The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

I’m saddened today to hear of the death of legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff, one of the most acclaimed film-makers in British cinematic history. While Jack worked across a diverse range of films in his long, long career (which started way back in the 1930s), collaborating with fresh new talent and the biggest stars alike (Fred Astaire, Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe) he also contributed to the fantastical genres – in later years with work on films like Ghost Story, Cat’s Eye and Conan the Destroyer. But its his earlier work with the immortal pairing of Powell and Pressburger he will be best remembered.

(Jack Cardiff introducing the classic A Matter of Life and Death at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2005; apologies for the low quality of the image, shooting in a dark cinema isn’t the best place for a quick snap, but I couldn’t resist trying. Pic taken from my Flickr stream)

He worked with them on acknowledged classics like Black Narcissus, an amazing film indeed, but for me, personally, it was his glorious camera work on two of the great triumphs of fantastical post-war British cinema that stand out – The Red Shoes (I don’t even care for ballet but this fairytale inspired work is simply luscious) and A Matter of Life and Death (one of my personal top ten favourite films; a war film, a love film, a supernatural fantasy all in one). A few years ago the Edinburgh International Film Festival held a Powell and Pressburger retrospective, during which it screened those films; I’ve loved them for years for their emotion and sheer visual beauty and imagination, but I had never seen them on the big screen (where they belong). And Jack Cardiff was present as a surprise guest, stepping up in front of a sold-out auditorium in the Filmhouse before A Matter of Life and Death was screened. A frail, old man, I swear that as he talked about those early days and his work he grew straighter and younger. He had a hugely respected, long career, but those two beautiful works alone would have secured his reputation, layered with emotion, huge imagination and sheer visual flair and beauty. If you haven’t seen them I almost envy you the experience of watching them for the first time – and you should – they’re cinema as magic. (via the BBC)

(given the subject of this post it seemed appropriate to include an image of the Stairway to Heaven from A Matter of Life and Death)