Freddie Francis is dead at the age of 89.
I first became aware of his name as a kid, rabidly devouring issues of Famous monsters Of Filmland. Francis had a pretty good gig throughout the sixties and seventies as a director, sometimes for Gothic horror factory Hammer Films, usually for other production entities attempting to ape Hammer's formula. His work as a director seldom rose above the workmanlike (though Dracula Has Risen From The Grave is pretty good, and what a title!), and for somebody typed as a "horror specialist," Francis clearly had little affinity for the genre.
It wasn't until many years later I discovered Francis had another, much more distinguished career before his directing days, as a cinematographer for some of the most influential british films of the fifties and early sixties, including Room At The Top and Saturday Night And Sunday Morning. He won an Oscar for his fine work on Sons And Lovers.
His directing jobs sidelines his photography career throughout most of the sixties and seventies, until David Lynch hired him to shoot The Elephant Man--a masterpiece of the cameraman's art. Its widescreen black-and-white images recall Lynch's previous film, Eraserhead, recall Francis' own work for directors like Karel Reisz and Jack Clayton, conjure some of the Gothic shivers of classic British horror and, not incidentally, serves the story being told.
That was Francis' skill as a cinematographer, to find the proper visual style for the material at hand. His work on The Elephant Man was justly acclaimed, and his career was back on track. He worked with his old collaborator Karel Reisz on the very fine French Lieutenant's Woman, shot The Executioner's Song and was hired by Martin Scorsese to bring a stylish visual sheen to his otherwise misbegotten Cape Fear.
His most impressive late period work was again with David Lynch, conjuring the putrid greens, washed-out browns and vivid reds of Dune and beautifully capturing the beauty and loneliness of Iowa landscapes in The Straight Story.
That last one was Freddie Francis' final film as a cameraman. It's the story of an old man who realizes that the life he thought he wasted might have been worthwhile. Not a bad way to go out.
