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Vertigo is Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece and perhaps his most personal film. To view it once is to be devastated. With each subsequent screening, most viewers notice bits of business, depths of thought, and stunning ironies that had previously eluded them. Vertigo is a riveting experience, haunting its fans in the same way that Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) is haunted by the mysterious Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak).
Upon researching the film, author Dan Auiler found that "this odd, obsessional, very un-matter-of-fact film was created" under "systematic, businesslike, matter-of-fact circumstances." His book gives us the opportunity to witness the construction of a film that seems at once amazing complex and absolutely seamless. He discusses the painstaking development of the screenplay (including its controversial explication of the mystery only two-thirds of the way through the film), the decision to cast Novak instead of Vera Miles opposite Stewart, the typically meticulous Hitchcock shoot, the film's amazing special effects and extraordinary credit and dream sequences, and the legendary musical score composed by Bernard Herrmann. Upon finishing the book, readers will appreciate the various contributions of Hitchcock, Herrmann, Stewart, Novak, actress Barbara Bel Geddes, Thomas Narcejac and Pierre Boileau (who wrote the book upon which it is based), uncredited scenarists Maxwell Anderson and Angus MacPhail, screenwriters Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor, cinematographer Robert Burks, editor George Tomasini, costume designer Edith Head, and many others. The book includes a list of cast and crew, an appendix discussing the VistaVision process in which it was shot, a forward by Vertigo enthusiast Martin Scorsese, and hundreds of production photos, reproductions of memos, storyboard sketches, and posters. Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic has enhanced even this avid fan's appreciation of a film he's long known and loved. --Raphael Shargel
Book Description
Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo--in which obsessve ex-cop James Stewart pursues troubled loner Kim Novak throughout San Francisco--is one of the most dissected, discussed, and revered movies of all time.Now, for the first time, the story of this remakable film is revealed.Writing with the full cooperation of the director's family and many crew members, Dan Auiler offers up a remarkable in-deph re-creation of Hitchcock's signature thriller. The result is one of the most thorough and illuminating studies of a single film ever published, and a testament to the enduring power of Hitchcock's masterwork of suspense. AUTHORBIO: Dan Auiler, a film collector, teacher, and historian, is the author of Hitchcock's Notebooks and North By Northwest: The Making of Hitchcock's Classic Thriller.He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Customer Reviews:
Vertigo is a dizzyingly outstanding book on the makiing of a classic film.......2005-12-23
Vertigo is one of the best films ever made. Sir Alfred Joseph
Hitchcock's masterpiece will keep you dizzy with the intricate
plot, the beauty of the streets of San Francisco and the great
acting of James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
Aulier begins his book with a short biography of the rotund
Cockny genius AJH. We learn of his career and the outstanding
team he assembled to produce such timeless masterpieces as Vertigo.
Vertigo is Hitchcock's most personal film as he explores such
heavy topics as:
1. Romantic obsession as Detective John Scottie Ferguson seeks his lost love Madeline seeking to remake her in shopgirl Judy.
2. Voyeurism as Hitchcok lovingly photographs the Bay area and gets inside the mind of his characters.
4, The haunting score by Bernard Hermann adds texture to the dreamlike operatic quality of this masterpeice, Hitch looks at
dreams and the elegaic desire to return to the past.
The convoluted plot is well known but readers will learn the
nuts and bolts of how a great film is put together from business
deals; casting (Vera Miles was scheduled to play Madeline)special effects; sound and filming techniques,
Aulier illustrates his book with stills from the film as well as letters from Hitch. The book contains interviews the author conducted with such Hitchcock aassociates as Saul Bass who created the titles noted for their swirling imagery.
Vertigo is based on a French novel and is like a wheel within
a wheel in its complexity and insight into the mind of AJH.
If you love movies, San Francisco, mystery, glamour and haunting music then Vertigo is the film for you! This fine book
is a requisite primer and introduction to this filmic classic.
Trivia abounds.......2004-01-20
Great reference book, but I did get bogged down on all the technical information/processes of the films restoration. Otherwise it's very interesting and enjoyable.
"Vertigo" Answered My Questions.......2002-10-19
I have a strong interest in the film "Vertigo," as I live only 8 miles from Mission San Juan Bautista where some of the scenes were made, and a relative owns Hitchcock's former estate in Scotts Valley, CA (not Los Gatos, as Auiler mistakenly states in his book)where James Stewart spent the night right after making the San Juan Bautista scenes.
Auiler answered many of my questions -- like why Mission SJB has all rounded arches in the film, and a couple of large square openings in reality (answer - Hitch used plywood fillers in the film to give a more uniform appearance). I also wondered how Stewart and Novak drive through a well-known stretch of road bordered by tall Acacia trees on their way to SJB, when that road actually is south of San Juan Bautista, in the opposite direction of their route. (Answer: Hitch liked the trees and who in the audience would know?)
Another question: where was the Coroner's inquest held? I had looked all over the Mission grounds trying to find it without success. Auiler tells: the site was actually a Paramount set, and looked so real it appeared to be "on location."
I still enjoy wandering Mission San Juan Bautista on weekends, looking for Vertigo scenes. Auiler's book has turned me into an informed fan. It is a very well-researched and well written book.
A worthy companion to Hitchcock's best film........2002-05-09
Dan does a nice job here providing lots of information on the development of the script, the circumstances of the adaptation from the french novel, the shooting sequences, and the relationships of the actors and actresses once the camera stopped rolling.
Vertigo is my favorite film and I was generally pleased by this book. My only complaints concern numerous printing/spelling errors that I came across. These errors do not contribute to any misinformation about the film, but they are annoying. The reproductions of various movie posters and pictures from the set throughout the book are a nice addition. This book is a must for film buffs-especially Hitchcock film fans. Dan makes a convincing argument for the claim of many who say this is the master's best film. Hopefully some of the typographical errors in my first edition will be corrected in the future-nothing major, but enough to drop my rating one star.
Highly recommended.
CLASSIC.......2002-04-29
"Vertigo" is not only my favorite Hitchcock film; it is also one of my top five favorite films of all time.
It is a film that, at first viewing, seems merely like a slightly irregular, well-made, not quite formula murder mystery. You go away from the movie with doubts in your mind (questions keep pricking you over and over) and then the "Vertigo" vertigo starts: How did they do it? How did they get away with it and why? Why is James Stewart so obsessed with, at first, a living woman and then, tragically, a dead woman? Why does Kim Novak allow Stewart to manipulate her into becoming a different person? Why do the director and author tell the audience who-done-it long before the movie is over? (This is a particularly thorny point in Auiler's book). And those are only the questions which pop to mind after a first viewing with no preconceptions.
With a foreward (really a short appreciation of "Vertigo")by Martin Scorsese, Dan Auiler's book is a "Vertigo" encyclopedia: the author has collected color and black & white photographs from the film and from ad campaigns; he shows us reproductions of Hitchcock's famous storyboards; he has researched and explained how and why the screenplay was written (and by whom!)and lets us know how Hitchcock participated in the writing in this and everyone of his films and why the studio did not want Hitchcock to direct this movie, preferring that he do another African adventure after the success of "The Man Who Knew Too Much." We learn how Bernard Herrmann's score came about and was recorded, why the specific actors were chosen for their roles and how they worked with their director, how the movie was made ready for the public and how the public received it, originally and in its re-release. There is also a discussion of the process used in making VERTIGO which was called Vistavision.
Auiler also explains the process by which this great, sad, twisted, dark, mysterious, complicated, brave movie was saved from destruction by complete restoration, a painstaking process that directors such as Scorsese support and fund on a regular basis.
This book is a must-read for any fans of Alfred Hitchcock, of "Vertigo" and, indeed, for any film fans. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Average customer rating:
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Directing the Children's Choir: A Comprehensive Resource
Shirley W. McRae
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0028717856 |
Book Description
This book will cover rehearsal techniques, conducting, development of choral tone, selection of music, diction, administration of choral programs as well as junior high and middle school concerns, and will provide strategies for comprehensive, aesthetic education through choral music.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book For Beginners.......2002-04-09
This book does an excellent job of explaining the various types of keno tickets. I was disappointed to find quite a few spelling and grammatical errors. I would recommend the book for beginners and for those players who are wanting to learn about "way" and "combination" tickets.
Amazon.com
James Stewart has done it again. The author of the mega-bestselling Den of Thieves, about the 1980s insider-trading scandals on Wall Street, and Bloodsport, the 1990s tale of the Clintons' Whitewater affair, now gives us another epic story, this one culminating in late 2004. With DisneyWar, Stewart turns his investigative and storytelling lens on Michael Eisner and the corporate intrigue which has overtaken the Walt Disney Company in the last decade. He explains how this once-proud institution, long one of America's most admired and well-known businesses, has stumbled in recent years amid a disastrous swirl of egos, personalities, and bad business decisions.
Like one of the roller coasters at DisneyLand, Stewart's epic book takes readers through a wild up-and-down ride as it describes Eisner's regime as CEO. The tale begins with Eisner's early successes rejuvenating Disney's live-action movie franchise and theme parks, the kickoff of the modern animation era with blockbuster hits like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, and the cultivation of a highly talented cadre of lieutenants, which reads like a Who's Who of executive talent now dispersed across the Fortune 500: Stephen Bollenbach (Hilton Hotels), Steve Burke (Comcast), Geraldine Laybourne (Oxygen Media), Richard Nanula (Amgen), Joe Roth (Revolution Studios), and so on. Stewart makes clear that Eisner has had a major eye for strong creative content himself, both as a young executive in his pre-Disney years at ABC and at Paramount Pictures and more recently in building partnerships like Disney's extremely lucrative one with Pixar.
Just as he credits Eisner for various Disney successes, though, Stewart assigns blame for the failures, too. The thoroughly researched 534 pages of DisneyWar make clear that his overall verdict on the CEO is negative. Much of the book describes detailed and specific interactions between Eisner and his rivals. Readers interested in the entertainment industry or in the personalities which drive it will not be disappointed. The blow-by-blow accounts of Eisner's feuds with Dreamworks SKG founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was his chief aide for nearly two decades, and Michael Ovitz, the superagent from CAA who had been friends with Eisner for even longer than that, are amazingly detailed. They show Eisner to be creative, funny, and charming when he wants to be--and devious, dishonest, and horribly Machiavellian when he doesn't.
Though dispassionate in his writing, Stewart assembles a withering portrait of Eisner as a grasping, self-centered, manipulative, and ultimately self-destructive executive. He shows how the Disney CEO has consistently undercut his potential successors within the company, in many cases drawing on Eisner's own writings and conversations with board members. He shows how Eisner's erratic attitude towards paying severance to former employees--in some cases being overly stubborn (as with Katzenberg, to whom he had a chance to close out for $90 million, but whom Disney ended up paying $280 million) and in others being shockingly lenient (as with Ovitz, who received a $140 million golden parachute after one relatively ineffective year at the company). He shows the overreach of grandiose projects like Euro Disney, and the missed opportunities like Lord of the Rings, Sopranos, and Survivor, on all of which Disney passed.
In the end, Stewart has returned with DisneyWar to what he does best: drilling into a murky and complex subject, capturing an enormous amount of detail through personal interviews, emails, memos, court records, and other data sources, and then weaving together a rich tapestry of people and events to bring others to the same conclusions he has clearly reached himself. Though some readers might tire of the reams of detail Stewart offers--at certain points, the book reads like a gossip rag, with intricate he-said, she-said accounts of individual meetings--most will enjoy it. Beyond the entertainment value, this book also has serious value to students of corporate governance, as it presents a scathing portrait of Disney's captive board of directors and shows what happens with the lack of proper CEO oversight. --Peter Han
Book Description
DisneyWar is the breathtaking, dramatic inside story of what drove America's best-known entertainment company to civil war, told by one of our most acclaimed writers and reporters.
Download Description
"""When You Wish Upon a Star,"" ""Whistle While You Work,"" ""The Happiest Place on Earth"" -- these are lyrics indelibly linked to Disney, one of the most admired and best-known companies in the world. So when Roy Disney, chairman of Walt Disney Animation and nephew of founder Walt Disney, abruptly resigned in November 2003 and declared war on chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner, he sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, corporate boardrooms, theme parks, and living rooms around the world -- everywhere Disney does business and its products are cherished. DisneyWar is the breathtaking, dramatic inside story of what drove America's best-known entertainment company to civil war, told by one of our most acclaimed writers and reporters. Drawing on unprecedented access to both Eisner and Roy Disney, current and former Disney executives and board members, as well as thousands of pages of never-before-seen letters, memos, transcripts, and other documents, James B. Stewart gets to the bottom of mysteries that have enveloped Disney for years: What really caused the rupture with studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, a man who once regarded Eisner as a father but who became his fiercest rival? How could Eisner have so misjudged Michael Ovitz, a man who was not only ""the most powerful man in Hollywood"" but also his friend, whom he appointed as Disney president and immediately wanted to fire? What caused the break between Eisner and Pixar chairman Steve Jobs, and why did Pixar abruptly abandon its partnership with Disney? Why did Eisner so mistrust Roy Disney that he assigned Disney company executives to spy on him? How did Eisner control the Disney board for so long, and what really happened in the fateful board meeting in September 2004, when Eisner played his last cards? Here, too, is the creative process that lies at the heart of Disney -- from the making of The Lion King to Pirates of the Caribbean. Even as the executive suite has been engulfed in turmoil, Disney has worked -- and sometimes clashed -- with a glittering array of stars, directors, designers, artists, and producers, many of whom tell their stories here for the first time. Stewart describes how Eisner lost his chairmanship and why he felt obliged to resign as CEO, effective 2006. No other book so thoroughly penetrates the secretive world of the corporate boardroom. DisneyWar is an enthralling tale of one of America's most powerful media and entertainment companies, the people who control it, and those trying to overthrow them. DisneyWar is an epic achievement. It tells a story that -- in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax -- might itself have been the subject of a Disney animated classic -- except that it's all true. "
Customer Reviews:
INSIDE DISNEY.......2007-07-28
I am a HUGE Disney fan and even a passholder to Disney World. However, I knew that Eisner was not someone I liked. I did during the final few years the book cover had stock in Disney and was one that voted to without my vote from Eisner. After reading this book I am glad I did.
This is some of the best investigative written with facts to back it all up. You find out how the magic begun and how it got all turned into making money over the people that worked so hard for the company. I could not put the book down and had to run to work and tell all the other Disney fans the news from my read the day before. You will also find out due to Eisner hiring and firing people whenever he likes is what ended up leading to the creation of DreamWorks.
The only thing I would say is it is hard to maintain who everyone is and what they do and where they placed as they do pop in and out throughout the book. This is not the writers fault as this is just due to the players being changed and moved so often. I would recommend this book as a business education and corp corruption book.
Great book, why the suprise?.......2007-07-14
I thought that this book was outstanding. What I dont understand is why everyone seems to be so shocked that Disney is a cut throat corporation. You dont become one of the most powerful companies in America by being nice.
The whole "Magical" aspect of Disney is simply an illusion used to sell, and they are great at preserving that image. People say "if you read this book you will never look at Disney the same way again". Well, anyone that has ever bought a Disneyland admission ticket within the last 5 years should know full well that Disney is a company that is indeed strictly profit driven. I like Disney and I enjoy Disneyland, but lets face it, Disney wants to be as powerful and wealthy as any other company, this is not breaking news, rather this book is a fantastic insight into the rise of power of Disney and the behind closed doors politics and greed.
If Walt Disney were alive, this story might kill him.......2007-05-21
After reading "War," I felt I needed to take a shower. The company once known for its wholesome family images seems to have been run for the last twenty or so years by people wholly unlike Wal Disney, bright and egomaniacal people who might know how to do lunch but not people I'd want to sit down to share lunch - not that they'd share lunch.
In retrospect, much of the financial boom of Disney they owe to leveraging well-established assets. I remember going to Disney World in Florida in 1973 for $4. Today it's more like sixty dollars. The Eisner dynasty got off to a good start simply by rapidly tapping the highly inelastic demand for Disney theme parks by jacking up prices considerably, then mining its warehouse of Disney characters and movies, and realizing the power of the video market.
Disney made some good animated features under Eisner, only Disney did not make them, Pixar did. And Eisner so enraged Steve Jobs that Disney lost that gold mine. Disney also thought that they could open another equally profitable amusement part outside Paris, ignoring the fact that France is the center of anti-Americanism and Paris weather leaves a lot to be desired. Disney made some great movies but also a lot of duds. One good film can balance ten or twenty bad ones; such is the economics of moviemaking.
What was most revolting was the self-serving, narcissistic, egomaniacal behavior of the main players in this very expensive, very bad melodrama. Disney officials threw around tens of millions of dollars paying off fired, disgruntled, and even more egotistical former employees. Even a late attempt to embrace Sarbanes-Oxley governance legislation was twisted, misused and misconstrued; the definition of independent and dependent directors seemed to be arbitrary. George Mitchell may have been a good senator, a great diplomat, and a nice guy, but he comes across as a gullible, unsophisticated dupe among this cast of egos.
Stewart assembled a long, tiresome if highly readable book. It's a sad story just the same.
A fantastic insight of corporate America...........2007-05-15
A rather lengthy book (over 600 pages), but I found that I went through it much quicker than I ever imagined I could. Both me and my wife read it and just couldn't put it down. There really wasn't any boring parts to it and thats simply because Eisner did so much backstabbing and just plain afwul things to his underlings, you are constantly turning to the next page to see what happens next.
About the only "complaint" overall is that there are just too many names to keep track of and what jobs they performed within Disney. This is no fault of the author's and actually a direct result of Eisner's non-stop turnstile of corporate executives. Eisner would hire/fire anyone at anytime (actually, he would never do it himself. He always would get some poor schmuck to carry out his dirty work even after he directly told the person getting fired that they were safe, etc).
Having grown up watching Disney classics and visiting the parks, this book certainly raises your blood to the boiling point seeing how Eisner asserts himself as Walt Disney's equal, if not better. Stewart does clearly point out that although the Eisner/Wells team vaulted Disney from rags to riches in 10 years, the death of Wells pretty much spelled the end of Eisners good fortunre. However, that death of good fortunre makes for a great story and a superb job by Stewart to put it into book form. Anyone that can drive off the beloved namesake of the very company he works for certainly gives you an idea of the no questions asked power Eisner held over Disney's Board, the company, and its shareholder.
Who else can not honor a contract, say you won't pay, reneg on a $90M settlement, and then have to pay $300M in court when you are found guilty?? Who could hire their best friend as President, fire them after 14 months, pay $140M in severance pay? Who could purchase a cable network with no real advisement, buy it at $5.2 BILLION, afterwards have your accounting dept. realize it is only worth $1.75 BILLION, and then not do a tax write off in order to save your shareholders MILLIONS of dollars? Who could do all of that and STILL remain Chairman and CEO of ANY company?Its pretty simple when you are Michael Eisner. These are just some of the things he did in this book that keep you wanting to read more.
The book ends just as Eisner is asked to step down as Chairmen of Disney's board, but still keeps his CEO title. Its a shame that Eisner hung on awhile longer and that didn't make it to book. Even without it, I found it unbelievably fascinating and shocking that this kind of behavior finds a home in the board rooms and companies of America. But look no further than Enron to even worse, which is probably why Stewart picked that topic for one of his books, too.
That's corporate politics .......2007-03-16
I was initially told to not read this book if I at all valued the "magical, pixy dust" side of Disney. However, I think reading this book did not change my opinion of Disney simply because I am aware that Disney is what it is, a corporation.
Eisner, in my opinion, for the most part, had a great rein in Disney and really helped it make it what it is today. However, as time went on he became increasingly power hungry and greedy. One may also be shocked by the amount of good ideas and movies Disney turned down but you know what they say, "Hinde sight is 20/20". (Them turning down of "Lord of the Rings" particularly struck me personally, since I am a huge fan. I couldn't help but think. "You fools! Why?!")
All in all, the book showed me nothing worse then what I expected from any multi-billion company. The drama, the betrayal, the lies, THE POLITICS.
Average customer rating:
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DisneyWar.(Book review): An article from: Michigan Law Review
Kenneth M. Rosen
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000PTYGBK
Release Date: 2007-05-10 |
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This digital document is an article from Michigan Law Review, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2007. The length of the article is 9620 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: DisneyWar.(Book review)
Author: Kenneth M. Rosen
Publication:
Michigan Law Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 105
Issue: 6
Page: 1151(18)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Los Angeles Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on February 21, 2005. The length of the article is 748 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: L.A. bookshops battle to satisfy local demand for 'DisneyWar'.
Author: Matt Myerhoff
Publication:
Los Angeles Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 21, 2005
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: 27
Issue: 8
Page: 14(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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