GEOFFREY UNSWORTH

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2: With dir Richard Donner [right]

#3: "Superman" [1977]

GEOFFREY UNSWORTH

Born: 26 May 1914, Leigh [or Atherton], Greater Manchester, Lancashire, UK., as Geoffrey Gilyard Unsworth.

Died: 28 October 1978, Brittany, France [during the filming of 'Tess'].

Career: Entered film industry as c.asst in 1932 at Gaumont-British Studios in Lime Grove. Joined Technicolor in 1937 and became c.op. In 1942 he became doph on color shorts. In 1946 he left Technicolor and joined Rank as doph until 1959.

In 1960, he ph a screen-test [15m] with Albert Finney for 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' [subsequently titled 'Lawrence of Arabia']. Ph commercials.

Was a member of the BSC. Was awarded the Order of the British Empire [OBE] in 1976.

Was married to continuity/script superv Margaret 'Maggie' Sibley.

Awards: BSC Award nom [1956] for 'A Town Like Alice'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1964] for 'Tamahine'; BSC Award [1964], 'Oscar' AA nom [1964; color] & BAFTA Film Award [1965] for 'Becket'; BAFTA Film Award [1969] for '2001: A Space Odyssey'; 'Oscar' AA [1972], BSC Award [1972] & BAFTA Film Award [1973] for 'Cabaret'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1974] & BAFTA Film Award nom [1975] for 'Murder on the Orient Express'; BSC Award [1977] & BAFTA Film Award [1978] for 'A Bridge Too Far'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1979] for 'Superman'; 'Oscar' AA [1980; shared], NYFCC Award [1980], LAFCA Award [1980], BSC Award nom [1981; shared] & BAFTA Film Award [1982; shared] for 'Tess'.

'When Geoffrey Unsworth died in 1978, the film industry lost one of its best-loved and most accomplished cinematographers. Although his work was renowned for its lush qualities, it was his versatility and craftsmanship, rather than any distinctive personal style, which elevated him to the top ranks of his profession. Unsworth was an artistic chameleon, capable of adapting to a wide range of directors, genres, and environmental conditions, and of evoking radically different cinematic moods. Ambitious, expensively budgeted costume dramas such as 'Cromwell', and intimate, modestly financed films such as 'Three Sisters', might pose different technical and aesthetic challenges, but variations in scale had no bearing on the amount of professionalism and enthusiasm which Unsworth invested. He enjoyed making period films such as 'Becket' because they provided him with opportunities to use cinematography's basic grammar to establish ambience and verisimilitude. Yet he was equally adept at creating visual moods appropriate to films set in our own time, such as 'The Return of the Pink Panther'. Although he learned his craft in the artificial and malleable context of studio production, he proved capable of superior work in the intractable and unpredictable conditions of location filmmaking, as 'A Bridge Too Far' amply demonstrated.

His best work was realized in the 1960s and 1970s. The frosty magnificence of '2001: A Space Odyssey', the elegance of 'Murder on the Orient Express', the chimerical aura of 'Zardoz', the ethereal and comic-book elements of 'Superman', and the grandeur of 'Becket' and 'Cromwell', and the softened representation of war in 'A Bridge Too Far', all owe a great deal to Unsworth's work. His finest accomplishment, however, was undoubtedly 'Cabaret'. The grotesquerie of the Kit Kat Klub, and the decaying fabric of pre-Second World War Germany are impeccably rendered by Unsworth's expressionistic camerawork. The effort to draw the cinema audience into the mood of the nightclub by aligning its visual perspective with that of the clientele is highly successful.

Unsworth enjoyed a harmonious and unusually long partnership with his camera assistant and operator Peter MacDonald. Their association spanned two decades and about 30 features. MacDonald describes Unsworth as an "impressionist," and has said that he was an intuitive, as opposed to a technical, cameraman who preferred to be guided by his instincts rather than by elaborate advance planning in the selection of lighting, angles, and composition. He was not renowned as an innovator, but he was always willing to experiment. If called upon to execute a particularly difficult shot, he would respond by searching for a solution rather than by dismissing the idea as technically impossible.

Unsworth was committed to the principle that the cameraman's input should be unobtrusive. He believed that cinematography should not call attention to itself but support directorial intent and the flow of the action. Yet, even though he believed that his contribution should be imperceptible, there is little doubt that his craftsmanship and artistry have left an indelible impression on modern cinema.' [From article by Fiona Valentine.]

FILMS
1941	The People's Land [Ralph Keene] c; doc/10m
1941	World Garden [Robin Carruthers] c; doc/11m
1942	Teeth of Steel [Ronald H. Riley] c; doc/10m
1942	Gardens of England [Michael Hankinson] c; doc/9m
1942	Rhapsody in White [Richard Massingham] c; advert/3m; for Lever Brothers (Persil brand)
1942	Symphony in Colour [prod: Lintas] c; advert/3m; for Lever Brothers (Persil brand)
1942	Western Approaches/The Raider [Pat Jackson] c; doc/83m; cph: Jack Cardiff, Eric Asbury, Denny Densham, Edwin Catford, C.M. Pennington-Richards & Edward Scaife; prod Crown Film Unit

1942	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp/[The Adventures of] Colonel Blimp [Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger] c; co-Technicolor Cameramen; ph: Georges Périnal
1943	Power on the Land [Ralph Keene] c; doc/18m
1943	Scottish Mazurka [Hans M. Nieter] c; doc/19m; cph: Jack Cardiff
1944	Men of Science [?] ?; doc/27m
1945	Make Fruitful the Land [Ken Annakin] c; doc/16m
1945	Meet the Navy [Alfred Travers] b&w-c; as Technicolor lighting cameraman; cph: Ernest Palmer & Moray Grant
1946	The Laughing Lady [Paul L. Stein] c
1947	The Man Within/The Smugglers [Bernard Knowles] c
1947	Jassy [Bernard Knowles] c
1947	Blanche Fury [Marc Allégret] c; ext ph; int ph: Guy Green
1947	Scott of the Antarctic [Charles Frend] c; cph: Jack Cardiff; loc ph: Osmond Borradaile
1948	The Blue Lagoon [Frank Launder] c
1948	Fools Rush In [John Paddy Carstairs] b&w
1949	The Spider and the Fly [Robert Hamer] b&w
1950	Double Confession [Ken Annakin] b&w
1950	Trio [seg #3 'Sanatorium' dir by Harold French] b&w; other ph: Reginald Wyer
1950	An American in Paris [Vincente Minnelli] c; loc ph Paris; ph: Alfred Gilks & (final ballet) John Alton
1950	The Clouded Yellow [Ralph Thomas] b&w
1951	Where No Vultures Fly/Ivory Hunter [Harry Watt] c; game ph: Paul Beeson; 2uc: David Millin
1951	Penny Princess [Val Guest] c
1952	Made in Heaven [John Paddy Carstairs] c
1952	The Planter's Wife/Outpost in Malaya/White Blood [Ken Annakin] b&w; loc ph: Peter Hennessy
1952	The Story of Robin Hood [and His Merrie Men] [Ken Annakin] c; 2uc; ph: Guy Green
1953	Turn the Key Softly [Jack Lee] b&w
1953	The Sword and the Rose/When Knighthood Was in Flower [Ken Annakin] c; 2uc: Cyril Knowles; also 2-part ep of tv-series 'Disneyland' (1956)
1953	The Million Pound Note/Man with a Million [Ronald Neame] c
1954	The Purple Plain [Robert Parrish] c
1954	Simba [- Mark of Mau Mau!] [Brian Desmond Hurst] c; 2uc: Eric Cross & Skeets Kelly
1954	The Seekers/Land of Fury [Ken Annakin] c; loc ph: Peter Hennessy
1955	Eric Winstone Bandshow [Michael Carreras] cs/c; mus short/29m
1955	Passage Home [Roy Ward Baker] b&w
1955	Value for Money [Ken Annakin] vv/c
1955	A Town Like Alice/Rape of Malaya [Jack Lee] b&w
1955	Eric Winstone's Stagecoach [Michael Carreras] b&w; mus short/30m
1956	Tiger in the Smoke [Roy Ward Baker] b&w
1956	Jacqueline [Roy Ward Baker] b&w
1956	Hell Drivers/Hard Drivers [C. Raker Endfield] vv/b&w
1957	Edmundo Ros Half Hour [Michael Carreras] c; mus short/29m
1957	Dangerous Exile [Brian Desmond Hurst] vv/c

1958	A Night to Remember [Roy Ward Baker] b&w; 2uc: Skeets Kelly
1958	Bachelor of Hearts [Wolf Rilla] c
1958	Whirlpool [Lewis Allen] c
1959	North West Frontier/Flame Over India [J. Lee Thompson] cs/c; 2uc: H.A.R. Thomson

[Right] with Nancy Kwan - "The World of Suzie Wong"

1960	The World of Suzie Wong [Richard Quine (replaced Jean Negulesco)] c
1960	On the Double [Melville Shavelson] p/c; 2uc; ph: Harry Stradling Sr.
1960	The 300 Spartans/Lion of Sparta [Rudolph Maté] cs/c; 2uc: Jerry Kalogeratos & Cyril Knowles
1961	Don't Bother to Knock/Why Bother to Knock [Cyril Frankel] cs/c
1962	Playboy of the Western World [Brian Desmond Hurst] c
1962	The Main Attraction [Daniel Petrie] MetroScope/c
1963	Tamahine [Philip Leacock] cs/c
1963	An Evening with the Royal Ballet [Anthony Havelock-Allan (seg #1 & 3) & Anthony Asquith (seg #2 & 4)] c; ballet film/85m; ph seg #1 'La Valse', #3 'Le Corsaire' & #4 'Aurora's Wedding'; other ph: Christopher Challis (#2)

1963	Becket [Peter Glenville] p (+ 70bu)/c
1964	Genghis Khan [Henry Levin] p/c; 2uc: Tony Braun
1964	Pop Gear/Go Go Mania [Frederic Goode] ts/c; music film/68m
1965	You Must Be Joking! [Michael Winner] b&w
1965	Othello [Stuart Burge & John Dexter] p/c
1965	Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad [Richard Quine & (uncred reshoots) Alexander Mackendrick] c; 2uc: Skeets Kelly; process ph: Farciot Edouart; Unsworth took over from doph Charles Lawton Jr., who died a few days before the end of shooting; released in 1967

With dir Stanley Kubrick [right] - "2001: A Space Odyssey"

1965	2001: A Space Odyssey [Stanley Kubrick] sp70/c; had to leave the prod after the first 6 months; addph: John Alcott, Gilbert Taylor (uncred) & Michael Wilson (uncred); Monument Valley ph: Robert Gaffney; spec pfx: Stanley Kubrick (des/dir), Bryan Loftus, Bruce Logan, Douglas Trumbull (superv), a.o.; vfx ph: David Osborne; add matte ph: Richard Yuricich
1966	Half a Sixpence [George Sidney] p (+ 70bu)/c
1967	The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom [Joseph McGrath] c
1968	The Assassination Bureau [Limited] [Basil Dearden] c
1968	The Reckoning/A Matter of Honour [Jack Gold] c
1968	The Dance of Death [David Giles] c; 149m
1969	The Magic Christian [Joseph McGrath] c
1969	Cromwell [Ken Hughes] p (+ 70bu)/c; 2uc: Wilkie Cooper
1970	Goodbye Gemini/Twinsanity [Alan Gibson] c
1970	Three Sisters [Laurence Olivier & John Sichel] c; ep of 'American Film Theatre'-series
1970	Say Hello to Yesterday [Alvin Rakoff] c
1970	Unman, Wittering and Zigo [John Mackenzie] c
1971	Cabaret [ Bob Fosse] c
1971	Baxter! [Lionel Jeffries] c
1972	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [William Sterling] tao35/c
1972	Love and Pain [and the Whole Damn Thing] [Alan J. Pakula] c
1973	Voices/Nightmare [Kevin Billington] c
1973	Don Quixote [Rudolf Nureyev & Robert Helpmann] c; ballet film/111m
1973	The Abdication [Anthony Harvey] c
1973	Zardoz [John Boorman] p/c; process ph: Charles Staffell
1974	The Internecine Project [Ken Hughes] c

1974	The Return of the Pink Panther [Blake Edwards] p/c
1974	Murder on the Orient Express [Sidney Lumet] p/c; process ph: Charles Staffell
1975	Lucky Lady [Stanley Donen] c; 2uc: Ernest Day & Austin Dempster; battle ph: Ricou Browning
1975	Royal Flash [Richard Lester] c; 2uc: Paul Wilson
1976	A Matter of Time [Vincente Minnelli] c
1976	A Bridge Too Far [Richard Attenborough] p/c; 2uc: Harry Waxman; aph: Robin Browne

#1: With actor Christopher Reeve - "Superman"

#2: "Superman"

1977	Superman [Richard Donner] p (+ 70bu)/c; addph: Alex Thomson, Jack Atcheler, Sol Negrin (New York), Robert E. Collins (New Mexico) & Reginald H. Morris (Alberta); model ph: Paul Wilson; aph: Peter Allwork; creative dir process ph: Denys Coop; dedicated to G. Unsworth
1977	Superman II [Richard Lester & (uncred) Richard Donner] p/c; shot some scenes dir by R. Donner; film was finished in 1979-80 by ph Robert Paynter; in 2006 'Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut' was released on DVD
1978	The First Great Train Robbery/The Great Train Robbery [Michael Crichton] p/c; in memoriam G. Unsworth

[Center] with Nastassja Kinski and Roman Polanski - "Tess"

1978

Tess [Roman Polanski] p/c; cph: Ghislain Cloquet (finished film after the death of G. Unsworth); dedicated to Sharon (Tate)

TELEVISION
1972	Columbo [ep #13 'Dagger of the Mind' dir by Richard Quine] 45-part series, 1968-78; 2nd season, 1972-73; cph: Harry L. Wolf

MISCELLANEOUS
1937	The Drum/Drums [Zoltan Korda] clapper-loader; ph: Georges Périnal
1938	The Four Feathers [Zoltan Korda] c.asst; ph: Georges Périnal
1939	Main Street of Paris/Paris on the Seine/Paris vu de la Seine [Jean C. Bernard; doc/25m] asst photographer; ph: Jack Cardiff; prod for the New York World's Fair
1942	The Great Mr. Handel [Norman Walker] c.op; ph: Jack Cardiff & Claude Friese-Greene

[Right] with doph Jack Cardiff

1946

A Matter of Life and Death/Stairway to Heaven [Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger] c.op; ph: Jack Cardiff