirk Douglas as a perfect stuntman. This is a man who worked with everybody and made them all look so good.

Jack Cardiff began his life in show biz, part of a touring troupe with his mom and dad and even appeared in bit roles in silent films. But it wasn't until he got behind a camera and discovered all the lighting techniques he would go on to use for either color or B&W that his fame spread.

I've always felt that if he had filmed no other works than BLACK NARCISSUS, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP or THE RED SHOES, his immortality was guaranteed.

By an interesting use of film clips, good narration, and comments from stars who worked with him on various films, this documentary is among the best I've ever seen on any celebrity whose work on film has so many highs and lows.

Modest about his fame, he mentions how he's seldom recognized by fans at premieres of epics he photographed. "Who's that?" they will say. "Oh, he's nobody."

Absolutely riveting use of clips from BLACK NARCISSUS and THE RED SHOES, in particular, show just how masterful his use of Technicolor was.

Lauren Bacall, Sophia Loren, Moira Shearer, Kathleen Byron, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas are among the stars who speak about the experience of working with him. Bacall tells how Bogart never cared much about his appearance in a film, only the film itself and he had complete confidence in Jack Cardiff on THE African QUEEN.

Excellent documentary, well worth any film fan's attention.