Community Video Books

The author says it himself -- he read 500 books about Hollywood, but he didn't interview anybody, as he felt that everybody had already been interviewed and nothing new would emerge. As a readable summary of other people's research, it's pretty good, and it's entertainingly written -- but I question his arrogance in assuming that he did not need to do any original legwork of his own. When he wrote this book (1986) many of the people and events were still within living memory, and the book would have been the richer and more authentic if he had talked to some of them. Even if they *have* been interviewed before.

"City of Nets" is far and away the best popular history of a Hollywood era yet written, or likely to be. Friedrich's rich, evocative overview is at once sweeping and intimate, meticulous and eminently readable, elegiac and hilarious. He captures the studio era on the cusp of a greatness largely undone by war and the elevation of mediocrity, yet limns as well the rise of the great Billy Wilder and others who would continue to nettle and challenge moviegoers -- and the movie business -- for decades to come. (Fittingly, he ends his book with the advent of Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard," the greatest satire on Hollywood ever made.) The book is a must for serious students of the movies as well as the casual reader who doesn't yet know a great deal about the subject. This is captivating stuff. I've never read a book on Hollywood I've loved more or gone back to more often.

This book is one of the reasons why I became a devoted reader of Otto Friedrich's work. Two others were his excellent series in Time about Berlin in the rise of Hitler along with "Going Crazy," a brilliant study of psychoanalysis with analyses of some interesting case histories of individuals who were treated for psychiatric difficulties. "City of Nets" explores the fabled city of lights and dreams during one of its most memorable decades. In addition to receiving all kinds of interesting tidbits about Rita Hayworth's tempestuous marriage to Orson Welles and Robert Mitchum's time spent in a California honor farm on a marijuana possession charge that would ultimately be expunged, Friedrich also provides the broader picture of a town thrown into turmoil and confusion during the period following the war.

Friedrich gives a brilliant account of the tragic blacklist period. As one who has studied this period closely as a historian, I was impressed by the breadth of the author's scope as a researcher. German playwright Bertolt Brecht is colorfully displayed. His offbeat intelligence and unconventional demeanor completely astounded House Un-American Activities Committee members as they sought to interrogate him. Long after the author of "Mother Courage", "Galileo" and many other plays had returned to his native East Germany, committee members and others were still trying to figure him out. Friedrich relates the incident when Charles Laughton threw a wild tantrum at the Coronet Theater as he was rehearsing for the Los Angeles premiere of Brecht's "Galileo." Another interesting character sketch provided by Friedrich is that of Austrian emigre Billy Wilder, who fled Hitler's Germany and became a major figure in films, first as a writer, then as a director-writer.

The anecdotes and richness of the character portraits transpose the reader back to Hollywood in the forties. As revealed, it was a truly fascinating, wildly unpredictable place during a pivotal period of American history.

More than a "portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s, "City of Nets" is a whirlwind tour of the American movie industry during its most tumultuous -and artistically successful- decade. In his forward, author Otto Friedrich describes Hollywood's golden decade as beginning in prosperity and ending with the studio system falling to anti-trust laws, audiences flocking to television, and much of the film industry's artistic talent blacklisted as the Red Scare swept the nation. And yet, during the intervening years, Hollywood produced its smartest and most iconic films ever in the greatest numbers ever. "City of Nets" covers the years 1939-1950. Unfortunately, the book says very little about the city of Hollywood, the economics of the film industry, or the social customs of its population. This is a book about Hollywood personalities of the 1940s -actors, producers, directors, writers, and composers.

I was disappointed by "City of Nets". I had hoped for more information about the city, about different strata of people in the film industry, about the realities of Hollywood social life -in other words, something I didn't already know. What I got was a book about prominent Hollywood personalities that tries to cover so much ground that it is superficial. Most of the stories lack depth or analysis. Readers already knowledgeable on the subjects will spot some inaccuracies and misleading omissions. "City of Nets" is best taken as an overview of the most notable Hollywood celebrities of the 1940s, their films, marriages, divorces, and legal problems. Among them are: Producers David O. Selznick, Howard Hughes, Jack Warner, Darryl Zanuck, and Louis B. Mayer. Actors Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, and Rita Hayworth. Directors Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, and Billy Wilder. Writers James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, and Bertolt Brecht. Composers Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg.

I'm giving "City of Nets" four stars because Otto Friedrich becomes more analytical in the book's final chapters, as the decade nears its close and the House Un-American Activities Committee spawns the Hollywood black list, turning an already bizarre culture of make-believe into a "nebulous world where nothing could be proved or disproved because nothing has been officially charged." "City of Nets" is also a good introduction to the personalities of 1940s cinema and how the European émigrés, the War, and partisan politics shaped the films. There is nothing here for film noir fans, as the author does not address issues of film technology, renewed interest in Freudian psychology, or the social environment that might have made audiences hungry for cynical, introverted, uneasy films. Granted, 1940s Hollywood is a subject of more breadth and depth than can be managed in one volume, but "City of Nets" isn't a social, economic, or an urban history. It's a lot of industry anecdotes strung together.

There was a land of cavaliers and studios called the 'Old Hollywood.' Here, in this pretty world, gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of knights and their ladies fair, of Studio Moguls and actors. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a civilization gone with the wind."

Years ago, this was the only book available to explain the physical principals of television. It's still one of the best. It's written in sort of a hippie political manner ala The Whole Earth Catalog. The premise is that by empowering the people with the power of mass communication, we will create some kind of utopian society. Obviously, things didn't work out that way, but it's still a pretty good introduction to the nuts and bolts of how technology works. This predates digital technology. In fact, the videotape formats it mentions aren't in use anymore. Everything else holds up pretty well. The basic physics is still the same. The book has detailed explanations of vision, electricity, AM & FM broadcasting. It goes into the details of signal switching including waveforms. The illustrations are excellent. Because of this book I have a pretty good understanding of how what I watch ends up on my TV. I only wish someone hadn't stolen my copy!

Years ago, this was the only book available to explain the physical principals of television. It's still one of the best. It's written in sort of a hippie political manner ala The Whole Earth Catalog. The premise is that by empowering the people with the power of mass communication, we will create some kind of utopian society. Obviously, things didn't work out that way, but it's still a pretty good introduction to the nuts and bolts of how technology works. This predates digital technology. In fact, the videotape formats it mentions aren't in use anymore. Everything else holds up pretty well. The basic physics is still the same. The book has detailed explanations of vision, electricity, AM & FM broadcasting. It goes into the details of signal switching including waveforms. The illustrations are excellent. Because of this book I have a pretty good understanding of how what I watch ends up on my TV. I only wish someone hadn't stolen my copy!

I totally disagree with the editorial review given here. It is incredibly shallow and downright silly. This talk does make demands on the listener's intelligence, yes (is that supposed to be some sort of defect?) but it is not in any sense a specialist talk.It is universal. Behind Hillman's dry style is a passsionate, engaging voice which, for those who are able to listen deeply, can change one's whole way of looking at cities and urban life, in relation to what is called "Nature". One of the best talks on tape I've ever heard.

I used this to lead a small group study of the Old Testament (still on-going but we finished Volume 1). There are many pluses to using this material.
- The lectures are prepared and polished so that part of the weekly preparation is not a huge burden.
- John Ortberg is a very engaging teacher.
- The three books, taken together, provide a wide range of discussion materials ranging from "truth" to "life" so as to allow the leader to select where on this spectrum discussion needs to go. (Three books are the Reading Guide, Teaching guide, and Discussion Guide.)
- Although this is a whirlwind tour of the Old Testament, the lectures make a point of emphasizing the important issues. Many of the lectures focus on the aspects of daily life today (e.g., raising children, telling the truth to people around us, the events of Sept 11, 2001) that the Old Testament speaks directly to.

There are only a few minor annoyances:
- The Complete Track reading guide is not synchronized with the weekly lectures, so it really almost forces the reader to use the fast track reading guide.
- The lectures include occasional references to things projected at the time the lectures were given, but whatever was projected is not available on the included CD, leaving the listener wondering what was so funny.

All things considered, I highly recommend this as a small group study.

I feel this book, DREAM FACTORY DEFERRED, fills a void in scholarship focusing on visual representations of African-American women. Furthermore, it links contemporary women who buck trends with those who established them from the dawn of sound on film. This book is an easy and fun but thought-provoking read for those looking for alternative scholarship about black female representation.

An excellent anthology of current and prevailing theories in the field of literature and film, as well as illuminating chapters from film scholars on films adaptated from novels, which serve as compelling examples of theory in practice . Professor Naremore's introduction is especially lucid and well-written.

Hand-Held Visions: The Impossible Possibilities of Community Media by filmmaker, video activist, and media critic DeeDee Halleck (Professor of Communications, University of California at San Diego) is an amazing and unique guide to creating alternative videos and media to spread positive messages to change the world. Fiery, provocative, and vocal in her calling for solid defiance of the media giants that control the overwhelming majority of the airwaves today, Halleck's Hand-Held Visions is a truly first-rate text for anyone wanting to learn more about how to wield the potential power of community media for their cause, issue, agency or concern.

Hill Street Blues may suffer a bit with the passage of time but it is still a great series worth watching. Great characters, plot lines, etc.
Hard to beat series.

By JONATHAN KIRSCH, Special to The LA Times "...An illuminating and entertaining survey of films and television programs in which Latino actors, settings or themes figure prominently, "Hispanics in Hollywood" is full of such surprises. Anthony Quinn, perhaps best known as Zorba the Greek, is only one of many actors whose Mexican origins were once concealed, and there are many others whose Latino roots have only recently come to public attention, ranging from Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Cansino) to John Gavin (born John Anthony Golenar) to Raquel Welch (born Raquel Tejada). And it was a young Emilio Estevez who boldly reclaimed his own Latino family history and thus revealed to the world that the real name of his father, Charlie Sheen, is Ramon More often Latino actors found themselves in an awkward dilemma in Hollywood, as the authors of "Hispanics in Hollywood" point out--if their Latino identities were not concealed, they were put to use in depicting stereotyped Latino characters: "maids, slum dwellers, drug addicts and gang members," co-author Luis Reyes reminds us, or "cruel dictators, mustachioed bandits and beautiful señoritas." Only in the last couple of decades have Latino actors and directors enjoyed the opportunity to tell stories about their own heritage in a more open, honest and affirming voice in movies such as "Zoot Suit," "La Bamba," "Stand and Deliver," "Selena" and "A Walk in the Clouds." Reyes, a movie publicist who is also a chronicler of Hollywood's Latin American heritage, describes the book as "an attempt to show the way Hollywood has depicted Hispanic Americans and Latin America, while also pointing out the contributions to Hollywood movies and television made by unsung Hispanic Americans as well as those more famous." Thus, his book can be approached as a serious effort to ponder the issues of race and ethnicity in American pop culture and, at the same time, as one of those useful reference works that can be pulled down from the shelf when puzzling over some old and obscure movie on cable.

This book is a must read for anyone studying film. It completely challenges the eurocentric doctrine of the mainstream film industry. It takes Third Cinema to another level, with articles from film makers who are pioneering this work. Great references to films. Redefines film language in non-western and western terms. Important to understand that Hollywood is First Cinema, Independent film is Second Cinema and Third Cinema is completely outside of that, redefining the technology and aestetics.