Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff, OBE, BSC (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009) was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, to filmmaking more than half a century later.

Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff in the 1970s
Born(1914-09-18)18 September 1914
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK
Died22 April 2009(2009-04-22) (aged 94)
Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK
Occupation
  • Actor
  • cinematographer
  • director
  • photographer
Years active1918–2007
Known forA Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The African Queen (1951)
War and Peace (1956)
Sons and Lovers (1960)

He is best known for his influential color cinematography for directors such as Powell and Pressburger (A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes), John Huston (The African Queen) and Alfred Hitchcock (Under Capricorn). He is also known for his work as a director – in particular, his critically acclaimed film Sons and Lovers (1960) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.

In 2000, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and, in 2001, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award for his contribution to the cinema.

Jack Cardiff's work is reviewed in the documentary film: Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) and Terry Johnson's stage play Prism (2017).

Early life

Cardiff was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Florence and John Joseph Cardiff, music hall entertainers.[1]

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 Tip Toes (1927). At 15, he began working as a camera assistant, clapper boy and production runner for British International Pictures, including Alfred 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 Britain in Technicolor: Wings of the Morning (1937). When the Second World War began he worked as a cinematographer on public information films. He did a number of films on India where the British wanted to showcase the new capital city of Delhi.

The turning point in his career was as a second unit cameraman on Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943); they were sufficiently impressed to hire Cardiff as cinematographer on their post-war Technicolor 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.

In 1995, the British Society of Cinematographers conferred a lifetime achievement award on Cardiff.[2]

Directorial work

In the late 1950s Cardiff began to direct, with two modest successes in Intent to Kill (1958) and Web of Evidence (1959). His version of D. H. Lawrence's novel Sons and Lovers (1960), starring Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller and Dean Stockwell, was a hit, critically and at the box-office. It received seven Oscar nominations (including a Best Director nomination for Cardiff) and Freddie Francis won for Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Cardiff received a Golden Globe Award for Best Director.

Later life

After concentrating on direction in the 1960s, he returned to cinematography in the 1970s and 1980s, working on mainstream commercial films in the United States. One of the last films Cardiff photographed was at Pinewood Studios in 2004 when he lit veteran actor Sir John Mills in a short entitled Lights 2 (dir. Marcus Dillistone). The combined age of leading actor and cinematographer was a record 186 years.

Death

Cardiff died on 22 April 2009, aged 94,[3] the same day as Ken Annakin, with whom he had worked on The Fifth Musketeer (1979). He was survived by his wife and his four sons.[4]

Filmography

Jack Cardiff was the camera operator and then cinematographer for 73 films, documentaries and TV series between 1935 and 2007.[5] These are some of the main films:

Cinematographer

YearTitleDirectorNotes
1937Wings of the MorningHarold D. Schustercamera operator
1937Knight Without ArmorJacques Feydercamera operator
1939DelhiHans Nieter
1942The Great Mr. HandelNorman Walker
1946A Matter of Life and DeathPowell and Pressburger
1947Black NarcissusPowell and Pressburger
1948The Red ShoesPowell and Pressburger
1949Under CapricornAlfred Hitchcock
1950The Black RoseHenry Hathaway
1951The Magic BoxJohn Boulting
1951Pandora and the Flying DutchmanAlbert Lewin
1951The African QueenJohn Huston
1954The Barefoot ContessaJoseph L. Mankiewicz
1956War and PeaceKing Vidor
1957The Prince and the ShowgirlLaurence Olivier
1957Legend of the LostHenry Hathaway
1958The VikingsRichard Fleischer
1961FannyJoshua Logan
1973ScalawagKirk Douglas
1977The Prince and the PauperRichard Fleischer
1978Death on the NileJohn Guillermin
1979The Fifth MusketeerKen Annakin
1980The AwakeningMike Newell
1981Ghost StoryJohn Irvin
1981The Dogs of WarJohn Irvin
1984The Far PavilionsPeter Duffell
1984Conan the DestroyerRichard Fleischer
1985Cat's EyeLewis Teague
1985Rambo: First Blood Part IIGeorge P. Cosmatos
1986Tai-PanDaryl Duke
1987Million Dollar MysteryRichard Fleischer

Director

YearTitleNotes
1953The Story of William Tellunfinished
1958Intent to Kill
1959Beyond This PlaceUS title: Web of Evidence
1960Scent of Mystery
1960Sons and Lovers
1962My Geisha
1962The Lion
1963The Long Ships
1965Young Cassidy
1965The Liquidator
1968Dark of the SunAlso known as The Mercenaries
1968The Girl on a Motorcycle
1973Penny Gold
1974The Mutations

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result
1947Best CinematographyBlack NarcissusWon
1956War and PeaceNominated
1960Best DirectorSons and LoversNominated
1961Best CinematographyFannyNominated
2001Honorary OscarN/AWon

Other awards

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
1947Golden Globe AwardsBest CinematographyBlack NarcissusNominated
1956British Society of CinematographersBest CinematographyWar and PeaceWon
1960Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrSons and LoversNominated
1960Golden Globe AwardsBest DirectorWon
1960Directors Guild of AmericaBest DirectorNominated
1960New York Film Critics CircleBest DirectorWon
1960National Board of ReviewBest DirectorWon
1985British Academy Television AwardsBest Film CameramanThe Far PavilionsNominated
1994American Society of CinematographersInternational AwardN/AWon
1994British Society of CinematographersLifetime Achievement AwardN/AWon
1996London Film Critics' CircleLifetime Achievement AwardN/AWon
2002British Film InstituteBFI FellowshipN/AWon

Legacy

A feature-length documentary was made about Cardiff's life and career, Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) by Craig McCall.[6] It took 17 years to make, and was not completed until after Cardiff had died. As well as many interviews with Cardiff, it included tributes from Sir John Mills, Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker, Kathleen Byron, Kim Hunter, Moira Shearer, Lauren Bacall, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas. It was selected for the official selection of Cannes Classics at the Festival de Cannes in 2010, as well as four other important film festivals that year.[7]

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff was shown as part of the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival 2014 along with some of his photographs, often taken as preliminaries to lighting the films. Further celebrations to mark his birth date took place that September, particularly at the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.

Cardiff's life was also explored in the 2017 stage play Prism by Terry Johnson.

Further reading

  • Magic Hour (1996). Faber and Faber limited. ISBN 0-571-19274-2. Foreword by Martin Scorsese.
  • Conversations with Jack Cardiff: Art, Light and Direction in Cinema by Justin Bowyer (ISBN 0-7134-8855-7)

References

  1. "Jack Cardiff biography". Film Reference. Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. "Jack Cardiff". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  3. Martin, Douglas (24 April 2009). "Jack Cardiff, Film Director, Dies at 94". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. 19. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
  4. "Film director Jack Cardiff dies". MSN Movies. Microsoft. 23 April 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  5. Jack Cardiff at IMDb
  6. Adams, Mark (6 May 2010). "Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff". screendaily.com. Media Business Insight Limited. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  7. ""Documentary" Sunday at Cannes Classics". Festival de Cannes. 16 May 2010. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
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