CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF
Directed by: Craig McCall
Starring: Jack Cardiff, Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Thelma Schoonmaker, John Mills, and Kim Hunter
“Legendary” seems like a massive understatement when describing the career of director and cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The documentary CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF, Craig McCall’s portrait of the filmmaker, is like two years worth of film school for the small price of a ticket.
This film barely touches on his personal life, instead telling his life story through his work. Cardiff worked with many of the greatest filmmakers in the world of cinema – Hitchcock, Huston, Powell and Pressberger just to name a few. The first British cinematographer to be trained in Technicolor, Cardiff brought a new emotional dynamic to color photography, mastering the technique on BLACK NARCISSUS and THE RED SHOES. Cardiff used light like a painter would. In fact, many impressionist painters have inspired his most famous works – specifically Vermeer and Van Gogh on NARCISSUS. “Any cameraman would get ideas from Van Gogh and moods of light. Light is the principal agent. That should be the same in photography, that the use of light is like a painter – that you use it in a simple form.”
Director McCall gives us high-quality clips from Cardiff’s filmography, plus Cardiff’s own home movies, and blends them seamlessly into interviews and anecdotes by Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Martin Scorsese and more. The best stories in the film were told by the man himself, and lit in Cardiff’s own trademark way: From Orson Welles’ mink coat in THE BLACK ROSE that he then re-used for OTHELLO (turned inside out), to the disastrous shoot for THE AFRICAN QUEEN where everyone fell ill from unfiltered tap water except Bogie and Huston (who drank nothing but whiskey).
Best of all (and what attracted me to this film in the first place), we get to sneak a peek at Cardiff’s extensive still portraits of Hollywood actresses such as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, and my personal favorite, Audrey Hepburn. Cardiff quips adorably: “Some people collect stamps. I collect women.”
Cardiff built his strong reputation on being faster than most of the other cinematographers at the time. He also knew his equipment better than anyone else. Even in the worst circumstances (as you can see from his personal photos from his time on AFRICAN QUEEN), he was always the professional, quick at thinking on his feet, and made things work.
If I were to find any weaknesses, it’s that more of Cardiff’s personal backstory is needed to make this a fully fleshed out portrait of the artist. Still, CAMERAMAN is truly an amazing and inspiring look at filmmaking, shining the spotlight on a job that’s often overlooked by mainstream audiences.
5 out of 5
The film opens in Los Angeles on June 3rd at Laemmle’s Sunset 5.
