Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Name: Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Genre: Documentary

United Kingdom · 2010
1h 26m
Director Craig McCall
Starring Jack Cardiff, Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall
Genre Documentary

In 2001 Jack Cardiff 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 guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.

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Boxoffice Magazine by

This is strictly talking heads fare, broken up with movie clips, stills and home movies; fortunately, Jack Cardiff's ephemera are better than yours.

The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck

Informative and insightful for films buffs without sacrificing accessibility to the casual fan, "Cameraman" is essential viewing for anyone interested in film history.

Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf

Fantastical is what we get: Cameraman is filled with Cardiff's achingly beautiful work.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

Legendary is an overworked adjective, but surely it applies to Jack Cardiff, the British cinematographer whose awe-inspiring resume includes some of the most beautiful Technicolor films ever shot, among them "The Red Shoes," "Black Narcissus" and "Stairway to Heaven."

The A.V. Club by Nathan Rabin

Director Craig McCall approaches Cardiff with something approaching awe, though his subject views his accomplishments with the good-natured humility befitting a proper English gentleman.

Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton

Director Alan Parker (still living) nicely describes the tightrope teeter of Cardiff's hothouse imagery: "It's great art, and then it will be kitsch, and then it will be art again." Or is he summing up cinema itself?

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

The movie clips are luscious, as you'd expect, and Cardiff's own "home movies," shot on various movie sets with a 16mm camera, catch the gods during downtime.