Warehouse Stock Clearance Sale

Grab a bargain today!


Backstory 2
By

Rating

Product Description
Product Details

About the Author

Pat McGilligan writes regularly for American Film, Film Comment, Film Quarterly, and Sight and Sound. His books include a definitive biography, Cagney: The Actor as Auteur, and notable biographies of directors Robert Altman and George Cukor.

Reviews

Fourteen Hollywood screenwriters relive the 1940s and '50s--an era of political turmoil, massive studio layoffs and rising aesthetic production values--in these sparkling interviews, a sequel to Backstory. Arthur Laurents asserts that the blacklist made ``Hollywood what it is today, cardboard people running around on Styrofoam.'' Ben Maddow, blacklisted in 1952, speaks out for the first time about his role as HUAC cooperative witness. Walter Reisch reminisces about working with Darryl Zanuck, Louis B. Mayer and Ernst Lubitsch. Leigh Brackett, who adapted Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep to the screen, calls that novel ``a confusing book.'' Other interviewees include Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Garson Kanin, fantasist Curt Siodmak, Philip Yordan and Dorothy Kingsley. This treasure trove is an irresistible mix of film lore, behind-the-scenes history, gossip and shoptalk. Photos. (July)

The modest success of Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age ( LJ 12/15/86) has spawned this sequel. There aren't many household names here (Betty Comden and Adolph Green are the best known). McGilligan conducted many of the interviews himself. The recurring theme is frustration: with a system that's collaborative in nature and leads to all kinds of miscredited work (which McGilligan valiantly tries to straighten out in filmographies); with directors who get all the glamor press; and with the witch-hunters whose zealotry ruined many lives and careers. Arthur Laurents, who authored the original screenplay for The Way We Were , is perhaps the most frustrated of all, and in this collection's most entertaining interview he sums it all up: ``Don't you understand?! No writer has any say about a movie!'' Recommended for medium and large film collections.-- Tom Wiener, formerly with `` American Film, '' Washington, D.C.

Ask a Question About this Product More...
 
Look for similar items by category
People also searched for
This title is unavailable for purchase as none of our regular suppliers have stock available. If you are the publisher, author or distributor for this item, please visit this link.

Back to top