Directors Books

My original purpose in reading this book was to research the live-TV era in preparation for writing my own book. Research can sometimes be dry and boring. In this case, however, it was delightful. The author is telling of his first-hand experiences, so we know he's quite knowledgeable of the subject. Too, he has such an entertaining way of expressing himself that this book would be a pleasure to read just for fun. Thank you, Mr. Whelan, for a really good read.

I have read many books on Hawks, and I enjoy "Hawks on Hawks," very much.

This book, however, turned out to be interesting in a surprising way. Most of these interviews come from the late Sixties and early Seventies, when Hawks' career was ending. You can see Hawks putting a brave face on his late work, glad for the chance to be working, but once his career is over, he assesses those films very clearly. Also of interest is that the book shows how the first generation of film students came to Hawks, seeking his input on the political struggles of the era and the emerging women's movement. Seeing the clash between their expectations and Hawks' opinions is almost a movie in itself.

Also, Hawks expresses himself vigorously about other directors, something I hadn't really seen before. (He is especially harsh on post-WWII Capra.)

So even if you have read "Hawks on Hawks," "Howard Hawks Inteviews" will surprise you and give you a fuller portrait of the man behind all those terrific movies.

This is an enjoyable book for anyone who has ever considered even thinking about making movies. Full of funny anecdotes and recollections of his teenage film 'career', this book will inspire anyone to just grab their camcorder, round up a few friends, and shoot a little movie all their own... regardless of quality. Highly recommended.

So many "best of" film books out there simply re-state lists that you have seen a million times. Most of them are American films that tend to be more mainstream as opposed to international and obscure. "Icons of Film: The 20th Century," however, displays about 80 films chronilogically from 1920 to 1999. The films range for the obscure to the better known, low budget to high budget and across all nationalities. The film descriptions also don't simply describe the films, but their importance to film as a whole. A great, stylish guide.

The best book on acting/directing that I have ever read. Jose Quintero creates a moving picture of himself as man and artist as he tells the history of one of the most successful theaters of our time. He photographs, with words, some of the most successful actors of stage and screen including George C. Scott, Geraldine Page, Vivian Leigh, and Jason Robards. Please read this book.

Anybody who wants a thorough reference with bios and the life's work of the most productive Hollywood directors should buy this book. Second edition should be done. From early days, the importance of the director to a film is shown with fine acuity by this author. Better than any one work you'll find in print or online.

Atom Egoyan has made significant contributions to filmmaking, installation art and opera that contradict the widespread notion that formal experimentation and theoretical argument must, of necessity, be antithetical to the pleasures of creation and/or enjoyment of observational or experiential art. Expertly compiled and collaboratively edited by Ryerson University Department of English associate professors Monique Teschofen and Jennifer Burwell, "Image + Territory: Essays On Atom Egoyan" offers eighteen diversely informed and informative essays grouped around the themes of `Media Technologies, Aura, and Redemption'; `Diasporic Histories and the Exile of Meaning'; `Pathologies/Ontologies of the Visual'; and `Conversations'. Enhanced with the inclusion of an exhaustive Filmography, an extended Bibliography, Notes on Contributors, and an Index, "Image + Territory: Essays On Atom Egoyan" is offers impressive body of commentary pertaining to the study of theatre, film and opera which would prove to be a core contribution to university library collections and supplemental reading lists for academic studies.

I took an Ingmar Bergman class, and I therefore had to watch a lot of Bergman films as well as analyze and write about them. Many of Bergman films as many know are sometimes very hard to understand. However this book cleared up so many things for me in the films. The fact the book is mostly Bergman commenting on his own films is great, so you don't have someone else trying to interpret someone else's mind. I you need or want to better understand and enjoy Bergman's works, get this book!!

This is a wonderful, entertaining book that revisits life on the Lower East Side of New York that is long gone.It is a crafted story structure that any student of short story writing must read.

Though Roberto Rossellini is one of the least-known of the great filmmakers (many of his films are difficult to see for various reasons of copyright, etc.), he was incredibly influential and highly prolific. Though this book doesn't really help to explain his work, it does provide a wonderfully emotional and generous overview of his life, and his impact on his daughter, Isabella Rossellini. As a bonus, included in the book is the DVD of the short film "My Dad Is 100 Years Old", written by Isabella Rossellini and directed by the Canadian fantasist Guy Maddin. The film is utterly charming, but in all of this, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that Rossellini was one of the most important filmmakers of all time, whose NeoRealist classics ("Open City", "Paisan", "Germany Year Zero") proved to be influential, and whose films from the 1950s ("Stromboli", "Viaggio in Italia", "Fear") introduced themes of alienation and urban malaise which would be developed in films by Antonioni, Godard, Bertolucci and many others. And there is a sadness to the book, because Isabella Rossellini seems to have no consciousness of the importance of her father's actual achievements, she seems to fixate on how her father is seen in Hollywood commercial terms, which is totally incongruous. Yet it's so obvious that this is a labor of great love, and that feeling overwhelms everything else.