In 1947, Jack Cardiff won the Oscar for best colour
cinematography for Black Narcissus. He said at the time,
"When ever I gaze at it, I always seem to grow a few
inches" I asked him if at the age of 83, does he
still gets that feeling?
Oh yes, I still have a great
affection for it, some people think the Oscars are a lot
of nonsense, but it isn't a lot of nonsense, it's an
accolade, which if you've done something well is a very
honourable thing, I like the idea. A while ago, I was in
Hollywood and went out three weekends running with a
Hollywood cameraman to lunch or to the beach, and each
time he brought along one of his three ex-wives. On the
last occasion, we were all about to get into his car
which was in the garage, when a cupboard opened and an
Oscar rolled out, and he shoved it back in with his foot.
I thought "Oh my goodness, to do that sort of thing
to an Oscar."
The Oscar sits on a shelf with several other
glittering prizes on a large shelf in a kitchen come
sitting room at Jack and Nicki Cardiff's house in rural
Essex. I struggled hard to resist the urge to ask if I
could pick it up, and hope maybe some its glory would rub
off, but I resisted the temptation to ask, and now regret
my self control.
So many autobiographies are available where there is
little or no real substance to write about; Jack really
has been there, read the book and met the cast and then
made the movie. Martin Scorsese, has written the foreward
to "Magic Hour." This is Jack's autobiography
and is shortly to be published in paperback. Scorseese
sums up the spirit of the book - "It is a wonderful
opportunity to survey the career and artistic evolution
of this man whose name had become synonymous with
Technicolor, from his itinerant beginnings on the
vaudeville circuit with his parents to his apprenticeship
in the silent cinema, from his work as an operator on
films like Hitchcock's "The Skin Game" and
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles" to his acing
of a Technicolor exam with his knowledge of painting,
from his adventurous days shooting travelogues and war
footage with the mighty Technicolor camera, in battle
ships in wartime seas, on top of erupting volcanoes, in
burning deserts and steaming jungles - to his magnificent
work as a cinematographer and his experiences as a
director."
It is probably for this magnificent work as a
cinematographer that Jack is best known, He won the
Academy award for "Black Narcissus", and was
nominated for "War and Peace",
"Fanny" and "Sons and Lovers" (the
latter as director) and should have been at least
nominated for the "African Queen", "The
Red Shoes" and "A Matter of Life and
Death."
As the son of a theatrical mother and father, Jack's
first experience with the Movies was in front of the
camera as a child in 1918. With the decline in music hall
style entertainment, it was quite fortuitous that the
family were around the burgeoning film industry. Jack
received a rudimentary education, because of his parents
travels, and at an early age on leaving school, found
himself in a film studio as his first job as a junior
whose job it was to fetch Vichy water for a flatulent
director - It's an ill wind....
The film was the 1928 version of the 'Silent
Informer.' During the making the assistant cameraman
called the young Jack over, "When I tell you, during
the shot, I want you to rotate the lens from this pencil
mark to the other one." The scene was shot and Jack
asked what he had done, "Well sonny, you followed
focus." And that was the start of it all.
Jack followed the traditional route through the
craft, and he admitted to me recently, that the only
reason he wanted to join the camera department was that
they got to travel to some exotic locations. "The
only problem was it was several years before I got the
chance, although I did get to the Isle of Wight for half
a day." One night the B&D Studios caught fire.
Jack and his colleagues Ted Moore and Skeets Kelly
managed to get to the camera room and rescue some of the
cameras.
The next morning we felt we would be called heroes
for rescuing these cameras, the management didn't like us
at all, the cameras were all insured and they said that
they wished that we hadn't done what we did, because they
would have got a lot of money from the insurance. One
camera wasn't insured; it was a Debrie, a brand new
French camera, and the Debrie company were so delighted
that they gave Ted Moore 15, and they gave me a three
day holiday in Paris.
For some one who's early education could best be
described as itinerant, it is not so strange that his
thirst for knowledge and culture was stirred by reading a
pornographic book. He then galloped through every great
book he could lay his hands on, and an appreciation of
art followed. He was interviewed at Denham for the chance
to go to America and learn about the new Technicolor
process. After the usual grilling, Jack informed the
panel that he was a mathematical dunce, and that he was
the wrong candidate. One of the panel then asked what he
thought made him a good cameraman, he replied that it was
from observing light; the light in houses, trains and
buses at various times of day and the light that the Old
Masters used in their paintings. He then went on to back
it up extolling the techniques of Rembrant, Vermeer,
Pieter de Hooch and Georges de la Tour. Jack went on the
course.
In 1936 Jack was to meet Count von Keller who wanted
to hire a Technicolor camera and cameraman so that they
could travel the world and make professional travelogues.
This gave Jack the chance to do all the travelling he
wanted, travelling light or more exactly travelling
without lights (only two reflectors), across the
civilised world and considerably beyond.
I asked Jack if it were possible to spot a cameraman
by his lighting style in the same way that it is possible
to identify a painter. I don't know, I have been told by
some people that they can. I really can't see it myself,
I get pre-occupied with watching the performances. I
remember filming a long scene in 'Black Narcissus' with
Deborah Carr, I was so absorbed with the marvellous
performance, that after the take Micky (Michael Powell)
came over and said "I suppose you'll want to do
another take." I looked at Micky and said
"Why?" "Didn't you see the lamp go out at
the back?" he said. "No, Michael, I didn't see
it, no-one is going to notice that, the performance is
wonderful" and Michael said "Great, print
it."
The working relationship with the director Michael
Powell developed through "A Matter of Life and
Death" and "Black Narcissus." Powell had
encouraged Jack to experiment and make suggestions. Jack
being the enfant terrible of Technicolor suggested on a
dawn sequence, the use a slight fog filter - unheard of
in those days. The only problem was this was the last
day's shooting with Deborah Carr. The laboratory called
the next morning, and said the rushes were no good.
I felt sick, Technicolor said everything was ruined,
Deborah would have to be paid a fortune to work another
day on overtime. Then we had a viewing, and as the stuff
came on the screen I knew it was good, Michael said,
"I love it, its just what I wanted." The
Technicolor boys were there saying, "Don't you think
in a drive in people will think it's out of focus?"
Michael gave them a strict lecture on what was art and
what was not art.
It was during the last days of filming "Black
Narcissus," Michael Powell said to me "What do
you think of ballet?" I was stupid enough to say
"Not much, it's so precious - all those sissies
prancing about." Micky showed more amusement than
outrage, "Have you ever been to a ballet?" I
admitted that I hadn't been since I was a child,
"Well you've a lot of catching up to do, our next
production is all about ballet. It's called "The Red
Shoes" and I want you to soak up ballet as if your
life depended on it. You'll be given tickets to go to
Covent Garden - practically every night." I didn't
realise how lucky I was at the time. I thought it was
going to be a boring chore. In a very short time I was
well and truly hooked.
I asked Jack if he considered "The Red
Shoes" to be one his best films, I think so, first
of all there was a great atmosphere on the film, Michael
Powell had this power of installing enthusiasm in people.
At the beginning of the picture he made a long speech
saying "this is going to be the best film you've
ever worked on and we're going to have a lot of fun with
it." and we did, we had a wonderful time in the
South of France.
Nothing was too risky for Michael, He was the most
stimulating director I ever worked with. I always knew if
I tried something daring, he'd back me up as he had done
over the fog filter on "Black Narcissus." I had
a gadget made to change the camera speed during a scene.
This was used to great effect when a dancer leapt into
the air, and just before the apex of flight, by speeding
up the camera, I was able to slow the action so they
would appear to hover in the air. I changed the speed
with pirouettes so that a dancer would start off at
normal speed and then as I changed the camera speed to
only four frames a second, she would whirl faster and
faster until she was a spinning blur.
We had to have a spotlight for the ballet sequence.
as the speed of Technicolor was slow in those days, this
spotlight had to be really powerful. We ended up with a
specially constructed water-cooled arc lamp of 300 amps.
It was a wonderful piercing ray of glory like a shaft
from heaven. Also after a conversation with Peter Mole
from Mole Richardson, I was able to use two prototype 225
amp lamps which he called "Brutes". The first
ever made.
"I'm probably best known for "The Red
Shoes", I'm often introduced as the man who shot
"The Red Shoes", but I was never nominated for
an Academy Award for it. After I won the award for Black
Narcissus, the Society of American cameramen (who put
forward the nominations) were concerned that it would put
them in a bad light if a non-American were to win the
award two years running, and so they prevented this
happening by not nominating me in the first place."
From the work with the Archer Company, Jack moved on
to "Scott of the Antarctic" "The
laboratory deserved an Oscar for matching the colour of
the studio footage with those of the exteriors." -
to "Under Capricorn" with a now established
Hitchcock who pursued the method of choreographing
continuous takes, and moving the camera almost all the
time within a 'trick' set, which was a progression from
'The Rope'. "This involved meticulous pre-production
planning, and by the time it came to shooting it,
Hitchcock seemed rather bored with the whole project.
In 1950, a joint British-American production was
started. "It will be so simple," said the
director. "We'll make the whole film on a raft.
We'll put a replica of the boat on it using the boat as a
stage, and we can be towed along the rivers of Africa
while we shoot to our hearts content." Jack Cardiff
had been taken on board "The African Queen" by
its director John Huston. Almost all of the was film shot
in Africa with almost all of the problems. The first
location was in the heart of Tsetse fly country, the
second was in what they had all imagined to be the quiet
tranquillity of Lake Albert, where we boarded the
houseboat the Lugard II, which was to be our
accommodation. We were all so ill, my operator Ted Moore
and I worked a bizarre version of musical chairs, when my
temperature reached 104, I would lie down and Ted would
take over; in turn, I would do his job until he
recuperated. There were only two people who didn't go
down with the sickness and that should have provided the
clue, because they were Huston and Bogey. They never
drank water, Only neat, germ proof whisky. It was later
discovered that the special filters through which the
drinking water was pumped, were missing and we had all
been drinking unfiltered water with every microbe in the
book of tropical disease.
As a cinematographer, Jack has earned a reputation as
a wizard of Technicolor, he also has one for his ability
to capture on film some of the world's most beautiful
women. Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida,
Ingrid Bergman and Marilyn Monroe. It is not just a
matter of capturing their beauty with flattering angles
and careful lighting, but giving them the confidence to
believe they look good on camera, enabling them to give
their best performance. Jack was hired to photograph
"The Prince and the Showgirl" and had to go and
meet Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller, who
were staying at Parkside House at Englefield Green. He
met Arthur first, who said that Marilyn had just woken
up, and she would be out in a minute. Then she appeared,
sped swiftly to Miller's arms, then she slanted a shy
sleepy smile at me. She didn't say anything at all - not
even 'hello'. Then gazing at me with cosy triumph, she
murmured softly to Miller, "Isn't he wonderful,
darling? He's the greatest, and I've got him." I
gave them a silly smile, feeling uncomfortably gift
wrapped. I later left the house quite convinced I had met
an angel.
The film that followed was not to be an easy passage,
the mixture of Marilyn Monroe and Lawrence Olivier who
wore the hats of both star and director. Olivier was
exasperated by the behaviour and performance of his
female lead, who was arriving later and later, and
needing more and more takes, and which he felt was
worsened by the presence of Paula Strasberg, Marilyn's
Drama coach. Jack was caught in the cross-fire and whilst
he could see Olivier's point, he could also see the
torment that was going on behind Monroe's eyes." She
just froze when she had to go out and face being stared
at by hundreds of pairs of eyes." Jack remained
friends with Marilyn up until her premature death, a
subject on which Jack has strong opinions.
Errol Flynn was in the later part of his career in
1953 and was working with Jack Cardiff on the
"Master of Ballantrae". Some time later, Flynn
encouraged Jack to go to Rome to photograph 'Crossed
Swords' - "Bring the family, you'll love Rome."
What followed was an fraught co-production which was not
helped by Flynn's drinking and drug habits. At the end of
this Flynn approached Jack with an offer to direct
"William Tell" with Flynn and his manager,
Barry Mahon, as producers. It was the offer Jack had been
waiting for.
Not content with the role of one of the worlds finest
cinematographers, Jack wanted to direct. His first
project was "William Tell." The whole project
was built on a fabrication. The film was backed by an
Italian, Count Fossataro, a man of good standing, or so
his bank had told Flynn and Mahon. The problem lay in
that in Italian banks 'to be of good standing' means that
he had more than a couple of Lire in his account. Sadly
this was to all he had in his account. The film soon hit
the rocks, a large number of which had been used to erect
a stone village at the foot of Mont Blanc. The project
was killed completely when the two Cinemascope cameras
were confiscated (William Tell was to have been the
second film shot on Cinemascope - 'The Robe' being
first). 25 screen-time minutes of the film were shot, now
only 5 remain.
Jack went back to photographing films but waited for
his chance to chance to direct again. It came with a 'B'
picture 'Intent to Kill' a suspense film based in a
Montreal Hospital. Then in 1960, he was offered 'Sons and
Lovers' by Robert Goldstein. He had to lie to get it
saying that he had adored the book, which he had never
read. Jack assembled a superb cast, and crew and film a
large part of the movie in the places and amongst the
communities where Lawrence had actually lived.
I asked Jack if he found it difficult to let go the
reins and allow Freddie Francis light and photograph it
in his way. I made it clear from the outset that I did
not want to interfere. I had enough to do with the actors
and all the problems with Goldstein the executive who
never came to the studio. We were two days behind
schedule because it had been drawn up for the summer and
we actually shot it in the winter. Goldstein started
cutting scenes, so I called the cast together and told
them what was happening, I said that if I walked off the
picture, I would be replaced tomorrow, but if they were
to threaten to leave something would happen. It did, all
the scenes were put back.
The censors had been making strange suggestions from
the start. they wanted to replace Miriam's line "You
shall have me." with "I do love you."
After the shooting was finished, there was a battle with
the censors, over Clara's line "Is it me you want or
just it." Jack carried on regardless, ignoring all
the spurious requests and finished the film remaining
true to the Lawrence's book. This was only his third film
as director and he was nominated for an Academy Award for
it.
Jack often found himself directing difficult films
with demanding stars, he walked out on "The Long
Ships" three times. Not because of the explosive
nature of so many in this profession, on the contrary
because of others ranting and being difficult. I asked
Jack after having worked with some monsters in his time
what he was liked to work with. He describes himself as,
"One of the quiet ones as opposed to the the
shouting and screaming type, I was more in Carol Reed's
league," with a twinkle in his eye, and with typical
modesty Jack adds, "Only he was a better
director."
The British film industry went into something of a
decline, and it became difficult to get directing
assignments so for the next decade Jack moved among films
as either a director or a cinematographer or as in the
case of 'Girl on a Motorcycle' he did both. He got
nominated as best cinematographer for
"Fanny"(1960). It is at this point in the book
one can sense Jack's frustration, and possibly the only
real criticism is that this period from the mid sixties
to mid eighties are largely glossed over largely because
Jack was working as a cinematographer when he really
wanted to be directing. it would be interesting to
compare the on screen fire-power of 'First Blood II' with
the off screen battles of 'The Prince and the Showgirl'.
A very minor criticism of what is one of the best written
accounts of a life in the film industry.
Learning the cameraman's craft today, we usually find
we are walking a well trodden path, with so many of the
'rules' or guide-lines are laid down by those, like Jack,
who have passed this way before, occasionally when we try
something a little different, we usually find someone
else beat us to it. Sometimes it is almost impossible to
imagine what the industry was like, when the medium was
being discovered, through experimentation and more
importantly through original ideas. Jack was really one
of the pioneers of the craft not as a technician but as
an artist using the tools at the cutting edge of
technology. That is not to say that Jack is not
unimpressed with the work that is produced today, and he
told me. "The Bill has some of the best camera
operation I have ever seen."
At 83 most people would consider themselves well and
truly retired, not Jack, 'Magic Hour' is due to be
published in paperback, he is thinking about publishing a
book of photographs, working on some paintings to have an
exhibition and he is currently trying to put a small
project together, "to make a film about
England." I for one, am looking forward to seeing
it.
Magic Hour is published by Faber and Faber the
paperback release is due in August 1997
