The American Society of Cinematographers fetes legendary English cinematographer/director Freddie Francis, BSC with its International Award.
One hallmark of a dedicated artist and true professional is the willingness to accept new challenges — an attribute that cinematographer/director Freddie Francis has exhibited throughout his continuing lifetime of work behind the camera. Indeed, his credits as a director of photography include such disparate films as Time Without Pity, Room at the Top, Sons and Lovers (which earned Academy and BSC Awards for Best Cinematography), The Innocents, The Elephant Man (which garnered Francis another BSC Award and a BAFTA nomination), The Executioner's Song, The French Lieutenant's Woman (BSC Award, BAFTA nomination) Glory (Academy and BSC Awards, BAFTA nomination), The Man in the Moon, the hair-raising 1991 remake of Cape Fear (another BAFTA nomination), and recently completed a feature film shot in the Sony high-definition digital video format.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to cinema history, the American Society of Cinematographers will present Francis with its International Award at the organization's 12th annual awards gala, to be held on March 8 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Previous recipients of the honor are Gabriel Figueroa, Henri Alekan, Raoul Coutard and Francis' longtime friends and fellow BSC members Freddie Young and Jack Cardiff.
During the past year, Francis was also honored by the members of the British Society of Cinematographers, who presented their esteemed peer with a Lifetime Achievement Award (announced by Sir Sydney Samuelson and presented by Oswald Morris, BSC).
Several months ago, this reporter was warmly welcomed by Freddie and Pamela Francis at their stylish home located just outside of London. The cameraman smiled as he described his feelings about being the sixth recipient of the ASC's International Award. "It was [then ASC president] Owen Roizman who called to tell me about it, and I was absolutely thrilled," he said. "As a kid, I wanted nothing more than to be a part of the film business. I really looked up to the many talented members of the ASC, such as Gregg Toland. Over the years, I've visited the ASC several times and met many of the people I'd admired; to get this award from them is an absolute highlight in my career. In a way, it brings me closer to those who inspired me."
Roizman, a co-chairman of the ASC Awards committee, comments, "I think Freddie Francis is a perfect choice for the honor not only because of the diverse work he has done in both England and the United States, but because he is still a vital member of our profession. That says something about his artistry and his dedication to the craft of cinematography."
Committee member John Bailey, ASC recalls, "When I started film school at USC in the mid-Sixties, there were two kinds of films that most of us went to see: the art-driven films made by people like Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, and the guilty-pleasure films, which included Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and - for me - the Hammer Studios horror films, a number of which were directed by Freddie Francis. He'd become a director at that point in his career, and he made quite a number of those films in a very short period of time for Hammer and a few other English studios. I remember how exciting and wonderful they were; while they had their B-movie roots, they were incredibly rich in their imagery, expressive, and fun to watch. They were often shot in Techniscope - a spherical, deep-focus widescreen process similar to Super 35 - and I recall how those pictures were as important to me as the films made by Antonioni, Bergman and François Truffaut.
"I'm very pleased that Freddie Francis is being given the ASC International Award for his considerable body of work as both a cinematographer and a director who had a very strong influence on a generation of American filmmakers - the film school brats of the 1960s!"
When asked how his long career began, Francis wryly responds, "As a young man, I was in love with actress Joan Blondell! Of course, she double-crossed me and married a cinematographer, George Barnes [ASC]. So I had to become a cameraman!"
Kidding aside, Francis notes that he had dabbled with still photography in his youth, but actually thought of becoming an engineer. "I had this romantic notion of building bridges across great rivers in remote countries, but in those days, the schools would have had in me in training to work in an ironmonger's shop," he recalls.
Francis was later assigned to write an essay on a personal interest. Fascinated by movies, he selected filmmaking as his subject and visited Gaumont British Studios for research purposes. "Apart from Joan Blondell, I got hooked on the whole thing right then and decided that filmmaking was what I wanted to do."
After briefly apprenticing for a still photographer, Francis found work as a clapper boy at British and Dominion Studios, which primarily made "quota quickies" - low-budget productions financed by Paramount Pictures so that the studio could gain access to the lucrative British market for their Hollywood films. He explains, "Paramount would spend as little money as possible on these horrible pictures, which we made on a 10- or 12-day schedule. Films were just a way to make money or find a job for your girlfriend, and then they were never shown anywhere other than the Plaza Theater in London, which was owned by Paramount! I think they were even screened in the morning when the theater was being cleaned - Paramount was just fulfilling their obligation.
"This might sound very anti-British, but filmmaking here was a joke in 1933 when I started out! Aside from Freddie Young and Alfred Hitchcock, there were very few people to learn from and emulate. But I was observant, so if I learned anything about cinematography by working on these films, it was all from others' so-called mistakes! Regardless, it was good experience. A lot of good people came through those channels. In a way, our education was financed by the Americans."
Later, while working at Pinewood, Francis became a loader, a focus-puller, and then an operator for a short time before World War II engulfed England. Drafted into the army, he discovered that there was a stills and photographic unit. "They had a lot of equipment, but nobody knew how to use it," he remembers. "I got in there to become a one-man film unit for a while, making training films. Those in command later decided that movies could be used to boost morale, and established a professional film unit, the Army Kinematograph Services. Carol Reed, Thorold Dickinson, Freddie Young and a lot of people of that standing were in it, and I joined them as well."
[ continued on page 2 ]