The cinematographer Jack Cardiff might not be that well known. but he worked as director pf photography on some seminal productions, notably for Powell and Pressburger in the late 1940s. The visual style of THE RED SHOES (1948) and BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) is chiefly down to Cardiff's brilliant photography, allied to Powell's imagination. Cardiff began his career in the 1930s working on quota quickies in the British film industry, and was still working in 2007-8, when much of this documentary was filmed. In between he worked on other seminal productions, notably THE African QUEEN (1951), THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954), and THE VIKINGS (1957). Cardiff comes across as a modest person with a highly developed visual intelligence. The documentary also contains reminiscences from stars who are no longer with us, such as Sir John Mills, and Kathleen Byron, as well as such luminaries as Scorsese. Definitely worth a look for anyone interested in photography in the pre-digital era.

Jack Cardiff was a master cinematographer who became inspired through the Powell & Pressburger partnership with films such as Life and death of Colonel Blimp, A matter of life and death, The red shoes and Black Narcissus which bagged him an Oscar for best colour cinematography.Cardiff in interviews filmed over several years comes off as modest, engaging, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. We see the influence of paintings from the masters in his work as well as problem solving with the challenges he faced in the still early days of cinema, now its the special effects people who take care of it all.As well as numerous clips of films he had worked on, collaborators we have super fans such as Martin Scorcese who has previously expressed his admiration of the films of Powell & Pressburger. It would had been nice to have heard from Francis Coppola another fan and some more British directors.Cardiff later moved into directing and was Oscar nominated for Best Director for Sons and Lovers but when the directing work dried up he moved back into cinematography, even lighting Rambo: First Blood Part 2 a film I have in the past complained about not being able to see anything as all the action took place in the dark.

This is a wonderful tribute to Jack Cardiff and really gives the viewer insight into what it was to be a cinematographer during film's glory days of the 40s, 50s and beyond. This is wonderful, as MOST biographies about movie folks were about the actors and directors--and NEVER about technicians. So, in this case, you get to see and appreciate the use of color, framing, the use of matte paintings and other aspects of camera-work.The film consists of lots of clips of films Cardiff made. In addition, they were fortunate enough to have lots of footage of Cardiff reminiscing about his work and the people he's known over the years. And, considering how incredibly old Cardiff was, he sure seemed a lot younger and alert than you'd expect from a man nearly 100! In addition, there are lots of interviews with those who worked with him or who appreciated and learned from him (such as Martin Scorsese). All in all, a wonderful tribute but also a great lesson to die-hard film buffs. Well worth seeing.

Jack Cardiff was an amazing man who had a wonderful life. He started in show-business as a child actor in a touring show working with his parents. He was still working right up until the last of his 94 years. In that time he had worked with most of the great names in the business and earned their respect and admiration.This documentary covers most of his working life with lots of examples from clips or stills and interviews with the great man himself as well as many of those whose lives he touched. The documentary was many years in the making and was fortunate enough to interview a lot of the people that Jack worked with who are no longer with us.It's not often that a feature length documentary leaves you wanting more, but this one does.When Jack discovered the world of movies as a child actor in some early silent films he decided that being a cameraman was the best job going because they got to travel to such exotic locations. He was mainly self-educated because the life of a touring theatrical didn't allow much time at any one school. But that self-education included study of the old masters in art galleries wherever he went. So when he started working as a cameraman he was able to bring his knowledge of lighting and composition.