Flesh Gothic by Edward Lee5/13/2023 ![]() ![]() After The Innocents he teamed up one more time with Karl Reisz for Night Must Fall (1964), an interesting study of a psychotic killer played by Albert Finney, before taking a 16 year hiatus from cinematography to direct. Francis’ wistful cinematography, from the baroque lighting to the precise framing, played a large role in creating the film’s brilliantly gothic atmosphere. ![]() ![]() ![]() In more precise terms, placing the decision of whether or not the story’s ghosts are real or imagined by the central character –a sexually repressed governess played by Deborah Kerr– in the mind of the viewer. The adaptation of Henry James’ Turn of the Screw remains one of the most effective horror films to place ambiguity above resolution. Francis then reached his pinnacle with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961), one of the most ravishing black and white, cinemascope films ever made. Francis began his career way back in 1943 as a camera operator on The New Lot before graduating to cinematographer, where he quickly rose to the top of his field working on Sons and Lovers (Jack Cardiff, 1960) and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karl Reisz, 1960, the former being awarded with an Academy Award). The recent death of Freddie Francis (on March 17, 2007) at the age of 89 signaled the loss of one of Britain’s premier cinematic artisans and one of the last remaining icons of the great Hammer Films studio. By Donato Totaro Volume 11, Issue 4 / April 2007 23 minutes (5579 words) ![]()
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