Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff (born 18 September 1914) is a British cinematographer, director and photographer.

His career spans the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor (and, less successfully, Smell-o-vision), to filmmaking in the 21st century. He is best known for his influential cinematography for directors such as Powell, Huston and Hitchcock.

In 2000 he was awarded an OBE.

Born in Yarmouth, Norfolk, Cardiff's parents were music hall entertainers. He worked as an actor from an early age, both in the music hall and in a number of silent films: My Son, My Son (1918), Billy's Rose (1922), The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923) and Tiptoes (1927). At 15 he began working as a camera assistant, clapper boy and production runner for British International Pictures, including Hitchcock's The Skin Game (1931).

Cinematography

In 1935 Cardiff graduated to camera operator and occasional cinematographer, working mostly for London Films. He was the first to shoot a film in the UK in Technicolor: Wings of the Morning (1937). When the war began he worked a cinematographer on public information films.

The turning point in his career was as a 2nd unit cameraman on Powell & Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943); they were impressed enough to hire Cardiff as cinematographer on their post-war Technicolor masterpiece A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Their collaboration continued with Black Narcissus (1947), which won Cardiff an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and The Red Shoes (1948). These films put Cardiff's talents in high demand, and a string of big-budget films followed. After concentrating on direction in the 1960s, he returned to cinematography in the 1970s and 1980s.

Notable films as cinematographer include:
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) directed by Powell and Pressburger
Black Narcissus (1947) directed by Powell and Pressburger
The Red Shoes (1948) directed by Powell and Pressburger
Under Capricorn (1949) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The Black Rose (1950) starring Orson Welles
The Magic Box (1951) a biopic of William Friese-Greene
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
The African Queen (1951) directed by John Huston
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
War and Peace (1956)
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
Legend of the Lost (1957)
The Vikings (1958)
Death on the Nile (1978)
The Awakening (1980)
The Dogs of War (1981)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Directorial work

In the late 1950s Cardiff began to direct, with two modest successes in Intent to Kill (1958) and Beyond this Place (1959). In 1960 his adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel Sons and Lovers, starring Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller and Dean Stockwell, was a successful hit. It earned seven Oscar nominations and won Freddie Francis Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Cardiff received a Golden Globe for direction.

After the high water mark of Sons and Lovers, he directed a unusual mix of films, including:
The Scent of Mystery (1960) — the first production in Smell-o-vision
My Geisha (1962)
The Long Ships (1963)
Young Cassidy (1965)
The Mercenaries (1968)
The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) starring Marianne Faithfull
The Mutations (1973) starring Donald Pleasence

References

*Cardiff's autobiography Magic Hour (ISBN 0571192742)
Conversations with Jack Cardiff: Art, Light and Direction in Cinema by Justin Bowyer (ISBN 0713488557)

External links

*Jack Cardiff at the Powell & Pressburger pages
*BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme special edition on Jack Cardiff