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Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director whose filmmaking career spanned over 60 years, from the late 1930s until the late 2000s. One of the most celebrated British cinematographers of his time, he received numerous accolades for his photography, including two Academy Awards and five BAFTA Awards. As a director he was best known for his , notably those made for production companies Amicus and Hammer in the 1960s and 1970s.
Francis started his film career as a cameraman for John Huston and for the directing team of Powell and Pressburger before becoming a cinematographer for notable British films such as Jack Clayton's drama Room at the Top (1959), Jack Cardiff's Sons and Lovers (1960) – which earned him his first Oscar – and the psychological horror film The Innocents (1961). He became well known for his rich black-and-white CinemaScope framing, and was regarded as one of the top cameraman in the British film industry. He made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Two and Two Make Six (1962), but gained the most attention for his horror films and thrillers. During the 1960s he was a house director for Hammer Productions, where he made Paranoiac (1963; an early starring vehicle for Oliver Reed), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). In the 1970s he worked mainly for Amicus Productions, for which he notably directed the horror anthology Tales from the Crypt (1972).
After nearly two decades as a director, Francis returned to cinematography with The Elephant Man (1980). This established a collaboration with director David Lynch, for whom he also shot Dune (1984), and The Straight Story (1999). He won his second Oscar for the American Civil War film Glory (1989). He also earned acclaim for his work on Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), and Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991).
In addition to his Oscar and BAFTA wins, Francis received an international achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 1997, a lifetime achievement award from the British Society of Cinematographers the same year, and BAFTA's special achievement award in 2004.
Francis was also the regular cameraman of Oswald Morris. His first feature with Morris was Golden Salamander (1950). The two also worked together on Knave of Hearts and three films directed by John Huston: Moulin Rouge, Beat the Devil, and Moby Dick. Francis was given a chance to lead the second unit of Moby Dick and shortly after became a full director of photography on A Hill in Korea (1956), which was shot in Portugal.
For his work on Jack Cardiff's Sons and Lovers he received his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film depicts societal repression in a small coal-mining town during the early 1900s. In the 1961 article of American Cinematographer, the magazine praised his work by stating that the film has "unusual visual beauty and is marked by photographic ingenuity throughout that easily makes it one of the finest monochrome photographic achievements to come along in some time." Cinematographer John Bailey also praised his work saying, "Then I saw Sons and Lovers, and I was knocked out by the poetry and visual beauty of the film. The camerawork was unlike anything I had seen before in an English-language movie."
He next collaborated with director Jack Clayton for the psychological drama film The Innocents starring Deborah Kerr. Francis worked with the CinemaScope aspect ratio. He used colour filters and used the lighting rig to create darkness consuming everything at the edge of the frame. Francis used deep focus and narrowly aimed the lighting towards the centre of the screen. Francis and Clayton framed the film in an unusually bold style, with characters prominent at the edge of the frame and their faces at the centre in profile in some sequences, which, again, created both a sense of intimacy and unease, based on the lack of balance in the image. For many of the interior night scenes, Francis painted the sides of the lenses with black paint to allow for a more intense, "elegiac" focus, and used candles custom-made with four to five wicks twined together to produce more light.
The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael praised Francis for his work, writing: "I don't know where this cinematographer Freddie Francis sprang from. You may recall that in the last year just about every time a British movie is something to look at, it turns out to be his".
Also in the mid-1960s, Francis began an association with Amicus Productions, a company that, like Hammer, specialised in horror pictures. Most of the films he made for Amicus were anthologies, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Torture Garden (1967) and Tales from the Crypt (1972). He also did two films for the short-lived company Tyburn Films; these were The Ghoul and Legend of the Werewolf (both 1975). Francis was more than competent as a director, and his horror films possessed an undeniable visual flair. He regretted that he was seldom able to move beyond genre material as a director. He directed the little-seen Son of Dracula (1974), starring Harry Nilsson in the title role and Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician. Of the films Francis directed, one of his favorites was Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly (1970). Mumsy... is a black comedy about an isolated, upper-class family whose relationships and behaviours lead to deadly consequences. The film was not very well received by mainstream critics but has gone on to become a minor cult favorite among fans. In 1985, Francis directed The Doctor and the Devils, based on the crimes of Burke and Hare.
Francis gained a new-found industry and critical respect as a cinematographer. During the 1980s he twice more collaborated with Lynch, on the science fiction film Dune (1984) and the drama The Straight Story (1999), which was shot on location in Iowa in 23 days. One of his favorite camera operators was Gordon Hayman.
He worked on films such as The Executioner's Song (1982), Clara's Heart (1988). Francis's last film as director was 1987's Dark Tower (no relation to the 2004 book of the same name by Stephen King). Francis thought it was a bad picture, owing to poor special effects, and had his name taken off it. His name was substituted by the name Ken Barnett.
With his work on the American Civil War drama Glory (1989), directed by Edward Zwick, he earned his second Academy Award. David E. Williams of American Cinematographer wrote: "..Francis and director Edward Zwick studied period stills by famed photographer Matthew Brady and others. The stark black-and-white images suggested a realistic approach devoid of filtration or sepia tones, relying instead on the credibility of the locations and production design to simulate the era. Photographically, Francis rendered Glory simply and honestly, with much of the intimate drama revealed in the light and shadow playing upon soldiers' faces". Francis said of the experience: "I'm a great believer in the futility of war and I believe we captured that idea quite well in several parts of Glory. That was always in the back of my mind."
Francis provided the cinematography for the critical favorite The Man in the Moon as well as Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear (both 1991). Francis' suggested that he earned the job working with Scorsese was a recommendation that came from director Michael Powell. Francis again sought to utilize deep focus in order to keep the audience anxiously searching the frame for the psychopathic Max Cady played by Robert De Niro. Francis spoke fondly of his working relationship with Scorsese saying,
Francis' final feature film as a director of photography was a reunion with David Lynch the small intimate drama The Straight Story (1999).
Freddie's final film work was as cinematographer on the music video "Never Ever" by All Saints. It was directed by filmmaker Sean Ellis. The video won best British Video of the Year at the 1998 Brit Awards.
Francis' photography favoured black-and-white, though he did work in colour for much of his latter career, and emphasized lighting and framing over colour schemes. In an interview with The Guardian, Francis said "I still photograph things in black and white, but the fact that it's colour stock means they come out in colour. I know that sounds rather facetious ... but I prefer to think in terms of light and shade than in colour."
Director Martin Scorsese, who worked with Francis on Cape Fear, cited Francis's use of a Gothic fiction atmosphere. "He understands the obligatory scene of a young maiden with a candle walking down a long hall towards a door. 'Don't go in that door!' you yell, and she goes in! Every time, she goes in! So I say to him, 'This has to look like The Hall,' and he understands that."
Francis died, aged 89, from the lingering effects of a stroke.
| 1956 | A Hill in Korea | Julian Amyes | |
| 1957 | Time Without Pity | Joseph Losey | |
| The Scamp | Wolf Rilla | ||
| 1958 | Next to No Time | Henry Cornelius | |
| Virgin Island | Pat Jackson | ||
| 1959 | Room at the Top | Jack Clayton | |
| The Battle of the Sexes | Charles Crichton | ||
| 1960 | Never Take Sweets from a Stranger | Cyril Frankel | |
| Sons and Lovers | Jack Cardiff | ||
| Saturday Night and Sunday Morning | Karel Reisz | ||
| 1961 | The Innocents | Jack Clayton | |
| 1964 | Night Must Fall | Karel Reisz | |
| 1980 | The Elephant Man | David Lynch | |
| 1981 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Karel Reisz | |
| 1983 | The Jigsaw Man | Terence Young | |
| 1984 | Memed, My Hawk | Peter Ustinov | |
| Dune | David Lynch | ||
| 1985 | Return to Oz | Walter Murch | Uncredited |
| Jonathan Sanger | |||
| 1988 | Clara's Heart | Robert Mulligan | |
| 1989 | Her Alibi | Bruce Beresford | |
| Brenda Starr | Robert Ellis Miller | With Peter Stein | |
| Glory | Edward Zwick | ||
| 1991 | Cape Fear | Martin Scorsese | |
| The Man in the Moon | Robert Mulligan | ||
| 1992 | School Ties | Robert Mandel | |
| 1994 | Princess Caraboo | Michael Austin | |
| 1996 | Rainbow | Bob Hoskins | |
| 1999 | The Straight Story | David Lynch |
TV series
| 1961 | The Magical World of Disney | William Fairchild | Episode "The Horsemasters" |
TV movies
| 1982 | The Executioner's Song | Lawrence Schiller | |
| 1989 | Peter Cushing: One Way Ticket to Hollywood | Alan J. W. Bell | Documentary film |
| 1990 | The Plot to Kill Hitler | Lawrence Schiller | |
| 1993 | A Life in the Theatre | Gregory Mosher |
| 1962 | Two and Two Make Six | |
| The Brain | ||
| 1963 | The Day of the Triffids | Uncredited |
| Paranoiac | ||
| 1964 | Nightmare | |
| The Evil of Frankenstein | ||
| Traitor's Gate | ||
| 1965 | Dr. Terror's House of Horrors | |
| Hysteria | ||
| The Skull | ||
| 1966 | The Psychopath | |
| 1967 | The Deadly Bees | |
| They Came from Beyond Space | ||
| Torture Garden | ||
| 1968 | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | |
| The Intrepid Mr. Twigg | Short film | |
| 1970 | Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly | |
| Trog | ||
| 1971 | The Vampire Happening | |
| 1972 | Tales from the Crypt | |
| 1973 | The Creeping Flesh | |
| Tales That Witness Madness | ||
| 1974 | Son of Dracula | |
| Craze | ||
| 1975 | The Ghoul | |
| Legend of the Werewolf | ||
| 1977 | Golden Rendezvous | Uncredited |
| 1985 | The Doctor and the Devils | |
| 1987 | Dark Tower | Credited as "Ken Barnett" |
Writer (Credited as "Ken Barnett")
| 1967-1868 | Man in a Suitcase | 4 episodes |
| 1967-1969 | The Saint | 2 episodes |
| 1969 | The Champions | Episode "Shadow of the Panther" |
| 1973-1974 | The Adventures of Black Beauty | 5 episodes |
| 1974 | CBS Children's Film Festival | Episode "A Member of the Family" |
| 1976 | Star Maidens | 5 episodes |
| 1979 | Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson | 4 episodes |
| 1996 | Tales from the Crypt | Episode "Last Respects" |
| 1960 | Best Cinematography | Sons and Lovers | |
| 1989 | Glory |
BAFTA Awards
| 1980 | Best Cinematography | The Elephant Man | |
| 1981 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | ||
| 1989 | Glory | ||
| 1990 | Cape Fear | ||
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