Rest In Peace Freddie Francis

Hey, guys. Quint here. It's extremely sad to write up these things, especially when you really don't connect the dots on a person's career until looking up their credits after their death. Case in point is Freddie Francis. When I first got a heads up about his passing, it was the cinematographer of THE STRAIGHT STORY. A beautifully shot film, so I looked into his credits. He was not only a cinematographer, but also a prolific director in his earlier years. Let's look at his DP credits first. THE STRAIGHT STORY was his last, but he also shot Scorsese's remake of CAPE FEAR, GLORY, DUNE, THE ELEPHANT MAN and the great Deborah Kerr ghost story, THE INNOCENTS. That's just a sampling, but those are what caught my eye. As a director he worked a lot in the glory days of Hammer Horror, directing DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, THE CREEPING FLESH, THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF, THE GHOUL, TROG, the orignal TALES FROM THE CRYPT film and the bizarre Ringo Starr/Harry Nilsson horror musical SON OF DRACULA. He even was the 2nd Unit DP and main unit camera operator on John Huston's MOBY DICK, for God's sake. It's a sad thing to look at this line-up and just now appreciate this man, after his death. My thoughts will be with his friends, family and fans.