Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days


John Knoll - 2005
    This intimate, lovingly produced look at how the various environments in all six Star Wars movies were created contains literally 1,000 full-color behind-the-scenes photographs (some quite candid!) and insightful commentary by Knoll, as well as a bonus CD-ROM with cool QuickTime panoramas of some of the sets included in the three motion picture prequels. From the old-school motion-control photography in 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope to the revolutionary refinement of digital cinema in 2005's Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, this book contains it all -- from creating low-altitude shots of the Death Star out of plywood to producing breathtaking digi-matte paintings of the Jedi Council Chamber skyline and aerial views of Coruscant and Naboo. Jaw-dropping surprises abound as well, including deleted scenes, a look into LucasFilm's archive buildings, and a rarely seen Darth Vader custom design concept from 1976. Chronicling the almost three decades between George Lucas's founding of Industrial Light and Magic in 1976 and the release of Star Wars: Episode III in 2005, Knoll's shelf-bending brick of a book (744 pages) is the equivalent of sitting down with an old friend and looking through a gigantic photo album containing stunning pictures of his travels abroad -- except in this case, the journey happened to be to a galaxy far, far away. Simply put, Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days is one of the most enlightening and entertaining books Star Wars fans will ever come across. Prepare to be blown away. Paul Goat Allen

Cary Grant: A Touch of Elegance


Warren G. Harris - 1988
    Cary Grant...Hollywood's ultimate ladies' man...the silver screen's most ardent lover. But beyond his portrayal of the sophisticated romantic hero in movies like "The Philadelphia Story" and "Notorious" was a man haunted by fear and self-doubt which affected his career as well as his personal life.

Monsters: A Celebration of the Classics from Universal Studios


Roy Milano - 2006
    Featuring a collection of images from the studios' own vaults, this book looks at the 'creature features' which continue to influence filmmakers today.

Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies


Jay Slater - 2002
    Jay Slater explains how the myth of the Haitian walking dead (zombies) merged with legends of third-world cannibalism to create such gruesome zombie cult films as Cannibal Holocaust, an acknowledged influence on The Blair Witch Project.

The Citizen Kane Book


Pauline Kael - 1971
    Mankiewicz and Orson Welles --Notes on the shooting script / prepared by Gary Carey --RKO cutting continuity of the Orson Welles production, Citizen Kane.

Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies


Jami Bernard - 1995
    The first comprehensive biography of the writer/director of the Academy Award-winning "Pulp Fiction" who, in only a few short years, took the film industry by storm and became a critical and commercial phenomenon.

Memoirs of a Geisha: A Portrait of the Film


David James - 2005
    The story begins in the years before WWII when a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a servant in a geisha house. Despite a treacherous rival who nearly breaks her spirit, the girl blossoms into the legendary geisha Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang). Beautiful and accomplished, Sayuri captivates the most powerful men of her day, but is haunted by her secret love for the one man who is out of her reach (Ken Watanabe).The Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook explores the intricate process of re-creating the period and world of the geisha. Special sections showcase production design, makeup, choreography, and costumes, featuring kimonos created especially for the movie by five-time Oscar®-nominated costume designer Colleen Atwood. Sidebars throughout also provide fascinating historical background on the geisha culture.

Best Movies of the 70s (Taschen 25)


Jürgen Müller - 2004
    As war raged on in Vietnam and the cold war continued to escalate, Hollywood began to heat up, recovering from its commercial crisis with box-office successes such as Star Wars, Jaws, The Exorcist, and The Godfather. Thanks to directors like Spielberg and Lucas, American cinema gave birth to a new phenomenon: the blockbuster. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, while the Nouvelle Vague died out in France, its influence extended to Germany, where the New German Cinema of Fassbinder, Wenders, and Herzog had its heyday. The sexual revolution made its way to the silver screen (cautiously in the US, more freely in Europe) most notably in Bertolucci's steamy, scandalous Last Tango in Paris. Amidst all this came a wave of nostalgic films (The Sting, American Graffiti) and Vietnam pictures (Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter), the rise of the anti-hero (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman), and the prestigious short-lived genre, blaxploitation.

Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture


Peter Kobel - 2007
    Drawing on the extraordinary collection of The Library of Congress, one of the greatest repositories for silent film and memorabilia, Peter Kobel has created the definitive visual history of silent film. From its birth in the 1890s, with the earliest narrative shorts, through the brilliant full-length features of the 1920s, SILENT MOVIES captures the greatest directors and actors and their immortal films. SILENT MOVIES also looks at the technology of early film, the use of color photography, and the restoration work being spearheaded by some of Hollywood's most important directors, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Richly illustrated from the Library of Congress's extensive collection of posters, paper prints, film stills, and memorabilia-most of which have never been in print-SILENT MOVIES is an important work of history that will also be a sought-after gift book for all lovers of film.

Either You're in Or You're in the Way


Logan Miller - 2009
    Either You're in or You're in the Way is the amazing story of how—without a dime to their names nor a single meaningful contact in Hollywood—they managed to write, produce, direct, and act in a feature film alongside four-time Academy Award-nominated actor Ed Harris and fellow nominees Brad Dourif and Robert Forster. Either You're in or You're in the Way tells of the desperate struggle of two sons fighting to keep a vow to their father, and in so doing, creating a better life for themselves. A modern-day Horatio Alger on steroids, this fast-paced thrill ride of heartbreak and redemption will both captivate and inspire.

The Hollywood Scandal Almanac: 12 Months of Sinister, Salacious and Senseless History!


Jerry Roberts - 2012
      The real-life scandals of Hollywood’s personalities rival any drama they bring to life on the silver screen. This book provides 365 daily doses of high and low crimes, fraud and deceit, culled from Tinseltown’s checkered past.   Whether it’s the exploits of silent-era star Fatty Arbuckle, the midcentury misdeeds of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, or the modern excesses of Lindsay Lohan, this calendar of Hollywood transgressions has a sensational true tale for every day of the year. It’s an entertaining and sometimes shocking trip down memory lane filled with sneaky affairs, box-office bombs, and careers cut short—sometimes by murder. It shows that the drama doesn’t end when the credits roll.

Casablanca Companion: The Movie Classic and Its Place in History


Richard E. Osborne - 1997
    Whether you've watched "Casablanca" countless times or you're going to see it for the first time, "The Casablanca Companion" will both deepen your understanding and heighten your enjoyment.

The 'Three Colours' Trilogy


Geoff Andrew - 1998
    An interview with Kieslowsi shortly before his death concludes this tribute.

Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema


Carolina Hein - 2006
    These changes can be seen in every field of life. For instance, the way of supplying basic needs or the way how to make own life better, but also certain norms and values are quite different today. Instead of visiting a theatre in order to be entertained, people can watch TV or use the internet. If a man and a woman live together unmarried, hardly anybody will be shocked about that fact. But often certain attitudes are anchored in society and can hardly be changed. One example is the determination which individual role men and women are likely to play as members of a society and how their image appears in every culture. It is especially interesting to see how the media represent women, the so called -weaker sex-. The following pages respond with the representation of women through the years. Additionally, they deal with problems and consequences coming up because of the difference between men and women.

Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style


Alain Silver - 1979