By general consent Jack Cardiff – who died last year aged 94 – was one of the all-time great cinematographers.
Craig McCall’s film, receiving a limited theatrical release, is essentially a solid TV documentary: excerpts from Cardiff’s 100 or so films, tributes from movieland giants (Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Charlton Heston, Scorsese) and interviews with the man himself – dapper, charming, unpretentious.
We’re taken through Cardiff’s prodigiously long career – a child actor in 1918, he was still working in 2007 – and it’s impressive stuff.
But you can’t help noting that outside his glory years with Powell & Pressburger, he lensed surprisingly few great movies.
