Best of
Movies
1987
The Magic Lantern
Ingmar Bergman - 1987
. . . At the editing table, when I run the strip of film through, frame by frame, I still feel that dizzy sense of magic of my childhood.” Bergman, who has conveyed this heady sense of wonder and vision to moviegoers for decades, traces his lifelong love affair with film in his breathtakingly visual autobiography, The Magic Lantern.More grand mosaic than linear account, Bergman’s vignettes trace his life from a rural Swedish childhood through his work in theater to Hollywood’s golden age, and a tumultuous romantic history that includes five wives and more than a few mistresses. Throughout, Bergman recounts his life in a series of deeply personal flashbacks that document some of the most important moments in twentieth-century filmmaking as well as the private obsessions of the man behind them. Ambitious in scope yet sensitively wrought, The Magic Lantern is a window to the mind of one of our era’s great geniuses.“[Bergman] has found a way to show the soul’s landscape . . . . Many gripping revelations.”—New York Times Book Review“Joan Tate’s translation of this book has delicacy and true pitch . . . The Magic Lantern is as personal and penetrating as a Bergman film, wry, shadowy, austere.”—New Republic“[Bergman] keeps returning to his past, reassessing it, distilling its meaning, offering it to his audiences in dazzling new shapes.”—New York Times“What Bergman does relate, particularly his tangled relationships with his parents, is not only illuminating but quite moving. No ‘tell-all’ book this one, but revealing in ways that much longer and allegedly ‘franker’ books are not.”—Library Journal
Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming
James Kotsilibas-Davis - 1987
She tells of the friendships she made with many of her leading men and with women such as Joan Crawford whom she met as a youngster in a chorus line and Eleanor Roosevelt, whose President husband had a well-known crush on Myrna. Myrna Loy was not only an actress but also a woman who had political interests, championing the UN and Democratic presidential candidates from Truman onward, and was even for a time a "Washington wife". In her memoirs she presents a personal analysis of post-war politics up to and including Ronald Reagan.
Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies
Randy Skretvedt - 1987
The most detailed and accurate account of the team's career, based on exclusive interviews with their friends and associates, original shooting scripts, studio publicity material and production logs, family scrapbooks and legal depositions. Includes a who's who of supporting players and technical crew members, details on newly rediscovered films, lost footage and a resource guide.
Romantic Comedy in Hollywood: From Lubitsch to Sturges
James Harvey - 1987
Slangy, playful, and "powerfully, glamorously in love with love," the films that followed were unique in their combination of swank and slapstick. Here are the directors—Lubitsch (Trouble in Paradise), Capra (It Happened One Night), Hawks (Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday), McCarey (The Awful Truth), La Cava (My Man Godfrey, Stage Door), Sturges (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle at Morgan's Creek)—and their stars—Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, William Powell, Myrna Loy, among others—all described and analyzed in one comprehensive and delightful volume.
Thinking In Pictures: The Making Of The Movie Matewan
John Sayles - 1987
Many films later, he still works outside the studio system and guides every phase of his productions.Now Sayles has written an illuminating book about the complex choices that lie at the heart of every movie. Using the making of his film Matewan as an example, he offers chapters on screenwriting, directing, editing, sound, and more. Photographs, sketches, and the complete shooting script illustrate this engaging account of how Sayles's curiosity about a coal miners' strike in the town of Matewan, West Virginia, became a screenplay--and then a movie.
Spike Lee's Gotta Have It: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking
Spike Lee - 1987
Shot on a shoe-string budget of $175,000 in black-and-white 16mm, the film was made with Spike Lee's persistence and talent plus the help of family and friends. It grossed $8 million at the box office and proved to be a major hit with both critics and audiences. Now Spike Lee reveals how he did it, mapping out the entire creative and production processes-from early notebook jottings to film festival awards. Spike Lee's Gotta Have It is a unique document in film literature - it's funny, absorbing, and fresh as the hit film itself.
I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay
Harlan Ellison - 1987
All efforts failed. In 1977, producers approached multiple award winning Harlan Ellison to take a crack at this 'impossible' project. He accepted, and produced an astonishing screenplay that Asimov felt would be 'The first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made.' That screenplay is presented here in book format, brought to scintillating life by the illustrations of artist Mark Zug. After you read it, then decide: Is this not the greatest science fiction movie never made?
Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film
Edward Maeder - 1987
The first cinematic genius, D.W. Griffith, turned for his greatest themes to the Civil War, the French Revolution and ancient Babylon. Then came the era of Cecil B. De Mille's extravaganzas, drawing on the Bible, the 'wickedness' of ancient Rome, and early America. The L.A. County Museum of Art possesses by far the most important collection of costumes made for Hollywood films. In addition, its archives hold an enormous assortment of designers' costume sketches from all the movie studios, as well as a treasure-house of stills. In this absorbing volume, Edward Maeder, Curator of Costumes and Textiles at the Museum, examines the social and economic conditions reflected in the changing tastes of the cinema. Alicia Annas contributes a section on make-up and hairstyles; and Satch LaValley writes about the historical film and retail fashion. With an extensive filmography which describes the costumes in hundreds of period films, and with nearly 300 illustrations, this book offers an unparalleled record of this endlessly fascinating phenomenon. It will prove invaluable not only to film buffs but also to costume designers, social historians and anyone interested in the history of film.
Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood
Howard Mandelbaum - 1987
Lavishly illustrated with stills from movies famous and obscure, SCREEN DECO appeals to the film historian as well as anyone interested in the rise of High Style Deco. Chapters cover, among other topics, the design of musicals, ocean liners, and futurist cinematic epics. The final chapter presents portraits of the stars who personified the Deco "look."
Truffaut Par Truffaut
François Truffaut - 1987
This text brings together the director's insights on his own life and work and illustrates them with personal documents. Also included is a complete chronological biography, filmography and bibliography.
The Battle of Brazil: The Real Story of Terry Gilliam's Victory over Hollywood to Release His Landmark Film
Jack Mathews - 1987
Contains never-before-published illustrations and the entire script.
Cinema and I
Ritwik Ghatak - 1987
This book is a representative volume of Ritwik Ghatak's writings on cinema.These articles were originally written in English.In addition to the text the book offers an exhaustive filmography, production stills and details of his involvement with IPTA, as well as a list of his written works.
Movies Made for Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-Series, 1964-1986
Alvin H. Marill - 1987
Chronicles the more than one thousand television movies and mini-series that have appeared since 1964, providing cast and credit listings, plot synopses, and informative background notes.