#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Next time you sit down and watch your favourite early Peter Cushing
Hammer film, and marvel at the beautiful gothic atmosphere, the rich
colours, the frightening shadows... that 'Hammer Look and Style',
remember this man, ace cinematographer Jack Asher BSC, a true magician!
He did indeed paint with light! Best known for his work with Hammer,
The Curse of Frankenstein, The Brides of Dracula, Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula / Horror
of Dracula, The Mummy and The Revenge of Frankenstein. Jack was born in
London, on this very day in 1916. A REAL craftsman, who applied his
skills along with Terence Fisher and the Hammer team, and gave us these
rare feasts which live on, OUT SHINING many films and features today! Jack left us in April
1991, aged 74. Happy Birthday Jack!
ANOTHER OF JACK ASHER'S GREATEST: THE BRIDES OF DRACULA and below, another excellent documentary from DONALD FEARNEY on the making of this Peter Cushing and Hammer film classic . .
ABOVE: NEW SERIES STARTING FOR #CHRISTOPHERLEE SATURDAYS,
THIS SATURDAY!
Without question, one of the things I love best about Hammer Films is how they are lit. Today, despite a seemingly endless supply of technology and budget, most movies seem to be shot completely in the dark, where the viewer has no idea what's even happening -- because they can't SEE anything. But Hammer has always done a fantastic job of illuminating the scenes while yet preserving the idea that it's supposed to be night time. I wish that the film industry today would pay a little more attention to the impeccable work of greats like Jack Asher who could show them how it's really done!
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ReplyDeleteJack Asher's painterly style deserves every bit of recognition, yes. One of the all-time great British cinematographers along with Jack Cardiff and Freddies Francis and Young. And his contribution to horror cannot be overestimated, especially how he pioneered a sort of non-diegetic spot lighting that denoted the impending or just-off-screen presence of evil and the supernatural with just the use of a color (green in Hound and The Mummy, lavender-purple in Brides). Don't know if he was a direct influence or whether it was some meeting of like minds across the continent, but this spot lighting / atmosphere trope went on to appear in the great color gothics of Mario Bava, and from there to one of the finest horror films of all time, Argento's Suspiria. But Asher was right there in the beginning. A true innovator!
ReplyDelete-Abraham Kawa.