‘Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography’ (NR)

"In the beginning, there was nothing but a guy and a camera," the cinematographer Allen Daviau informs us at the beginning of the overwhelmingly beautiful documentary "Visions of Light: The Art of the Cinematographer."

For the people who shoot the movies, the image is everything. In the beginning, there was the light, and the guy with his camera -- the cinematographer -- is its Boswell, custodian, devotee and ardent suitor.

From the opening shots of the lightning-split sky during the dramatic thunderstorm, captured by Guy Greene for David Lean's "Oliver Twist" (1948), it is clear that "Vision of Light" is something more than your standard classroom audio-visual guide to the "prettiest" pictures in movie history.

Pieced together by editor Arnold Glassman, screenwriter and interviewer Todd McCarthy and producer Stuart Samuels out of conversations with some of the most gifted camera people in the world, the movie promises a certain definitiveness and then delivers brilliantly.

Focusing on the history and practice of the cinematographer's craft -- and on the movies that most impressed or influenced them -- this trio has not only compiled a first-rate oral introduction to cinematography, but also described the essential role played by camera people in the evolution of the medium, and how, through their innovations, they helped to create what one cinematographer describes as "a language far more eloquent than words."

This is great stuff. It's thorough, uniquely well informed and handsomely presented, using only the best-quality 35mm prints. But beyond that, there's so much feeling here -- especially in the appreciations given by the current generation -- that it often seems less a tour through history than the record of the artist's relationship to his muse.

Like a collection of love letters to the goddess of their rarefied and exclusive cult, these alchemists talk less about lenses and cranes than about light and shadow. They share not only their techniques but their motives, their feelings and their intentions. And for a film about the processes of moviemaking, nothing better could be desired.

The admiration for the pioneers of the art by this generation verges on awe. The movie takes us from the silent days -- which is described as "the golden age for cinematography" -- through the great period of the Hollywood studio "house" styles, the influence of the German expressionists on the films of the '40s and '50s and of the French new wave on the films of the '60s.

We are also treated to a selection of, quite simply, the most thrilling movie images ever recorded, from Billy Bitzer's dramatic shots in "Way Down East" to Arthur Miller's photography on "How Green Was My Valley" and Gregg Toland's work on "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Citizen Kane."

For all the homage paid to these meticulous professionals, the filmmakers follow the cinematographers' lead in shunning the label "artists," choosing instead the more modest working-man's term of "craftsman." They emphasize their roles as collaborators, partners and interpreters, searching for just the right images to tell the author's story. But when you look at the incredible body of work left by men like William Daniels (who was Garbo's mirror) or Karl Strauss on "Sunrise" (1927) -- or how the so-called New York "street style" of Ted McCord ("Young Man With a Horn") and Boris Kaufman ("On the Waterfront") was elaborated on by Michael Chapman in "Taxi Driver" and Gordon Willis in the "Godfather" films -- there's no doubt about the passionate commitment and creativity of these gifted and much underappreciated magicians of light. If you care about movies, this film is absolutely required viewing.