American Cinematographer - March 1990 - 30

worked on just about every Tech¬
nicolor movie ever made in Eng¬
land. He shot his first feature film
in 1946, A Matter of Life and Death,
which was titled A Stairway to
Heaven in its successful release in
the U.S. And then came Black
Narcissus and The Red Shoes dur¬

ing the next two years.
Those films were fol¬
lowed by such notable credits as
The African Queen, The Magic Box,
The Barefoot Contessa and Pandora
and the Flying Dutchman. In 1956,
Cardiff earned his second Oscar
nomination for War and Peace.
Two years later, he decided to try
his hand at directing.
was

His first directorial effort
Intent to Kill. In 1960, he won
Oscar

an

nomination

for

directing Sons and Lovers. In all,
Cardiff has about a dozen credits
as a director. He didn't make
any

apologies when he decided to go
cinematography in 1961.

back to
"There

are no

films I want to di¬

rect," he said.
But there was one he
wanted to shoot. Cardiff earned
his third Oscar nomination for

cinematography for shooting
Fanny that year.
Peter Beale explains,
"When we got Richard Fleischer
to direct Call From Space, he said
he wanted Jack. We were fortu¬
nate that Jack was available and
interested." Cardiff had worked
with Fleischer on four feature
films: The Vikings, The Prince and
the Pauper, Conan the Destroyer
and Million Dollar Mystery, over a
he needed

an

assistant. Rennahan

color consultant for Tech¬
nicolor. At the time, a Technicolor
consultant worked side by side
with the regular director of pho¬
was a

Vermeer, the old masters,

and the impressionists. I said I
also studied how light fell every

place I went, in subways, for in¬

that format.

stance, so I would know how to
recreate those environments."
Cardiff continued, "I

The questioning began:
Cardiff was asked where he stud¬
ied photography, and he told

thought that was my cue to leave.
But instead, they asked a few
questions about lighting and then

them

candidly they were wasting
talking to him. "They
were shocked," he said. "Some¬
one asked me how I
hoped to
ever become a
cinematographer.

selected me,

their time

admitted that I didn't know any¬

I told them that I studied

Morning. Subsequently, he

tography on every movie shot in

28

ers,

American

Cinematographer

paint¬

probably because I

thing about photography."
After brief training,
diff went to work

March 1990

on

Car¬
Wings of the

period spanning 30 years.
Cardiff says, "When I
first saw Showscan, I was bowled
I thought, 'Here
kind of magic.' It is a

is a new
different
sensation entirely. The imagery is
over.

so

intense that the characters
to be alive.

seem

"The audience

sees eve¬

rything very clearly. Normally, if
you are shooting an exterior
and there is someone on a
mile away, you wouldn't
worry about it. No one will no¬
tice. But in a Showscan theater
scene,

hill

a

they do. So, you have to pay at¬
tention to every small detail."
American Cinematographer - March 1990

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