Essential writing about film?
Chris Lott
writing about film (review, criticism, theory, history)? Thanks in advance
for any suggestions...
c
John Harkness
Andre Bazin, What is Cinema
Pauline Kael, I Lost it At the Movies
Andrew Sarris, Politics and Cinema
Kevin Brownlow, The Parade's Gone By
Akira Kurosawa, My Last Sigh
plated metal
John Harkness wrote:
I'm a sucker for David Thomson's "Biographical Dictionary of the Cinema"
(although I've only got the first ed, and it's now on its fourth). Full
of juicy stuff to dip into.
-p
Jim Beaver
"John Harkness" <jhXaYr...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:mphtc0ti54imb88rr...@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 07:59:13 -0000, Chris Lott
> <chris.lott[AT]gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >If you care about such things, what books would you recommend as
essential
> >writing about film (review, criticism, theory, history)? Thanks in
advance
> >for any suggestions...
> >
> >c
>
Is this another title for Something Like an Autobiography? Or am I
seriously out of touch with a subject I thought on which I was highly well
informed?
Jim Beaver
monsieurblob
the oxford guide to film studies is a gem. practically every sentence
suggests other books so its more a sort of an amazing mosaic. a nice
rich sober introduction to the madness that is film studies
ignore the ones harkness recommended you, except maaayyybe bazins
book. but only read bazin's book if you've watched the movies he talks
about which is highly unlikely so you might be better off just
watching the pics instead.
klevan, vf perkins, kent jones and a few others are good. avoid shitty
cognitivist theory, pauline kael and andrew sarris like the plague.
john harkness himself is an awful writer.
have fun.
Dave Garrett
jumb...@prodigy.spam says...
Something Like an Autobiography is indeed the title of Kurosawa's book.
I suspect John is referring to Luis Bunuel's book, which is titled My
Last Sigh.
Dave
John Harkness
recombinant autobiographies.
I was thinking of both Kurosawa's and Bunuel's, and managed to put
them together.
John Harkness
Richard Schultz
: Something Like an Autobiography is indeed the title of Kurosawa's book.
: I suspect John is referring to Luis Bunuel's book, which is titled My
: Last Sigh.
And both of them are well worth reading, whatever the title.
-----
Richard Schultz sch...@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?"
leo86
> writing about film (review, criticism, theory, history)? Thanks in advance
> for any suggestions...
>
>
James Agee's collected film reviews (I forget what it's called and I'm
not at home to check).
Manny Farber, "Negative Space"
Pauline Kael's various collected film reviews.
Andrew Sarris: "The American Cinema"
"Kings of the Bs" by Todd McCarthy and one other guy.
"Horizons West" by Jim Kitses
"Violent America: the Movies 1946-1964" by Lawrence Allowayi.
Other favorites:
"The Phantom Empire" by Geoffrey O'Brien
"Screening History" by Gore Vidal
"The Devil Finds Work" by James Baldwin
(re: these last two titles: two of the best works on film I've ever
read by authors not normally associated with the subject)
For an overall film history text, I really can't think of a good one
offhand. We used to have to read "The Living Art" by Arthur Knight,
back in the day. For me the best way to learn film history is by
watching a lot of old movies. When you see something that intrigues
you, for whatever reason, look for works by the same people, or from
the same period, the same studio, etc. Read the credits (easier with
old movies because they were all at the beginning of the movie and not
the end).
Grand Inquisitor
I, Fellini
Fellini on Fellini
Any good biography on Kubrick
Sculpting in Time
--
This signature brought to you by Coca-Cola(tm)
Your Pal Brian
Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut
Who The Devil Made It, Peter Bogdanovitch
The Parade's Gone By, Kevin Brownlow
Film Technique, V I Pudovkin
The American Cinema, Andrew Sarris
Making Movies, Sidney Lumet
On Filmmaking, Edward Dmytryk
Theory of the Film, Bela Balazs
The "Conversations With Filmmakers" series from University Press of
Mississippi is great, the Kubrick volume being probably the meatiest.
One essential I haven't read yet is The War, The West, And The Wilderness by
Kevin Brownlow, about early documentaries.
Brian
G. M. Watson
----------
In article <MPG.1b38e1edf...@207.14.113.17>, Dave Garrett
<da...@compassnet.com> wrote:
Kinda makes you wonder what they might have produced if they'd collaborated
on something-- perhaps "An Andalusian Stray Dog"?
Robert Keser
Anything by Raymond Durgnat will be insightful and lively
and thought-provoking. Try the following sample from
"Films and Feelings":
[The Hollywood style] "is fast, bold, terse, flexible and clear.
Its sharp cuts and bold reverse angles express a philosophy of
life as fact confronting fact, face confronting face, in a series of
collisions and challenges, a philosophy of dynamic action-reaction,
viewing life as a sequence of decisions tending to some purpose
...American films seem to be enclosed by their subjects, and the
dramatic tensions are calculated with a Protestant rigour".
May of Durgnat's books (this one included) are out of print but
still findable through ABE Books or Bookfinder or similar book
engines (and they're often very cheap!).
--Bob Keser
dobe...@dropsocal.rr.com
>One essential I haven't read yet is The War, The West, And The Wilderness by
>Kevin Brownlow, about early documentaries.
I've got Volumes II & III of the multivolume "History of the American
Cinema" published by the University of CA Press.
MFalc1
Daniel O'Brien's CLINT EASTWOOD FILM MAKER-which covers Clint's career (and
life) up until the mid-90's. Insightful and not a hagiography. Try to find a
copy on Amazon.
Barry Norman's THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE-the author of WILD AT HEART writes some
enjoyable and informative essays on various films noir known (KISS ME DEADLY),
lesser-known (THE HARDER THEY FALL, ON DANGEROUS GROUND) and little-known (the
title film, an RKO B-film from the 40's starring the great Lawrence Tierney).
Elia Kazan's A LIFE-Say what you will about his controversial beliefs in the
necessity of naming names-but be aware that Kazan's long-but-riveting book has
some interesting descriptions of the various films he directed during his
career. He's even quite detailed about films he considers artistic
failures-such as THE SEA OF GRASS (a prestige MGM Western with Spencer Tracy
and Katharine Hepburn) and THE LAST TYCOON (worth seeing for the diverse
old-and-new Hollywood cast ranging from Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson to
Ray Milland and Tony Curtis).
FOR KEEPS-the Pauline Kael "greatest hits" volume. If you want just one book
by Kael, this is it.
5000 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES-A collection of Kael's capsule reviews for THE NEW
YORKER.
THE CELLULOID MUSE-written in part by Charles Higham (and, I think, Joel
Greenberg). Before Higham discovered that celebrity bios (and gossipy ones at
that) pay more than serious film theory books, he was partially responsible for
this series of interviews with film directors. Probably the best portions of
the book are the interviews with John Frankenheimer, King Vidor and Robert
Aldrich. Long out-of-print; look for it on Amazon or other online book
services.
FINAL CUT-Steven Bach's blow-by-blow account of the making-and ultimate
financial and critical failure (at least in the U.S.)-of HEAVEN'S GATE.
GWTW-Out-of-print but well worth seeking out. Gavin Lambert's
slim-but-insightful volume on the making of GONE WITH THE WIND and the
personalities involved, including David O. Selznick, Vivien Leigh and primary
director Victor Fleming. Also look for the late Ron Haver's book about DAVID
O. SELZNICK'S HOLLYWOOD.
PEOPLE WILL TALK-John Kobal's book (likely also out-of-print) about
personalities (mostly stars and portrait photographers, although there's an
interview with director Henry Hathaway) from the 20's and 30's.
I also agree with whoever mentioned Sarris' THE AMERICAN CINEMA.
Also, in terms of coffee-table books about film directors, I would recommend
Cameron Crowe's CONVERSATIONS WITH WILDER and Stephen Harvey's DIRECTED BY
VINCENTE MINNELLI (which groups together Minnelli's films by genre-musicals,
dramas, etc.)
One more recommendation before I finish:
ME AND HITCH-Writer Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) discusses working for Alfred
Hitchcock on THE BIRDS and the early stages of MARNIE.
Mark L. Falconer-film and video links at
http://hometown.aol.com/mfalc1/links.html
MFalc1
>have fun.
By the way, which Stanley Kauffmann review collections would you recommend?