Jack Cardiff: Britain's greatest cinematographer?

[theuofc]

TCM-US: Jack Cardiff Retrospective: January 2012




Please go to the link below for more information and images:

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/fi...ml#post2049848

Here's to Jack,

Barbara

[Steve Crook]

I recently saw again his remake of The Wicked Lady. OK, it's a Michael Winner film, increasing the Restoration bawdry from the original, but Jack's cinematography is superb: some scenes are extremely beautiful visually, shot like 17C paintings.

While Jack was growing up his parents were touring performers and so Jack's formal education was limited to whatever any school could manage for the short while he was with them - so he educated himself. Apart from being very well read he also started visiting art galleries in each town he visited. It was his knowledge of the old masters and the way they lit things in their paintings that got him the gig with Technicolor - even though he had no training as a cinematographer. He understood how to light things and they knew that they could teach him whatever else was needed.

Each frame of his best films is like an individual painting with everything in the frame carefully composed and lit. Genius isn't too strong a word to describe him

Steve

[christoph404]

Oh yes, definitely a genius,and his own book, " Magic Hour", has got to be one of the most entertaining insights into the film industry.