Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff: Directed by Craig McCall. With Jack Cardiff, Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall. 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 camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston’s The African Queen and King Vidor’s War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.

“For all the film buffs and film historians, this movie is a testament on cinematography. I say this precisely because it covers many years of films. From 1930u0026#39;s to 1990u0026#39;s and beyond, it shows an array of history of cinema itself.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActually titled as CAMERAMAN – THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF, I put the title as simply CAMERAMAN. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJack Cardiff, is considered by many as the greatest cinematographer ever and this film, which is a documentary shows us glimpses of the work of Jack Cardiff and why is he essentially considered as great by many. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSprinkled with interviews from, Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas and many many varied film personalities, this documentary shows us scenes from various films. Most of the scenes are actually known to us, and here we see the work that went to make that scene. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is wonderful information in this film and also, the humility of the great man is presented wonderfully, in his own words, he seems to be lost and unrecognized for much of the time. He mentions, that in premieres, people would ask u0026quot;Whou0026#39;s that?u0026quot; and they will say u0026quot;Oh, heu0026#39;s nobodyu0026quot; Many moments like this give us insights into this great man and his body of work. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a documentary that should be watched by film buffs. Also, did I mention that he is first cinematographer to have been given an honorary Academy award. So, boy how he did all of that is worth knowing. A 4/5 for this wonderful documentary by Craig McCall. I am told, it took nearly two decades to complete this. Salute to the sheer amount of effort kept by Craig and his team.”