Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #333147 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Synopsis
Jack Cardiff tells the story of his life in films, first as a cameraman and then as a director. He was one of the first to use the Technicolor film camera, and the book provides a record of how colour cinematography developed in Britain. He also provides a humorous account of his days on the music-hall circuit during the 1920s and '30s, and anecdotes about his experiences photographing actresses such as Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe.

Customer Reviews

Full of charm, insight and wit.
Jack Cardiff is one of the true craftsmen of cinematography, a pioneer particularly of Technicolor. His memoirs cover his childhood (born into a music hall family), his early days working in silent cinema and his long career as director and cinematographer in warm, affectionate detail, with plenty of anecdotes about the actors and directors he's worked with, a lot of material about travelling the world, and much insight into the art and craft of making movies look beautiful.

Cardiff writes with elegance, charm, and true insight about the people, the art and the politics of the movies. This is a splendidly readable and thought-provoking autobiography by a true artist.

An absolutely magical and extraordinary book
Jack Cardiff has obviously had a very full life! This book is absolutely crammed with evocative and fascinating reminiscences that take us all around the World. I have never read first hand accounts of encounters with figures such as Monroe and Hitchcock, which have been as true sounding and revealing. Cardiff was learning his craft when cameras weighed a tonne, and featured such awkward but beautiful technology as three strip Technicolor, and filmed and lit some of the great landmark fabulist films of UK cinema (e.g "Red Shoes" and "Black Narcissus".) Even if you are 20 years old and have never seen a movie made before 1990, read this book. It will make you fall in love with film making and you will want to be a cinematographer as well. Cardiff is never stuffy or old fashioned, and makes an enthusiastic and very funny guide. Witness his description of the filming of a nude scene with M Deitrich, which ended with the legend slipping on some soap and flailing about on the floor like a fish...absolute genius!