R.I.P Jack Cardiff

The news that cinematographer Jack Cardiff has died at the age of 94 triggered a rush of celluloid memories. Mostly Powell and Pressburger moments, it has to be said. The escalator taking the dead airmen up to heaven in A Matter of Life and Death, the redness of the lipstick Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) wears in Black Narcissus, and a leather-clad Marianne Faithfull in Girl on a Motorcycle.
Cardiff was a great director of photography, though his attempts at directing never really hit the bullseye. But he always had an eye for beauty and for colour. And he knew sometimes the best answer was the simplest. This is him talking about A Matter of Life and Death as recorded by the BFI: "The beginning of the picture when David Niven thinks that he's in heaven was taken on the English coast. Of course he's supposed to look and see this long shot of a beach, thinking he's in heaven. In the script is says 'Fade in' and Michael said, 'This sounds corny. I wish I could do something different.' So I said, 'Michael, look through the camera'. He did, and I went to the front and breathed on the lens so that it went foggy. After a few seconds it cleared. Michael was delighted".