The granddaughter of Denys N Coop tells the cinematography pioneer's story, from The Third Man to Richard Donner's Superman.
This article first appeared in Film Stories #19 in October 2020.
In 1978, two movies were released that would have a profound effect on the four year old me, and which have stayed with me to this day. The first was Wombling Free, a cheerful family musical starring Bonnie Langford and the wonderful David Tomblinson that I, unwittingly and almost certainly unknowingly, stumbled into the background action of one afternoon on Gerrard’s Cross common. But perhaps more importantly there was also the movie that many would say paved the way for the modern superhero blockbuster. Namely, Richard Donner’s seminal Superman.
The poster tagline for Superman grandly and confidently exclaimed ‘you will believe a man can fly’. I believed. I think we all did. But I had good reason to, as one of the people who took Christopher Reeve to those dizzying heights was my grandfather, Denys N Coop BSC.