The Best Books About Film

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I just finished reading Taschen's new book on Roman Polanski. No big revelations in it and the writer tends to opt for superficial analysis over factual, biographical info but there are tons of excellent photos -- both behind the scenes stills/production photos but also candids from early in Polanski's life when he was a film student/actor. Apparently, they had access to his archives. It's a great looking book just don't expect too much depth.

[leo goldsmith]

Are there any good books or articles on the workings of film festivals? Books/articles that go into organization, general policies, rights, distribution, marketing, and press? The only books listed on Amazon are film festival travelogues and directories.

For another theoretical take on film festivals and how they function, Thomas Elsaesser's new book on European cinema has an interesting chapter on film festivals, which he summarized in a recent lecture in NYC last week. Some very interesting thoughts on the often paradoxical function of the film festival and its particular role in international filmmaking.

[Cobalt60]

I just finished reading Taschen's new book on Roman Polanski. No big revelations in it and the writer tends to opt for superficial analysis over factual, biographical info but there are tons of excellent photos -- both behind the scenes stills/production photos but also candids from early in Polanski's life when he was a film student/actor. Apparently, they had access to his archives. It's a great looking book just don't expect too much depth.

I have most of the books in their directors series and I find that your anylsis holds true on most of them, great photos however.

[putney]

ah! thanks for reminding me... michel chion's "audio-vision" and "the voice of cinema" are essential reading. for me personally, i wasn't so crazy about his tati and lynch books...but his theoretical writing about sound in film are fantastic.

[Gordon]

An curious thought came to me today: Has there ever been a well-researched book on crime as depicted in Cinema - how true crimes have found their way into films and even if and how crime in Cinema may have had an impact on post-war societies? I know - a heavy request, but there you go.

[loplop]

ah! thanks for reminding me... michel chion's "audio-vision" and "the voice of cinema" are essential reading. for me personally, i wasn't so crazy about his tati and lynch books...but his theoretical writing about sound in film are fantastic.

He did release a few recordings himself, including a Requiem mass, which is powerful stuff and probably labelled as musique-concrete, hence his knowledge and interest in sound as a cinematic experience.

[Mise En Scene]

For another theoretical take on film festivals and how they function, Thomas Elsaesser's new book on European cinema has an interesting chapter on film festivals, which he summarized in a recent lecture in NYC last week. Some very interesting thoughts on the often paradoxical function of the film festival and its particular role in international filmmaking.

Thanks! I'll look into that after I log off.

BTW, you mentioned researching film festivals, an interesting angle for a research paper (if you're writing one) and for discussion here would be the issue of auteurism as branding (in the most commercial sense). I cannot recall where I read that statement, perhaps it was in one of the forums here.

Do filmmakers give in to thematic and/or stylistic "trademarks" so that their work can be categorized easier; thus, making their work more marketable and attractive?....giving them want they want and/or expect.

Are the audiences of the festival circuit guilty of encouraging "branding?"

[putney]

yeah, chion's records are quite good. he was a student of pierre henry and worked with the ina-grm "school", which is the french composers who were associated with the french national radio tape music studios (as opposed to say those associated with Ircam) this is where folks like Luc Ferrari, Francois Bayle, Pierre henry, pierre scaeffer, et al, did a large amount of their work until personal studios became more of a reality in the late 70's. Bayle, especially wrote quite a bit about the theories of musique concrete, but Chion was also associated with film from the beginning of his musical work as well, so he is an exceedingly knowledgable man on the subject. he's written a quite a large amount of books, many of which have sadly not been translated, including a really good book on pierre henry.

i believe most of mr. chion's older ina-grm records have been reissued on cd. "Le Ronde" is very good...his writing on david lynch's sound design are really insightful.

"the director as superstar" is also an old favorite of mine, it has several folks (like depalma and coppola) and surprisingly early points in their career, and they apporached in a way they would never be again, as well as having norman mailer, robert downey sr and cassavettes.

putney

[leo goldsmith]

BTW, you mentioned researching film festivals, an interesting angle for a research paper (if you're writing one) and for discussion here would be the issue of auteurism as branding (in the most commercial sense). I cannot recall where I read that statement, perhaps it was in one of the forums here.

Do filmmakers give in to thematic and/or stylistic "trademarks" so that their work can be categorized easier; thus, making their work more marketable and attractive?....giving them want they want and/or expect.

Are the audiences of the festival circuit guilty of encouraging "branding?"

Feel free to start another thread on this topic, but in short I think the answer is yes to all. But my question would be, is this something one should be "guilty" of? In other words, is this a bad thing? Or has it ever been any different? I think auteurism and the art cinema has always depended upon a certain amount of branding and, dare I say it, even commercialism. Again, Elsaesser's talk was very illuminating in this regard, and I imagine his chapter on film festivals would be quite interesting to you.

[bufordsharkley]

I picked up a used copy of Sarris's Director's Encyclopedia, and can recommend it for what it is.

As a reference, it's extremely handy-- there's something nice about seeing a filmography in print. The essays are above-average, and commonly give good, original insight to each director's "lesser films."

So, a qualified recommendation.

[Gordon]

Thanks for that recommendation, AMB. I see that a slightly updated edition by Foster Hirsch (The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir; Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir) was published in 1994: click here

The first edition had a great cover, though: Looky here. A shame that I'll have to look at John Trevolting's mug.

Just what I was looking for. Cheers!

[ellipsis7]

Can anyone post a brief review of this?

Curchod, Olivier & Faulkner, Christopher. La Règle du jeu: Scénario original de Jean Renoir. Nathan, 1999.

Believe it goes far beyond the final script, to earlier drafts, scenes not shot or excised in editing...

[loplop]

A book which opened things up for me many years ago was "Fifty Religious Films" by Alan Pavelin, which he published himself back in 1990 in a one-off run of a couple of hundred copies, i believe. I stumbled on it by chance one evening in a book warehouse.
There is a couple of pages on each film, several each from the likes of Bergman, Bunuel, Bresson, Tarkovsky, Rossellini, Dreyer, but also Ozu, Paradjanov and a handful of others get a look in.
I was familiar with the work of Bergman and Bunuel, but strived to see everything mentioned in the book. Even though there wasn't much depth, there was enough to intrigue me. The book's importance on my life was profound.
Although the author is Catholic, the reason for a film's inclusion is not necessarily due to an overtly positive religious standpoint, hence the inclusion of a few Bunuels and Bergmans for instance.

There is some tie-in with the Vatican's notorious movie list from 1995.

[ando]

Robert Bresson James Quandt, editor

Editor, Quandt, assembled a great collection of articles, including two interviews, about one of the best directors. For Bresson-lovers its fairly indispensable. For film-lovers, in general, it's the source of appreciation for the director's oeuvre.

ando

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I can second, Ando. I have a copy of that book at home and it is indispensable. A sure treasure for any Bresson lover.
Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film by Joseph Cunneen is also a good one. It's a new book and it has some good insights.
Keith Reader's book on Bresson was the first I ever read about the man and I still find it enjoyable as well.

[Argonaut69]

Best out-of-print books on film that need to be released again...

Murnau - Lotte Eisner
Guide For the Film Fanatic - Danny Peary
Cult Movies - Danny Peary

[HerrSchreck]

Best out-of-print books on film that need to be released again...

Murnau - Lotte Eisner

O how I have searched & searched. And searched and searched. And..

[Argonaut69]

O how I have searched & searched. And searched and searched. And..

I sold a hardcover copy of mine on EBAY about six months ago when I saw that there were some used paperback editions for sale on Amazon.com for under $25. Unfortunately, I didn't nab one in time and now the starting price is $100+. I have found that if you regularly and consistently search Amazon.com, Ebay and Bookfinder.com you will eventually come across cheap copies for sale. It may take months or a year to find one but you will eventually hit gold. It's a pain but still, less time consuming than the old days (I'm 36) of combing through used bookstores.

Film As a Subversive Art - Amos Vogel

This book was out-of-print since its original publication in 1974 until a recent reprint in January of this year. I discovered this book through the very enthusiastic customer reviews on Amazon.com and while there are a lot of fluffy, inessential film books out there, this isn't one of them.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Looks like Simon Callow's next volume in his epic Orson Welles biography is out. The Observer has a review of it.

[BrightEyes23]

So, I see that "John Ford: The Complete Films" gets a recommendation, but are there any other really good books out there? I'm looking for something that really digs into his themes, working methods, all of that good stuff.

Has anyone bought John Ford: Interviews? I have a ton of these interviews books, and they all seem to give some quite interesting interviews (heh, i guess that should go without saying); i've enjoyed them quite a bit, even if some of them do get repetitive (i.e. Jarmusch).

In particular, I've found these on amazon, can anyone recommend or give the thumbs down?

John Ford, The Man and His Films

About John Ford

John Ford: Revised & Enlarged

John Ford

[Gregory]

BrightEyes23, the books on Ford I turn to most often are the John Ford Made Westerns collection of essays (Studlar and Bernstein) and Searching for John Ford (McBride). Not being extremely familiar with the vast Ford literature I can't say these two are the absolute best but I've found them very interesting, perhaps the former especially.

Looks like Simon Callow's next volume in his epic Orson Welles biography is out.

Looks like it comes out August 17.

[BrightEyes23]

What do they cover? I saw the Western one, but I want to find something that covers all of his oeuvre, although perhaps i might need 2 books to fulfill what i'm looking for.

I just checked up on the Searching for John Ford...it appears to be more of a biography from the amazon comments...I'm really looking for more film studies type books. Is it both and the reviewers aren't doing it justice?

[Gregory]

I didn't realize you were just looking for just a single book of film criticism. In that case I guess I wouldn't recommend Searching for John Ford -- it is a biography but it focuses extensively on his work and his methods. I think to understand Ford's films it's useful to look over all the details of his whole life, especially as they pertained to his work and his ideas. McBride's book provides that, but not in the form of critical analysis you're looking for.
I'm also not familiar with a really good book of criticism that deals with his entire oeuvre -- a daunting task to put it mildly. I know there's a book titled The Non-Western Films of John Ford but I honestly can't say whether it's any good. Perhaps someone else?
I still recommend John Ford Made Westerns. Here is what it consists of:

1. "Shall We Gather at the River?": The Late Films of John Ford/Robin Wood
2. Sacred Duties, Poetic Passions: John Ford and the Issue of Femininity in the Western/Gaylyn Studlar
3. Margin as Center: The Multicultural Dynamics of John Ford's Western/Charles Ramirez Berg
4. Linear Patterns and Ethnic Encounters in the Ford Western/Joan Dagle
5. How the West Wasn't Won: The Repression of Capitalism in John Ford's Westerns / Peter Lehman
6. Painting the Legend: Frederic Remington and the Western/Edward Buscombe
7. "The Sound of Many Voices": Music in John Ford's Westerns/Kathryn Kalinak
8. John Ford and James Fenimore Cooper: Two Rode Together / Barry Keith Grant
9. From Aesthete to Pappy: The Evolution of John Ford's Public Reputation / Charles J. Maland
10. "John Ford: Fighting Irish": New Theater, April 1936/Emanuel Eisenberg
11. "Hollywood's Favorite Rebel": Saturday Evening Post, July 23, 1949 / Frank S. Nugent
12. "John Wayne - My Pal": Hollywood, no 287 (March 17, 1951)/John Ford
13. "The Old Wrangler Rides Again": Cosmopolitan, March 1964/Bill Libby
14. "About John Ford": Action 8.8 (Nov.-Dec. 1973).

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I'm half-way through Molly Haskell's From Rape To Reverence and I really like it, but I want to ask you folks if any caveats are in order for her interpretations. Annie or davidhare, have either of you read this book? Or anything by Parker Tyler even?

[Scharphedin2]

Here are a few recommendations...

I have read a number of F&F's interview books mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and they are generally always insightful and pleasurable. Those that immediatley come to mind are SCHRADER ON SCHRADER (especially for the segment on Charles and Ray Eames); I remember being very moved by SIRK ON SIRK; and SAYLES ON SAYLES was great with respect to general insight into the craft of filmmaking. Not in the F&F series, BERTOLUCCI ON BERTOLUCCI was one of the first film books I read, and it was deeply fascinating to me then, and it was handsomely illustrated (which is something in my opinion a real film book should be). Cameron Crowe's more recent interview book on BILLY WILDER was also a great read that subsequently made me invest in every single Wilder DVD that I could lay my hands on.

There are two wonderful interview books by Peter Bogdanovic. The first is his book of interviews with Orson Welles -- it is everything one would expect of a 400 page chat with the director over brandy and cigars -- richly anecdotal and a lot of fun to read. The other book is WHO THE DEVIL MADE IT, which again finds Bogdanovich interviewing a host of Hollywood directors from the golden age. Warning: This book can be dangerous if one is on a limited DVD budget!

There are a handful of autobiographies that I have come back to many times. MY LAST SIGH by Bunuel is one that has already been mentioned -- a great book! Then there is King Vidor's A TREE IS A TREE containing a lot of amusing anecdotes from the early days of Hollywood, and a lot of insight into the director's career decisions and thoughts on his own films -- it is sure to make one want to rush out and see the director's films. Wim Wenders' EMOTION PICTURES and THE LOGIC OF IMAGES may be more of an acquired taste. I suppose that some would find his early essays on music and film a little precoscious... to me they were true declarations of love from a young man to the medium of film. In the same vein of course is Francois Truffaut's THE FILMS IN MY LIFE -- also highly recommended, especially for anyone interested in writing film journalism. Sidney Lumet's MAKING MOVIES is a great and insightful short book on the various aspects of filmmaking, written in a very humble and matter-of-fact way. I think it will be a treasure to anybody trying to make it into the business of making movies. From reading the posts on this site, there appears to be many Bresson fans, and several academic books on this director have been mentioned, although not his own NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPHER, which almost reads like a "Zen and the Art of making films." Finally, there is a book that I always have within arm's reach, and it is Kurosawa's SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. The final appendix with the director's advise to young filmmakers is priceless, and has applications reaching far beyond making movies. The biography itself is generally as fascinating a read as many a literary masterpiece. The book contextualizes the director's films (at least the films made up until the early '50s), and it reveals the human being behind the masterpieces. A very humble and moving book.

People seem to be divided in two camps, when it comes to Andrew Sarris. I always really enjoyed his miniature portraits of literally hundreds of American directors in his THE AMERICAN CINEMA. Depending on personal taste and temper, one will applaud Sarris' sharp and succinct observations, or, one will find oneself flinging the book at a wall. In most cases, I think his estimate of these directors' relative importance has been vindicated by time, in a few notable instances, I think general consensus today would argue that he was wrong or at least premature in his assessments.

Finally, one book that talks about a whole other world of cinema is Gene Youngblood's EXPANDED CINEMA. I suppose it is time to go back and read this again, as it was a book I read many years ago. However, in discussing experimental and avant garde filmmaking (which to me was an unknown territory at the time of reading the book), it was as if Youngblood had opened the door upon an exotic and very seldom visited garden.

Happy reading