Jack Cardiff, Cinematographer

Jack Cardiff

' Martin Scorsese once described Jack Cardiff, 94, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer who died April 22 in his native England, as being able to "paint with the camera."

"Years ago," he told a reporter, "when I was working with Powell and Pressburger, or Hitchcock, Huston, King Vidor, we'd prepare a scene and they'd say: 'Jack, get an effect of poverty here, or joy or happiness here. I don't know how you'll do it, but that's what I want.'

"Directors today have been to film schools," he added. "They've taken on a whole lot of knowledge about labs, lighting and film stock. It's never happened to me, but they'll say: 'I want the new Fuji, or the new Kodak, try to get three-quarters back light on this scene.' They'll tell a cameraman the sort of lighting they want, which is pretty horrifying in a way."

Jack Cardiff won an Oscar for "Black Narcissus" and an honorary Oscar as "one of the greatest visual artists ever to work in film." '

- Adam Bernstein, The Washington Post, April 23, 2009

Link IMDb, Filmography

Link Jack Cardiff website