13 May 2009

Jack Cardiff’s Technicolor Shoes

The recent death of cinematographer Jack Cardiff was a reminder of some great movies. As well as the obvious Powell and Pressburger projects, I can never resist catching guilty pleasures The Vikings and The Long Ships on TV.

I somehow only got around to seeing the whole of The Red Shoes a few months ago. The overall melodrama didn’t work for me, but the ballet itself (part 1; part 2) in the middle is another matter. It’s an amazing sequence that successfully merges stage with film, and well worth watching on as big a screen as you can find, even if (like me) you have little or no interest in ballet/dance/musicals/theatre.

Cardiff’s later work included Rambo and Conan the Destroyer, making for a somewhat varied obituary reel.