Magic Hour

Cardiff, Jack

ISBN 10: 0571192742 / ISBN 13: 9780571192748

Published by Faber & Faber, London, 1997

About this Item

Minor Creasing, Cover.

Seller Inventory # 000940

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Magic Hour
• Publisher: Faber & Faber, London
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571192742
• ISBN 13: 9780571192748
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The most celebrated director of colour photography tells the story of his adventures in celluloid. The ''Magic Hour'' is the special light that occurs just at twilight, and a very special light is what cameraman Jack Cardiff brought to films such as The Red Shoes, The African Queen, and Black Narcissus for which he won an Oscar. In Magic Hour Jack Cardiff details the adventures of his life: on tour on the music-hall circuit with his parents; acting in silent films; being chosen by Technicolor as the first British cameraman to be trained in colour photography; filming with British convoys in the Atlantic during World War II; his big break when Michael Powell asked him to photograph A Matter of Life and Death; his rambunctious expolits with Errol Flynn; and his triumph at the Cannes Film Festival as the director of Sons and Lovers.

As a master of light, Cardiff came to photograph some of the most beautiful women in cinema history: Marilyn Monroe, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Ava Gardner, to name but a few.Cardiff''s bold and imaginative photography enhanced not only the work of Powell and Pressburger, but also that of Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston. Told with modesty and charm, Magic Hour is the personal journey of an extraordinary craftsman of cinema.

Review

Cameraman Jack Cardiff photographed some of the most sumptuous color movies of all time. He won an Oscar for his work on Black Narcissus, shot The Red Shoes and The African Queen, and worked steadily as cinematographer and director through the 1980s. In this winning autobiography, Cardiff tells wonderful stories about his collaboration with the great Michael Powell, his work with Alfred Hitchcock the perfectionist and master storyteller, the gruelling experience of shooting jungle locations for The African Queen, his experiences as director on such films as Sons and Lovers, and his intimacy with Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, and Marilyn Monroe.