The Best Books About Film

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Another book on Bresson which analyzes his radical politics. Has anyone read this one?

[andrewyi1114]

I just ordered Rohmer's book on Hitchcock! Very exciting.

And can anyone tell me if Peter Bogdanovich's Who the Devil Made It is any good? Great director's are interviewed obviously, but I'm curious as to whether to content is worth it.

[Highway 61]

I just ordered Rohmer's book on Hitchcock! Very exciting.

And can anyone tell me if Peter Bogdanovich's Who the Devil Made It is any good? Great director's are interviewed obviously, but I'm curious as to whether to content is worth it.

Yes, it's riveting. The sequel with actor interviews isn't as good, but still worthwhile.

[hearthesilence]

I've only read some parts of it (Preminger and Hawks' chapters, maybe a few others) and thought they were good. He's a hell of a lot better at writing his film experiences than, say, talking about them in a DVD commentary.

[Matt]

Indiana University Press Spring Sale, up to 70% off

[filmyfan]

Does anyone have any "Western" recommendations ?


I am looking for an easyish (lightish) holiday read encompassing the whole history of the genre-if one exists ?

I have the serious Kitses/Wood/Newman books and wanted something a bit lighter !

[tojoed]

Does anyone have any "Western" recommendations ?
I am looking for an easyish (lightish) holiday read encompassing the whole history of the genre-if one exists ?
I have the serious Kitses/Wood/Newman books and wanted something a bit lighter !

Try this.

[Richard--W]

Regarding Welles, I heartily recommend Naremore's The Magic World of Orson Welles. It's an overview of his oeuvre and discusses each film in some detail. It's not a biography, but it takes his life into account when discussing his films and the circumstances in which they were made.

I haven't finished it yet (I'm stuck on the Immortal Story chapter until I get around to ordering the Madman disc), but everything up to that point is informative, engaging, and thoughtful.

Regarding This Is Orson Welles, recommended to you above, I suggest listening to the audio book version after reading the text version. Bogdanovich reads from his own book, but in between he plays extended tape recordings of his actual interviews with Welles. For me, Welles' energy and attitude when he speaks is 80% of the story being told, and you don't get that from reading the transcription. My admiration for the man increases when I listen to his voice.

The audio book is out of print and I suppose pricey, but find it used if you can.

[ArchCarrier]

The audio book is out of print and I suppose pricey, but find it used if you can.

Free is even better.

[Richard--W]

Free is indeed better, but there is more on the tapes and on the page. If you are a Welles devotee, you don't want to miss a word.

[Gregory]

Excerpts from the greatest film-related book ever published. Amazingly suggestive Burt Reynolds fan mail from the 1970s, with teasing replies (allegedly) from Burt! I have no idea what this website is (Bro Bible?) but another blog I read linked to it. Will someone please get this entire book available again in some form? (Bibliophile hardcover edition perhaps?)

[matrixschmatrix]

Oh, God, it's like Oldshepard wrote a book

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Does anyone have any "Western" recommendations ?


I am looking for an easyish (lightish) holiday read encompassing the whole history of the genre-if one exists ?

I have the serious Kitses/Wood/Newman books and wanted something a bit lighter !

I can't say whether or not this is light enough for you (it is serious, I guess), but one of the more fascinating early histories of the western is written by Scott Simmon: The Invention of the Western Film. Amazon has a "look inside" feature on the book's page. Hope this fits the bill; I think it's a very accessible cultural history of the western prior to the canonical films of the '40s and '50s. Perhaps not rife with cozy anecdotes, but diverting nonetheless.

[frankwhiteshair]

I'm not 100% sure if anybody has mentioned it yet, but I found Framing Blackness: The African American Image on Film by Ed Guerrero to be absolutely essential reading.

[Wu.Qinghua]

I think this may be of interest to members etc. who loved Criterion's and MOC's Japanese New Wave releases:

Isolde Standish wrote a new book on the Japanese New Wave, which has been released last week in the US and may update Desser's 'Eros and Massacre'. The book is - somewhat misleadingly - titled 'Politics, Porn and Protest. Japanese Avant-Garde Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s' and seems to focus on aesthetic and stylistic topics as well as on ATG.

[mbajic]

The best and sweetest autobiography written by a director himself, without doubt Ma Vie et Mes Films by Jean Renoir. I bought the original french version on Amazon but I'm sure there is an englishone as well. Beautiful stuff, especially when he talks about his childhood and his father, and how he fell in love with film by seeing ten Chaplin films daily while convalescing from war wounds.
How romantic :)

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Indiana University Press is having another big sale until June 24th.

[Murdoch]

Anybody read/willing to endorse "Feminisms in the Cinema?"

[Gregory]

Haven't read it, but there are new copies on AbeBooks.com for $2.99 plus shipping.

I was hoping the new edition of Quandt's Bresson book might be well discounted, but the code only takes off the shipping, possibly because it's still a preorder.

[jouvet]

Hello forumites -- long time lurker, first time poster.

Thanks for all of these suggested titles, much now on my to-read list.

For those of you into recent French film, I hear "Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema" is really good.

[Murdoch]

Haven't read it, but there are new copies on AbeBooks.com for $2.99 plus shipping.

Even better, thanks!

[Matt]

Time for another end-of-fiscal-year warehouse sweep by Indiana University Press. Use sale code SUMMER at checkout to save up to 70% with free domestic shipping for orders over $30. Sale ends 6/24.

IUP book recommendations by members from previous sales located here.

[Peacock]

Anyone own No Man an Island: The Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien by James Udden? Any thoughts? I'm debating whether to get the kindle edition as the hardback is pretty pricey, so i'm also wondering if there are stills (color?), and what sort of approach the book takes? Does it go into analysis of the films themselves?

[Ovader]

I think this may be of interest to members etc. who loved Criterion's and MOC's Japanese New Wave releases:

Isolde Standish wrote a new book on the Japanese New Wave, which has been released last week in the US and may update Desser's 'Eros and Massacre'. The book is - somewhat misleadingly - titled 'Politics, Porn and Protest. Japanese Avant-Garde Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s' and seems to focus on aesthetic and stylistic topics as well as on ATG.

Anyone read this yet and can offer their opinion?

[Ovader]

I contributed to the Support Senses fundraising campaign and I have a choice for one of the two books in the Contemporary Film Directors series: Steven Soderbergh by Aaron Baker or Hal Hartley by Mark L. Berrettini. Opinions? I wanted the Chris Marker or Kiarostami but they are unavailable.