Hollywood

Starred review from September 1, 2022

Film writers Basinger (The Star Machine) and Wasson (The Big Goodbye) synthesize (for general readers and cinema cognoscenti) their sleuthing of primary sources--nearly 3,000 transcripts of interviews with hundreds of movie people found in the American Film Institute's archives. Ranging from the silent film era (an ongoing recollection project began in 1969 as the Harold Lloyd Master Seminar series) through the present, this compilation includes actors, directors, and producers as well as essential, often overlooked support personnel--agents, editors, writers, makeup and wardrobe artists, musicians, and publicists--forming a more perfect picture of the entertainment enterprise. While underscoring too frequent stereotypical gender expectations (fewer, surprisingly, during the early days), there is little mention of actual sexual harassment. This edited, conversational retrospective contains much on changes in the industry as experienced by those in it, such as the transition to sound, the waning of censorship after the Production Code and McCarthyism, the use of digital technology, and the challenge of immediate reviews through the blogosphere. VERDICT Recommended for the large audience of popular culture enthusiasts for whom knowledge of the Hollywood past will enable them better to appreciate occurring and anticipated industry changes.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2022
More than 300 film professionals tell the story of the world's most prominent movie industry. In 1969, the American Film Institute began the Harold Lloyd Master seminars, "intimate conversations between Hollywood professionals and AFI conservatory students," named for its first participant. For this book, Basinger and Wasson "were granted total and unprecedented access to the AFI's seminars, oral histories, and complete archives" to make what they call "the only comprehensive firsthand history of Hollywood." This massive book contains thousands of quotes from producers, actors, directors, composers, and other professionals that span the earliest days of flammable celluloid and the studio system to the current freelance world of digital filmmaking and special effects. The authors only intermittently provide historical context and avoid commenting directly on speakers' recollections. Consequently, readers must take the stories on faith, a fraught prospect when dealing with luminaries such as Fritz Lang, who was notorious for embellishing facts, or elderly director Tay Garnett, who began a reminiscence with, "I'll never forget one D.W. Griffith picture, I'm not sure what the title was." For a comprehensive history, important details are missing, revealing the perils of letting people speak without providing perspective. Prominent figures offer praise of Griffith's contributions to early cinema--he "discovered the close-up" and gave film "the form and grammar it has today"--yet not a word about the jaw-dropping racism in films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915). For cinephiles, however, this volume is a gold mine of production details, backroom deals, and inside gossip. There are surprising revelations--e.g., Joan Crawford was more beloved than her reputation for derangement would have one believe--and memorably graphic stories, as when Billy Wilder noted that during the filming of Greed (1924), Erich von Stroheim "stopped shooting for three days because there wasn't enough horseshit in the streets" and forced staff to collect more for him "because that's what he wanted. Plenty of good horseshit." Fun firsthand accounts from 100 years of Hollywood history.

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Starred review from October 10, 2022
The secrets of Tinseltown burn bright in this collection of interviews culled from the American Film Institute’s archives and assembled by film scholar Basinger (The Movie Musical!) and author Wasson (Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.). The technical process of filmmaking is expertly explored, and discussions about publicity highlight the work style of individual directors (John Ford “gave in to nobody,” says cinematographer Ray Rennahan) and the charisma of legendary stars such as Marlon Brando. A narrative arc emerges from the hubbub, tracing the freshness of the silent era to the grandeur of the golden age studio system—the “beautiful machinery” of MGM is hymned for its excellent production values and nurturing of new talent—to the modern era of independent producers, high-earning leading actors, and summer blockbusters. The commentary crackles with humorous anecdotes and acerbic insights on topics such as screenplays (“There mustn’t be too much description, because get bored when they read words,” says director and writer Abraham Polonsky) and stunt work (“I used to get $25 every time I jumped a horse off a cliff,” says 1920s actor Hoot Gibson). The result is a fascinating conversation about Hollywood’s magical blending of art and commerce. Agent: David P. Halpern, Robbins Office.

Starred review from September 15, 2022
For fans of film history, this is an event: film historians Basinger and Wasson teaming up to take us through the history of Hollywood (and, by extension, the American motion picture industry). Drawn from the files of the American Film Institute, assembled from nearly 10,000 hours of conversations with more than 3,000 people from the early days of motion pictures right up to the present day, this magnificent oral history features contributions by such luminaries as directors Raoul Walsh and Steven Spielberg; screenwriters Nunnally Johnson and Nora Ephron; editors Dede Allen and Verna Fields; cinematographers Stanley Cortez and L�szl� Kov�cs; composers Elmer Bernstein and John Williams; actors Henry Fonda and Jeff Goldblum; and dozens of producers, composers, critics, art directors, costume designers, studio executives, film historians, and so forth. It's all here: the rise and fall of the studio system; the evolution from a place where virtually anyone could get a job just by banging on the door to a rigidly controlled industry; the shift of control from producers to actors; the increasing power wielded by the agents; the backroom deals, the behind-the-scenes intrigue, and the transformation of an entire nation. As close to a comprehensive Who's Who of American film as we're likely to see, and as close to a definitive history of American cinema as we've seen so far. An absolute must-read for industry pros and fans alike.

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