Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Pluskylang Great Film overall

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

gavin6942 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 camera-work was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's "Black Narcissus".Cardiff is not as well known as he should be, despite 80 years behind the camera and being key in bringing color to film. Color was inevitable, but he showed the world how to make it look good and made Technicolor a household name.I love that the director was able to track down Martin Scorsese. Scorsese always has stories to share and knows more about film history than just about anyone -- is there a more passionate fan? I could hear him ramble for hours on the minutiae everyone else overlooks.This is also great for Cardiff's anecdotes on Orson Welles and the stolen mink coat, John Wayne as a cowboy and Kirk Douglas as a perfect stuntman. This is a man who worked with everybody and made them all look so good.

Michael_Elliott Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Interesting documentary features interviews with Kirk Douglas, Martin Scorsese, Lauren Bacall, Charlon Heston, Kim Hunter, Thelma Schoonmaker, Alan Parker and many others as they discuss the now legendary work of cameraman Jack Cardiff. If you're unfamiliar with Cardiff's work then you'll notice here that he worked on some classic pictures and worked with a number of legendary directors including Michael Powell, Laurence Olivier, Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston. The best thing that can be said about this documentary is the fact that it works perfectly as an educational piece because not only does it inform new people to who Cardiff was but it also educates the fans by showing in detail certain shots and skills that he brought to his profession. Some of the best moments include Douglas talking about working on THE VIKING and we even get some terrific outtakes showing the actor doing his stunts and messing up on a couple. We also get to hear Scorsese talk about how Cardiff's work made his love British cinema and we hear from Parker about the brilliant use of colors. I think fans of Cardiff will mainly enjoy the man himself being interviewed about the countless productions he worked on. He talks about what it was like in the silent era and how things changed when sound came into play. From here we learn about how he got involved in Technicolor and how THE RED SHOES pretty much changed and ended everything. We also hear about his attempts at directing and how critics really weren't too friendly to him. Fans of Cardiff will certainly love hearing about his life and career and it's certainly special having him go over so many important films.

st-shot Made shortly before his death Cameraman: the life and work of Jack Cardiff is an excellent bio on Cardiff and due to his long career the history of color film as well. Working into his nineties the highly lucid and spry octogenarian covers a lot of ground with emphasis on his collaboration with the the team of Powell and Pressburger at Archer studios which produced two of the finest color works in film history Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. There of course were decades of others that also shined from Archer and beyond with The African Queen, Pandora and the Flyiong Dutchman, War and Peace and The Vikings and Cameraman shows healthy snippets from each.Amiable and self effacing Cardiff himself makes for a wonderful guide mixing anecdotes and methods free of ego and judgment. This doc is a must for film historians as well as anyone that has ever been under the spell of celluloid magic.

MartinHafer 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.