The Best Books About Film

[accatone]

Though it doesn't have an english translation (yet), I can highly recommand this new release of Alexander Kluge.

The title sounds a little lame, "Geschichten vom Kino", because if you add two brackets ("Geschichte(n) vom Kino") and translate it into french you will have "Histoire(s) du cinema"…the Godard reference is always there but Kluge is not denying it, so it is ok, imo (there is actually an interview with Godard in the book…).

I wouldn't go so far and say that what music is for Godard - is literature for Kluge, but… Give it a try (or at least one of his other publications)!

[Ovader]

Has anyone read these two books, Scorsese by Jim Sangster and It Don't Worry Me by Ryan Gilbey? I am interested in reading more about 1970s American cinema and the latter book looks promising but may be just a generalized overview of that era.

[Mise En Scene]

Well, a Serge Daney book has been released in the UK:

Postcards from the Cinema

Paul Grant on Postcards From the Cinema

I haven't read any of his stuff, but a majority of the critics in the Cineaste int'l film criticism symposium issue mentioned him as their main influence/model/mentor.

[Harvey Domino]

Has anyone read It Don't Worry Me by Ryan Gilbey?

And, specifically, how is the chapter(s) on Malick?

Have any of you read The Power of Movies by Colin Mcginn?

[a.khan]

Has anyone had a chance to check out the fairly recent David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grünberg? Looks interesting.

It's been sitting on/in my bookshelf for over 6 months. Thanks for the reminder!

[hangthadj]

I am curious if anyone has read any of he new book by Christianity Today Movie Critic, Jeffery Overstreet, Through a Screen Darkly.

I am Two chapters in and it's pretty good. He definitely hits a great deal on the intersection of his faith and viewing films, which I appreciate, but is not for everyone. The second chapter dealt in large part with his reaction to Wim Wender's Don't Come Knocking which actually has me wanting to revisit the film.

[Guest]

Well, a Serge Daney book has been released in the UK

Wow, this is great and a must-have! I can't wait.

Oh and by the way, the best film-book ever written is Jonas Mekas' out-of-print Movie Journal (alongside P. Adams Sitney's Visionary Film).

[Harvey Domino]

I am curious if anyone has read any of he new book by Christianity Today Movie Critic, Jeffery Overstreet, Through a Screen Darkly.

I am Two chapters in and it's pretty good. He definitely hits a great deal on the intersection of his faith and viewing films, which I appreciate, but is not for everyone. The second chapter dealt in large part with his reaction to Wim Wender's Don't Come Knocking which actually has me wanting to revisit the film.

Funny you should mention him -- I just happened to reread his New World review and thought it was more insightful than about 99% of all the other reviews of it I'd seen, even the positive reviews. He's an interesting writer.

[Mise En Scene]

a Serge Daney book has been released in the UK

Wow, this is great and a must-have! I can't wait.

Is Daney one of the better writers and thinkers on cinema? I'm under the impression that he's highly regarded.

Also, Robin Wood's Personal Views: Explorations in Film has been reprinted by Wayne State University Press.

[Kinsayder]

Jean Renoir: The Complete Films by Christopher Faulkner and Paul Duncan

Anyone seen this, or seen reviews of it? Amazon give a publication date of April 6, but have it in stock now, apparently. I'm thrilled to see a new book by Faulkner (Social Cinema of Renoir & A Guide to References and Resources). But since the publisher is Taschen, I suspect this may be more at home on a coffee table than a university library.

[ellipsis7]

Faulkner is of course a leading Renoir scholar with the incisive and original "The Social Cinema of Jean Renoir" to his name, as well as the standard reference work, "Jean Renoir: A Guide to References and Resources". He is also currently preparing a reception history of LA REGLE DU JEU...

Janet Bergstrom was originally slated to pen the text for the Taschen volume, but pulled out for some reason, and was replaced by the equally excellent Christopher Faulkner...

Judging by the Taschen Antonioni volume, text by Seymour Chatman (I suppose a distillation of his full length critical text ANTONIONI, OR, THE SURFACE OF THE WORLD), the Renoir vol will be a succinct and solid account, with a comprehensive set of references, and most importantly a really good assemblage of photographic material, absent from most other books, and quite rare nowadays... It's the photographs which dominate the Taschen books, nicely reproduced and covering all aspects the director's career and films...

So certainly I have my copy on order!...

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Sesonske's book on the French films is a favorite of mine. Leo Braudy's is superb, too.

[ellipsis7]

Agreed they're great too, Sesonske a favourite of mine too...

Another Faulkner/Renoir treasure I forgot to mention is the Curchod and Faulkner edition (in French) of the Scenario Original of LA REGLE DU JEU, covering script revisions, drafts and excised scenes... A really marvellous piece of work and a rich and valuable resource, education and enlightenment of how the project evolved and came to be created in its final forms...

Just to emphasise Renoir archive stills go for premium prices... This used set from Grove Press on Abebooks......

Jean Renoir Films, 1924-1939
No Author
Bookseller: Hollywood Canteen Inc.
(Toronto, ON, Canada) Price: US$ 500.00
Quantity: 1

Book Description: Grove Press. Box set of 120 slides reflecting cinema of Jean Renoir. Box set is in book form so as to be set on a book shelf. Very rare and unknown number of copies. No written text. Bookseller Inventory # 3124

[Kinsayder]

Another Faulkner/Renoir treasure I forgot to mention is the Curchod and Faulkner edition (in French) of the Scenario Original of LA REGLE DU JEU

Curchod also does the commentary track on the French Montparnasse edition of La Règle du jeu.

[Dr Amicus]

Following the recent death of Freddie Francis, I thought I should recommend Paul M Jensen's excellent The Men Who Made The Monsters, a study of Wallis O'Brien, James Whale, Ray Harryhausen, Terence Fisher and Freddie Francis. I haven't got round to reading the O'Brien section, but the other chapters are excellent - this is the easily the most thorough examination of Francis's work as director and is an important work in the field of British Horror. I wrote my DPhil Thesis on Amicus and this book was invaluable, but strangely ignored by everyone else working in the field (it doesn't get a reference in, eg, Hutchings's books on Fisher or Dracula).

Very strongly recommended to anyone interested in horror or monster movies (the chapter on Harryhausen has an interesting approach to special effects that I 'appropriated' for an analysis of Amicus's Burroughs adaptations).

[ByMarkClark.com]

I'll second that recommendation -- with the admission that Paul is a personal friend of mine. (I saw him again recently at Cinefest in Syracuse, where he regaled me with stories of his meetings with Jean Renoir and Carl Laemmle Jr.! But I digress.)

Anyhow, personal feelings to the side, "The Men Who Made the Monsters" (which recently received a plug from Tim Lucas in his Video Watchblog column) is indeed a superb book, and practically the only source for serious critical consideration of the directorial ouevre of Francis.

Also -- Paul's "Hitchcock Becomes HITCHCOCK" is another favorite of mine, and one of the more underrated texts on Hitch's formative British years. He's now working on what promises to be the definitive biography of Merian C. Cooper.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

For you fellow Welles aficianados from the Chicago Reader blog:

The Truth About It's All True
by Jonathan Rosenbaum on March 23rd - 8:07 p.m.

I'd like to beat the drum a little for a terrific new book just published by University of California Press, Catherine Benamou's It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey, which is far and away the definitive book on It's All True, Welles's doomed documentary project about Latin America in the 1940s. Maybe the fact that the same publisher is bringing out a book of mine about Welles in a couple of months gives me a special interest in the subject; I should also note that Benamou, who's been working on her book for well over two decades, is an old friend. (She also arranged recently for the purchase of two major Welles collections by the University of Michigan, which are going by the name "Everybody's Orson Welles." I was privileged to be the first visitor to this mountain of material in Ann Arbor last summer, which is where I collected the stills used on my own book jacket.)

Some readers may be put off a bit by Catherine's academic language, but the fact remains that so much fresh and even startling information is available here—information that corrects countless myths—that if you care about Welles at all, you can't afford to ignore this book.

The received wisdom about It's All True, commonly known as Welles's Brazilian "misadventure," is that he got so carried away by partying at the carnival in Rio that he cost RKO a fortune without any clear plan in mind for the film. Benamou fully demonstrates that virtually none of this scenario is true, and it can be attributed to the studio's successful propaganda in justifying its firing of Welles—thereby dooming The Magnificent Ambersons as well as curtailing Welles's equally ambitious three-part documentary feature, which would have had other segments filmed in Mexico and Peru.

In fact, if Welles was staying up most nights, this was partly in order to meet with his Brazilian collaborators (mainly performers and researchers) to plan the next day's shooting, which would usually start around 8 AM. Arguably the true scandal of what he was doing was political—shooting a documentary whose major characters were all poor nonwhites, to the consternation of many government as well as studio officials.

[ellipsis7]

Just received the Taschen book JEAN RENOIR - A Conversation with his Films 1894-1979, and am bowled over by its sheer quality...

This is an hardback edition costing just €26.15 (about $35) running nearly 200 pages, and in a much larger format than the previous Taschen ANTONIONI, FORD, TRUFFAUT, BUNUEL, FELLINI flexicover editions I have seen in the series... It's a lovely looking item, and a valuable reference...

It features a huge selection of rare and remarkable stills drawn mainly from the Jean Renoir Papers @ UCLA, BIFI @ Cinematheque Francaise Paris, Special Collections @ BFI London, and the Kobal Collection and Photofest...

Renoir's son Alain has been involved in preparing the book, and there's an excellent text (only dipped in to so far) by Christopher Faulkner...

[cgray]

I'm looking for a good book of Sontag film-related essays. While I am interested and have read several of her other essays, I'd really to find a collection containing mostly cinema pieces.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

As far as I know, there isn't a film only collection of Sontag writings. You'll have to hit up the individual copies of her work. At least used copies won't be hard to find if you'd rather cut the film pieces out of each tome and compile your own collection.

[Baron_Blood]

My two favs are def Immoral Tales: European Sex and Horror Movies 1956 - 1984 by Cathal Tohill & Pete Tombs and Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel.

[Antoine Doinel]

From you Michael Mann fans, Taschen has just released a book covering Mann's films including Miami Vice.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

From you Michael Mann fans, Taschen has just released a book covering Mann's films including Miami Vice.

Actually, it's been out in the US for a long time. I picked up when it first came out and it's quite good... tons of rare, behind-the-scenes photos (esp. of his early work!) but alas short on factual/anecdotal information for my tastes. Still, it's easily the best book on Mann out there so far.

[Argonaut69]

I made an unexpected discovery today upon purchasing a used paperback copy of David Thomson's New Biographical Dictionary of Film at a secondhand bookstore. I bought it simply because it was autographed (and cheap) but also noted that it had a new 2004 copyright on the title page which is usually only done when new material is added to a book. I was startled to discover that it in fact has an additional 26 pages worth of entries beyond what the original hardcover printing in 2002 had. The fact that the title and cover are identical on the two editions had led me to believe that the content was the same. I know Thomson officially updates the book every ten years or so but wasn't aware of this fairly notable "unofficial" update for the paperback.

The page count you read on Amazon is wrong for both editions; the 2002 edition is 963 pages long and the newer paperback is 989. I skimmed through the first 200 pages or so to make sure the page difference wasn't just due to page formatting and sure enough, there are many new entries such as Darren Aronofsky, Larry Clark and Alfonso Cuaron that were not in the hardcover. The author has also expanded upon already existing entries so while the 2002 entry for Tom Cruise ends with "Is Minority Report rescue?", you can read the paperback edition to find out Thomson's answer.

I thought that any other fans of this book might enjoy this little bit of info...

[Greathinker]

The Cinema of Terrence Malick: Poetic Visions of America is being re-released as a paperback in July-- before it was only available as an expensive hardcover edition. I've been looking for a book on him, hopefully this one is decent.