Magic Hour: The Life of a Cameraman |
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Jack Cardiff
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Pages: 253 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0571176402
Pub: Faber and Faber
Pub date: 1996-06-01
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 305224
Reader Reviews:
Full of charm, insight and wit. (5/5 people found this helpful)
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 (8/8 people found this helpful)
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!
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Film, Television & Music -> Film Directors
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Theatre & Performance Art -> Cabaret
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Performing Arts -> Stagecraft -> Bestsellers
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Performing Arts -> Variety Shows & Cabaret
Books -> Subjects -> Music, Stage & Screen -> Film -> Biographies -> Bestsellers
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)