- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; First Edition edition (1 Jun 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571176402
- ISBN-13: 978-0571176403
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
969,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #81 in Books > Biography > Theatre & Performance Art > Cabaret
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Jack Cardiff tells the story of his life in films, first as a cameraman and then as a director. As he was one of the first to use the Technicolor film camera, the book provides a record of how colour cinematography developed in Britain. Cardiff also gives a humorous account of his days on the music-hall circuit during the 1920s and '30s, and includes anecdotes about his experiences photographing actresses such as Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jack Cardiff was a master of colour and light in the making of movies (the first to master the Technicolor process in England). Besides, he is very good at writing. This is a must read for any cinema lover. By narrating his life and works, the story also spans a century of cinema and some of its most important masters (directors, actors...). Together with The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff, Cameraman [DVD], you'll probably want to watch again the movies on which Cardiff worked: by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, by Hitchcock, by Huston,... and by himself. Not only that, but it will also make you want to know more about painting and light.
This book is ageless and is often very funny because Mr Cardiff has a great sense humour. The anecdotes about Marilyn, Sophia Loren, Errol Flynn, Bogart are also quite strong and make us realise that only a great writing can be the source of so much impression. This book is worth a thousand other books.
I only which there were more reviews for this book.
This book is ageless and is often very funny because Mr Cardiff has a great sense humour. The anecdotes about Marilyn, Sophia Loren, Errol Flynn, Bogart are also quite strong and make us realise that only a great writing can be the source of so much impression. This book is worth a thousand other books.
I only which there were more reviews for this book.
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