I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History PDF Download

Author: Walter Mirisch
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 0299226433
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
This is a moving, star-filled account of one of Hollywood’s true golden ages as told by a man in the middle of it all. Walter Mirisch’s company has produced some of the most entertaining and enduring classics in film history, including West Side Story, Some Like It Hot, In the Heat of the Night, and The Magnificent Seven. His work has led to 87 Academy Award nominations and 28 Oscars. Richly illustrated with rare photographs from his personal collection, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History reveals Mirisch’s own experience of Hollywood and tells the stories of the stars—emerging and established—who appeared in his films, including Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Sidney Poitier, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, and many others. With hard-won insight and gentle humor, Mirisch recounts how he witnessed the end of the studio system, the development of independent production, and the rise and fall of some of Hollywood’s most gifted (and notorious) cultural icons. A producer with a passion for creative excellence, he offers insights into his innovative filmmaking process, revealing a rare ingenuity for placating the demands of auteur directors, weak-kneed studio executives, and troubled screen sirens. From his early start as a movie theater usher to the presentation of such masterpieces as The Apartment, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Great Escape, Mirisch tells the inspiring life story of his climb to the highest echelon of the American film industry. This book assures Mirisch’s legacy—as Elmore Leonard puts it—as “one of the good guys.” Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association

Author: S. P. MacKenzie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350024872
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Since the Second World War, depictions of Royal Air Force operations in film and television drama have become so numerous that they make up a genre worthy of scholarly attention. In this illuminating study, S. P. MacKenzie explores the different ways in which the men of RAF Bomber Command have been represented in dramatic form on the big and small screen from the war years to the present day. Bomber Boys on Screen is the first in-depth study of how and why the screen-drama image of those who flew, those who directed them, and those who provided support for RAF bomber operations has changed over time, sometimes in contested circumstances. Until now dramas that focus on Bomber Command have tended to be mentioned only in passing or studied in isolation, despite the prevalence of surveys of both the British war film genre and of aviation cinema. In Bomber Boys on Screen MacKenzie examines the development, presentation, and reception of significant dramas on a decade-by-decade basis. Titles from the beginning of the war (The Lion Has Wings, 1939) to the start of new century (Bomber's Moon, 2014) are situated in the context of technical possibilities and limitations, evolving social and cultural norms in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and the development of moral and utilitarian controversies surrounding the wartime bomber offensive directed against Nazi Germany. While the focus is on feature films and television plays, reference is also made to documentaries, memorials, veterans' organizations, book titles, war comics, and other representations of the war fought by Bomber Command.

Author: Jill Tietjen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493037064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The year was 1896, the woman was Alice Guy-Blaché, and the film was The Cabbage Fairy. It was less than a minute long. Guy-Blaché, the first female director, made hundreds of movies during her career. Thousands of women with passion and commitment to storytelling followed in her footsteps. Working in all aspects of the movie industry, they collaborated with others to create memorable images on the screen. This book pays tribute to the spirit, ambition, grit and talent of these filmmakers and artists. With more than 1200 women featured in the book, you will find names that everyone knows and loves—the movie legends. But you will also discover hundreds and hundreds of women whose names are unknown to you: actresses, directors, stuntwomen, screenwriters, composers, animators, editors, producers, cinematographers and on and on. Stunning photographs capture and document the women who worked their magic in the movie business. Perfect for anyone who enjoys the movies, this photo-treasury of women and film is not to be missed.

Author: Nicholas Daly
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198836600
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A cultural history of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda that explores its afterlife including how it was adapted for stage and screen, woven into narratives about the Cold War, and influenced children's writers such as Frances Hodgson Burnett and Meg Cabot.

Author: James Curtis
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0375424725
Category : Motion picture art directors
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
He was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale. He was known for his visual flair and timeless innovation, a man who meticulously preplanned the color and design of each film through a series of continuity sketches that made clear camera angles, lighting, and the actors' positions for each scene, translating dramatic conventions of the stage to the new capabilities of film. Here is the long-awaited book on William Cameron Menzies, Hollywood's first and greatest production designer, a job title David O. Selznick invented for Menzies' extraordinary, all-encompassing, Academy Award-winning work on Gone With the Wind (which he effectively co-directed). It was Menzies--winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Art Direction, and who was as well a director (fourteen pictures) and a producer (twelve pictures)--who changed the way movies were (and still are) made, in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1920s through the 1950s. Now, James Curtis, acclaimed film historian and biographer, writes of Menzies' life and work as the most influential designer in the history of film. Interviewing colleagues, actors, directors, friends, and family, and with full access to the Menzies family collection of artwork and unpublished writing, Curtis gives us the path-finding work of the movies' most daring and dynamic production designer: his evolution as artist, art director, production designer, and director. Here is a portrait of a man in his time that makes clear how the movies were forever transformed by his startling, visionary work.--Adapted from book jacket.

Author: Stephen M. Silverman
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0762482362
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
Lively, sophisticated, and filled with first-person tributes and glorious images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy lifts the curtain on a Broadway legend. "Aside from Sondheim's own exceptional books...this may be the best coffee-table volume devoted to his work."(Shelf Awareness) Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy. Exploring the unique bond between Sondheim and his audiences, author Stephen M. Silverman further examines the challenging Sondheim works that continue to develop devoted new followings: Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Assassins, and Passion. The result is a lavish, highly engrossing documentation of the dynamic force who reshaped twentieth-century American musical history.

Author: Ernesto R. Acevedo-Muñoz
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700619216
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
For millions of moviegoers unable to see the original stage version of West Side Story, director Robert Wise’s adaptation was a cinematic gift that brought a Broadway hit to a mass audience. Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz argues that Wise’s film was not only hugely popular, but that it was also an artistic triumph that marked an important departure in the history of American movie making. With a score by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins, this update of the Romeo and Juliet story remains one of the most revered and highly popular American movie musicals, with only Singin’ in the Rain ranking higher in the AFI’s list of the best of the genre. Acevedo-Muñoz draws on previously unreleased production documents—from interoffice memos to annotations on the director’s script—to go beyond publicity accounts and provide an inside look at this critically acclaimed film classic, offering details of its filming that have never before been published. From location scouting to scripting to casting to filming, Acevedo-Muñoz focuses on little-known details of the actual production. He provides close analyses of dramatic sequences and musical numbers, emphasizing the film’s technical innovations and its visual and aural coding as a means for defining character and theme. He carefully explains the differences between Broadway and film versions, exposing censorship and creative issues that the filmmakers were forced to confront. And taking readers behind the cameras, he highlights the creative differences and financial difficulties that led to the departure of Robbins—who had conceived and directed the stage version—long before filming was complete. Acevedo-Muñoz makes a strong case for the film’s daring vision in combining music, dance, dialogue, and visual elements—especially color—in highly creative ways, while also addressing the social, racial, and class tensions of American society. Drawing on his own Puerto Rican heritage, he provides a Hispanic perspective on the cultural aspects of the story and explores the ways in which the film’s portrayal of Puerto Rican identity is neither as transparent nor as negative as some critics have charged. Bursting with facts, insights, and inside stories, this book boasts a wealth of material that has never been explored before in print. Both history and homage, it is a must for scholar and buff alike.

Author: Philip C. DiMare
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1598842978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1505

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Book Description
This provocative three-volume encyclopedia is a valuable resource for readers seeking an understanding of how movies have both reflected and helped engender America's political, economic, and social history. Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia is a reference text focused on the relationship between American society and movies and filmmaking in the United States from the late 19th century through the present. Beyond discussing many important American films ranging from Birth of a Nation to Star Wars to the Harry Potter film series, the essays included in the volumes explore sensitive issues in cinema related to race, class, and gender, authored by international scholars who provide unique perspectives on American cinema and history. Written by a diverse group of distinguished scholars with backgrounds in history, film studies, culture studies, science, religion, and politics, this reference guide will appeal to readers new to cinema studies as well as film experts. Each encyclopedic entry provides data about the film, an explanation of the film's cultural significance and influence, information about significant individuals involved with that work, and resources for further study.

Author: Brian Hannan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786498137
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
In the Silent Era, film reissues were a battle between rival studios--every Mary Pickford new release in 1914 was met with a Pickford re-release. For 50 years after the Silent Era, reissues were a battle between the studios, who considered old movies "found money," and cinema owners, who often saw audiences reject former box office hits. In the mid-1960s, the return of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)--the second biggest reissue of all time--altered industry perceptions, and James Bond double features pushed the revival market to new heights. In the digital age, reissues have continued to confound the critics. This is the untold hundred-year story of how old movies saved new Hollywood. Covering the booms and busts of a recycling business that became its own industry, the author describes how the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart and Alfred Hitchcock won over new generations of audiences, and explores the lasting appeal of films like Napoleon (1927), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Rocky Horror Show (1975) and Blade Runner (1982).

Author: Brian Hannan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786496959
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The story behind The Magnificent Seven could have been a movie in itself. It had everything--actors' strike, writers' strike, Mexican government interference and a row between the screenwriters that left one removing his name from the credits, all under the lingering gloom of post-McCarthy era Hollywood. A flop on release, it later became a box office hit. This book tells the behind-the-scenes story: how Yul Brynner became the biggest independent producer in Hollywood; why John Sturges was not the first choice after Brynner surrendered the director's chair; why Sturges quit; the truth about the Mirisch Company (producers); the details of the film's botched release and unlikely redemption; the creation of Elmer Bernstein's classic score; and how internecine fighting prevented the making of the television series in 1963. Myths about Steve McQueen, his feud with Brynner and the scene-stealing antics of the cast are debunked. A close examination of the various screenplay drafts and the writers' source material--Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai--shows who wrote what. Extensive analysis of Sturges' directorial work is provided.