Amazon.com
As Roger Ebert observes in his smart introduction to the collected memos of the legendary producer Selznick, this is no ordinary book. Buzzed on Benzedrine, Selznick dictated his every thought to secretaries from 1916-1965, 2,000 file boxes' worth of priceless, absolutely unique inside information. "What we're given is a seat in his office," Ebert says, "the Nixon tapes of Hollywood's golden age." It's a privilege to see Selznick tussle with Hitchcock (who evidently had a notion about a vaguely Psycho-like grandma in the first draft of Rebecca), Ingrid Bergman (to whom he dictated an amazing tantrum), and Tallulah Bankhead ("Would you care to brave the lioness' den?" he asks his secretary, suggesting that she contact Bankhead about a bit part after spurning her for the Scarlett part in Gone with the Wind). The gestation of Scarlett's flick is especially fascinating. At first, Selznick cautions director George Cukor about "not going overboard on size and expensive production scenes of the civil war," but with Selznick, things always tend to get bigger. To battle bigotry, he cuts the Ku Klux Klan from the film ("Of course we might have shown a couple of Catholic Klansmen, but it would be rather comic to have a Jewish Kleagle.") By the end, he's pulling out the stops--he urges the composer to "go mad with schmaltz in the last three reels." Selznick blows it sometimes: he nixes newcomers Gregory Peck and Burt Lancaster, and John Ford's Stagecoach, which created John Wayne. But by reading his memos, you can't fail to see what made him a true auteur.
All hail Martin Scorsese for editing the classic film-books series of which this is a part, Modern Library: The Movies. Even if he'd never directed, Scorsese would be God's gift to film history. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
"The most revealing, penetrating book on filmmaking I know of . . ."--King Vidor
David O. Selznick was a unique figure in the golden Hollywood studio era. He produced some of the greatest and most memorable American films ever made--notably, Rebecca, A Star Is Born, Anna Karenina, A Farewell to Arms, and, above all, Gone With the Wind. Selznick's
absolute power and artistic control are evidenced in his impassioned, eloquent, witty, and sometimes rageful memos to directors, writers, stars and studio executives, writings that have become almost as famous as his films. Newsweek wrote,"I can't imagine how a book on the American movie business could be more illuminating, more riveting or more fun to read than this collection of David Selznick's memos.
Customer Reviews:
This is the man.......2001-05-22
Fascinating and illuminating book about the way movie classics were made in the 30's and 40's. This man knew his job and we are lucky that in the making he wrote those long memos. The people they were sent to found them annoying. We movie fans find them fascinating.
Engrossing and informative and never dull.......2000-10-26
I was a bit leery of a book of just memoes but ... This is truly an extraordinary book, full of insights into every aspect of film making. The most interesting parts are about scripts and script construction. That was what Selznick had a genius for, and that comes through clearly. Some of his faults come through too. There are a number of memoes about his life and emotions so you get a picture a man not just an executive.
For anyone who likes old movies a must.
Selznick Redux.......2000-04-16
It's a genuine pleasure to see this 1972 volume back in print again. Practically the entire history of classic Hollywood can be seen within the pages of this fascinating series of memos, a veritable stream of behind the scenes trivia and the most impressive book of name-dropping ever seen in print. The cinematic genius of Selznick and Company is told as only it should be told...in the Master's own words.
Insightful look at a bygone era.......2000-03-29
David O. Selznick was behind some the films considered classics from that era. He was known for his memos that he sent to others in the industry and those working for him. The book is a fascinating look at the studio system at the time - and is also a reminder that people at one time actually communicated in writing - no cell phones, no email. This book is a must-read for those interested at all in film lore - and it's a great read!
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Pictorial and History of Gone With The Wind
|
David O'Selznick's Gone with the Wind
Ronald Haver
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Pictorial History of Gone with the Wind
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Gone With the Wind
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'Filming of Gone With the Wind'
ASIN: 0517606771
Release Date: 1993-04-11 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Pictorial and History of Gone With The Wind.......2002-05-10
I found this book at a garage sale for $1.00, and it was in great shape. My mom is a huge GWTW fan, so I gave it to her. It has a vast amount of triva and background information on the movie, and lots of wonderful pictures. Any GWTW fan would enjoy it.
Book Description
Gone with the Wind has generated interest in every aspect of its production. Yet one crucial aspect has never been fully understood or appreciated—the vital shaping role played by executive producer David O. Selznick.
In this book, Alan David Vertrees challenges the popular image of Selznick as a megalomaniacal meddler whose hiring and firing of directors and screenwriters created a patchwork film that succeeded despite his interference. Drawing on ten years of research in the Selznick archives, and examining the screenplay's successive drafts, dramatic continuity designs and "storyboard" sketches (many of which are reproduced here), and production correspondence and memoranda, Vertrees interprets the producer's actions as manipulation, not indecision, establishing Selznick's "vision" as the guiding intelligence behind the film's success.
In his drive to create a cinematic monument, Selznick also reformed many key facets of studio filmmaking, inventing jobs such as "production designer" (inaugurated by William Cameron Menzies), which persist today. This book thus adds an important chapter to the story of classical Hollywood cinema and the making of the film that has been lauded variously as the "Sistine Chapel of movies" and the "single most beloved entertainment ever produced."
Customer Reviews:
Gone with the Wind.......2001-04-15
In 1928, Margaret Mitchell began writing a passionate story about a woman who dare to stand up to the old traditions and ways, a woman who is wild and carefree, a woman who changed through the war. It is a tale of unrequited love, of a man who desires this woman with all his heart but who can never obtain her. He is Rhett Butler and she is Scarlett O'Hara and this is Gone with the Wind. Read it and you'll see why Margaret Mitchell is regarded as the best writer of all time and why Gone with the Wind is the best selling novel with more than 40 million copies and made into a 8 Academy Award winning movie, Gone with the Wind is truly amazing.
Product Description
vg+/tiny touch of rubb. to top of 1 pg.sm.scrape frnt.wrap. 36pg. souvernir program for the 1967 distorted 70mm re-release. Binding is large wraps. LAID IN THE PROGRAM IS A SIGNED PORTRAIT OF BUTTERFLY McQUEEN. THIS IS AN 8" x 10" REPRINT PORTRAIT OF A SMILING BUTTERFLY McQUEEN FROM HER MOST FAMOUS ROLE AS PRISSY. THE PORTRAIT WAS SIGNED AT A LATER DATE. Sadly Ms. McQueen died tragically in 1995 in a fire. Fire.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Literature-Film Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 5343 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: "The book belongs to all of us": Gone With the Wind as postcultural product.(Critical essay)
Author: Jan Cronin
Publication:
Literature-Film Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 35
Issue: 1
Page: 396(8)
Article Type: Critical essay
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- Only for the open-minded
- Quite Astonishing
- yuck
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Ufo's and Ufology: The First 50 Years
Paul Devereux , and
Peter Brookesmith
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Book Description
Are UFOs myth or science? As demonstrated by the recent fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of the alleged UFO crash at Roswell, doe-eyed aliens and extraterrestrial spacecraft have captured our imagination. UFOs and Ufology investigates this phenomenon, from its recorded beginnings in 1947 to the present.
Filled with 120 breathtaking photographs, UFOs and Ufology walks the line between myth and reality, explores every angle and possibility, and answers the mysteries hidden inside the human consciousness. From sightings to alien abductions, the media to mysterious phenomena, experts Devereux and Brookesmith analyze decades of eyewitness accounts, hundreds of occurrences, and popular culture to present the most scientific and thorough examination regarding the existence of life in outerspace. Coverage addresses:
Have humans been abducted by aliens? UFOs and Ufology explores the reports of many different types of extraterrestrial contact from around the world, attempting to establish the truth while searching for possible explanations.
What about crop circles, earth lights, and ley lines? Are these linked to the presence of extraterrestrials, or are there earthly reasons for them? UFOs and Ufology looks at the possibilities.
Is Ufology a science or the dream of a lonely species? The book's conclusion sheds new light on what is real and what is fantasy.
Customer Reviews:
Only for the open-minded.......2006-10-31
It is, I suppose, not just a sign of our times but of the human condition that those proclaiming they have the Truth-with-a-capital-T gain a far larger following than folks like Messrs Devereaux and Brookesmith ever do, a pair of gentleman who favor a rigorous, genuimely investigative appraoch to a topic. And when the subject at hand is as both contentious and in some respects fuzzy, as 'UFOlogy', it's easy to see why this important book has garned exactly two reviews, one of which was apparently based entirely on disagreement with the title, rather than the content.
As to the book itself...while slightly dated at this point, almost a decade after publication (that being close the high-water mark of Alien Abduction books, Alien Autopsy TV specials, Aliens battling Mulder & Scully, etc.) it carefully traverses the history of the phenomena, not just since Kenneth Arnold's "flying saucers", but back into pre-history and up through the (then) current day.
While the authors certainly draw their own conclusions, they remain careful to let all sides be heard and thoroughly examine various theories and hypothoses that have been put forth (to a bewildering degree) to *explain* what UFOs are about and what they might mean. And do so in a way that is engaging, readable and respectful.
Those who come in with strongly preconcieved ideas ("it's all rubbish", "there's a government cover-up of the ETs", etc.) will either hate this book or have their worldview challenged. For those of us that think what the UFO phenomena might say about ourselves is important and worth trying to understand (whether that understanding is of a scientific, sociological, psychological, cultural, theological nature...) will find much of interest here and to them is highly recommended.
Well-written, well-argued, handsome and with some terrific illustrations, this unjustly neglected volume remains a vital contribution to the field, even ten years after its publication.
Quite Astonishing.......2004-01-05
I found this book to be quite astonishing. While I used to be extremely skeptical of the so called "UFO's" this book introduces facts, accounts, and inferences that have lead me to question my own beleifs.
Excellent book! Although, I think that "a reader" was right when he said that UFO-ology is not a word, however I don't think he read the book.
yuck.......2001-12-09
Let's get two things straight:
1) There is no such word as "ufology" nor could there ever be. Only someone with the most execrable taste and no understanding
of language or logic whatsoever could proffer such a monstrosity.
2) "U.F.O" stands for "Unidentified Flying Object". Do U.F.O.'s exist? Until the flying objects in question are identified, of course. There is no mystery here. (A large percentage turn out not to have flying at all, so it might have been better to call them "unidentified apparently flying objects" or "unidentified sky phenomena", but at this point we're pretty much stuck with "unidentified flying objects". Oh, well.)
Amazon.com
The title of Real World Digital Photography doesn't adequately indicate the scope and sheer practical usefulness of the information within. The book not only gives a clear breakdown of how to choose and use a digital camera, it also covers everything from sound photographic advice (lighting, framing, and cropping) to manipulation of digital images (primarily in Photoshop). This latter section is especially well-written, covering everything necessary for color correction: levels, histograms, the unsharp mask filter--all explained clearly but without an overwhelming amount of detail.
This book is aimed at neither the casual consumer nor the professional digital photographer with $50,000 to spend. Rather, it is perfect for several types of professionals: graphic designers, design students, real estate and insurance agents, and many others. It shows how digital cameras work (what makes both the inner workings and the output differ from that in traditional film cameras); which camera to buy for your needs and budget; and how to take, edit, archive, and store pictures.
Many basic terms get clarified--for example, how JPEG compression works--and there are lots of sidebar tips such as how to progressively downsample an image in a way that preserves the most detail. The book also explains how to print the images on inkjet or dye sub printers. (Did you know not to convert an RGB image to CMYK before sending it to the printer? Let the printer do the conversion.)
A lot of the information and explanations in Real World Digital Photography will still be useful long after the featured cameras are considered yesterday's technology. --Angelynn Grant
Topics covered: Types of cameras and which to buy, how they work, the mechanics of digital imagery, setting up a digital "darkroom" and desktop studio, the basics of good photography, Quicktime VR, digital correction of images, preparing images for print or Web, and archiving digital images.
Book Description
Whether you're just making the transition from a lifetime of traditional photography or are looking to bring your digital photography skills in line with today's market, if you're serious about digital photography, you need this book. In the four years since the first edition was published, just about every aspect of digital photography has changed (often radically--and it's all covered in these pages. Organized in four major sections--Digital Processing Essentials, Digital Processing Techniques, The Digital Darkroom, and Output and Presentation--the focus here is on getting great pictures and spectacular printed output through a combination of smart techniques and the right equipment. As with all of the titles in the Real World series, the authors here realize that this entails learning not just techniques but the concepts behind them. For a professional-level understanding of the digital photography process--from how a digital camera works to advice on buying cameras and accessories, choosing hardware and software, downloading and outputting images, and more--this is the place to turn.
Customer Reviews:
It's all here.......2007-04-11
If you are just getting into digital photography or are at the intermediate stage this book is for you. It is probably the most complete book on digital photography that I have seen. It has 698 pages of valuable information that is sure to aid you in becoming a more knowledgeable and better digital phothgrapher. It begins with "Why Digital" and from there covers everything imaginable dealing with digital photography. If you use "Photoshop", you will be pleased by the amount of detail that has been given to users of this very capable program. The book does not cover everything that can be done with this wonderful program but it does provide enough detail to get you well on your way. This book was published in 2004 and is a little behind on some of it's information. For instance, it referances Photoshop 7 and CS while CS3 is just about to be released. I would still highly recommend this book. It is a little pricy but I believe it is well worth the price.
A Thorough Primer.......2007-01-10
Apart from the relatively new (and very effective)Dennis Curtin e-book on digital photograpy, there are very few books on digital photography which are capable of explaining the principles behind effective photo-taking like this one. True, practising film photographers of yesteryear will already know about aperture and shutter speed and program modes and evaluative/matrix metering. But not many will know that digital cameras have only ONE, factory-set ISO speed; it can't be changed. Dialling in higher or lower ISO 'speeds" is really just about amplifying or lowering electrical input to the (fixed-sensitivity) sensor. It explains nicely why higher ISO ratings produce so much noise....
For me, as a photographer looking to teach other photographers, the absolute core of the book is Part Two: Digital Photography Techniques. This is because what goes before and after this massive four-part book will continue to change as the technical excellence of digital cameras continues to improve and astound. However, photography techniques remain immutable: cameras need light, aperture and shutter selections, compensatory metering techniques and a range of lens lengths for a range of photo-taking situations. Thus, the 3 remaining sections (Digital Photgraphy Essentials, the Digital Darkroom and Output, Manage, and Present will change and adapt to incorporate the latest and greatest changes in digital photography. The information in Section Two however, Digital Photography Techniques, will remain the core of the technique of picture-taking.
At 698 pages, this book is a hefty read. But for the post-beginner photographer wishing to learn more about the CRAFT of digital photography, this book is (still) currently very hard to beat. The ART of digital photography remains where it has always been: in your personal vision of the world around you.
Solid information.......2006-06-29
Title: Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition
Author: Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey
Publisher: Peachpit Press
ISBN: 0-321-22372-1
Pages: 678
Published: November, 2003
Reviewer: Robert Saucier
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition is solid information for those just getting into digital photography with point-and-shoot cameras, those with a bit more experience, or those who are stepping up to digital SLR (dSLR) cameras from the world of 35mm film.
The authors take the reader through a wealth of information; from how digital cameras work to how to set up a "digital darkroom."
Real World Digital Photography is divided into four major topic areas:
"Digital Photography Essentials," "Digital Photography Techniques," "The Digital Darkroom," and "Output, Manage, and Present."
"Digital Photography Essentials," takes up almost one-third of the book. This section offers an introduction to digital photography for the new or soon-to-be digital photographer. It covers the history of digital photography, jargon, how digital cameras work, how to buy a digital camera, and what accessories are "must-haves."
"Digital Photography Techniques," the shortest of the four sections, covers the creative act of creating a photograph after first detouring into some technical aspects that the reader needs to consider prior to snapping the shutter.
"The Digital Darkroom" and "Output, Manage, and Present" make up the last half of the book. These sections deal with improving your photos after shooting and how to best store and show those photos.
There is a wealth of techniques for adjusting visual elements (color, contrast, sharpness) as well as performing editing tricks such as removing unwanted elements or applying creative plug-ins to create a work of art from what might have been "just" a nice photograph.
Storage of old photos has moved from the shoebox to the spindle and the pros and cons of long-term storage solutions are covered here. There's also discussion of planning for changes in storage media - a real concern for the prolific shutterbug!
Overall, the authors present information simply but with plenty of detail. Complex topics are described as simply as possible and the information is presented in a progressive manner. Readers with more experience will be able to make use of the table of contents and the index to quickly move to topics of interest.
I'm not new to either film or digital photography but I appreciated the photography "refresher course" provided in chapters 6 and 7. These chapters provide the meat regarding technique in composition, framing, and lighting. Unfortunately, this technique section is the lightest area covered.
I also thought the details and methods described in the editing chapters were fantastic although geared to Photoshop users. While many of the editing processes could be duplicated through trial-and-error, offering more specific tips for using Paint Shop or one of the other lower-priced editors would've been a big plus. After all, someone using a one or two hundred-dollar point-and-shoot probably wouldn't spend the $649.00 to buy Photoshop.
There are few shortcomings to be found here, especially considering the age of this edition - almost two and one-half years old as of this review. My only real grumble is that, while recommendations on software tools were more than adequate, little to no mention was made of freeware tools such as Google's Picasa (an image management application) or The GIMP (a Photoshop-like image editor).
Real World Digital Photography is a definite winner loaded with excellent information for both new and veteran photographers. It's definitely earned a place on my bookcase!
This is the book to have!.......2006-03-26
Having undertaken a number of photography courses and worked in digital for some years I was not expecting this 'prescribed text' for a Uni course to be adding anything to what I already owned.
I was wrong, this one is the best guide to photography and digital I have seen and will help any aspiring photographer achieve their aims.
What ever I feel like i wanna take photos of. Gosh........2006-03-23
I used this book as a text book during a digital photography class at Rice University. It guides you from very basic information about both photography and digital photography, through very advanced techniques for getting the most out of your camera and images. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants begin, or improve their digital photography and photoshop skills. afterall, everyone know that girls only like guys with skills.
photoshop skills, photography skills....
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