The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture

Book Description

William "Wild Bill" Wellman was not Paramount Pictures' first choice to direct the World War I epic Wings (1927), but as a former aviator and war hero, he was the right choice. Despite months waging epic battles of his own with studio executives, "Wild Bill" managed to finish the big-budget war saga by inventing many of the techniques still used to film aerial battle scenes. The film, starring Clara Bow, broke box office records and earned its studio the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Considered by many to be the last great film of the silent era,Wings has been cited as a major influence on such directors as Martin Scorsese and Robert Redford. Its director, who went on to direct the likes of John Wayne, James Cagney, and Gary Cooper, later earned an Oscar for writing one of Hollywood's most loved (and often remade) films, A Star is Born. In this biography, the director's son, William Wellman Jr., reveals the war hero, family man, occasional prankster, and underestimated visionary who changed Hollywood forever. Augmented with personal correspondence from Wellman's own World War I tour of duty as a fighter pilot, on-set photographs from Wings and other classic Hollywood films, and anecdotes from the back lots of the early studio system, this unique work traces the way in which the first Best Picture's director used his own war experience to bring a war epic to the screen. The versatile director also excelled at comedies such as Nothing Sacred (1937), and had a lasting influence on the gangster genre with The Public Enemy (1931), starring James Cagney. With the recent release of Wellman's later aviation classics, Island in the Sky (1953) and The High and the Mighty (1954), both starring John Wayne, Wellman is gaining renewed attention and appreciation from a new generation of film enthusiasts. The book ends with a detailed Filmography of more than 75 classic films directed by Wellman.

Customer Reviews:

A Hollywood Original.......2007-01-28

Success in Hollywood is often achieved by working within the system, but some of the greatest stars and directors were those who didn't fit in. William A. Wellman was one of the latter: "He was a square peg looking at round holes," writes his son William Wellman Jr. in _The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture_ (Praeger). Wellman senior looked back on his career and reminisced: "I've been fired from every studio in Hollywood except Disney - they never hired me!" The junior Wellman has made his own way in show business, including making a documentary about his father's work and an upcoming movie biography. He obviously loves his subject, plainly writing in admiration. One of the attractions of the book is that much of it is written by the senior Wellman himself, letters and unpublished memoirs included in large chunks here. The book climaxes with the making and reception of the silent film _Wings_, which Wellman directed in 1927. It is perhaps Wellman's best work, although he made movies until 1958, including such standouts as _The Public Enemy_ with James Cagney in 1931 and the sardonic and hilarious _Nothing Sacred_ in 1937. Before Wellman made his great movie about pilots in World War One, he was himself a pilot in World War One, and his jaunty letters to his family from the time tell a great deal about the authenticity of _Wings_.

Wellman got kicked out of high school and was convicted of being a car thief before heading to France in 1917 to become a flier in the French Air Service (the US Air Service had turned him down due to his lack of education). Wellman joined the Lafayette Escadrille, and it is some sort of miracle that he learned to fly; the instructors spoke only French and then turned their charges over to a series of training aircraft, without ever getting into an airplane with a student. He was a bold pilot. In one of his first forays, he was the only volunteer for a risky mission, one that all the French pilots turned down; he just wanted to get into the action quickly, he explained. He had so many close calls in the air that he lost plenty of planes, each named Cecilia for his mother. Cecilia V was shot down just four months after Wellman had begun his service, and his head and back injuries were enough in this accident to get him discharged, fully decorated, from the Lafayette Flying Corps. Douglas Fairbanks sent him a cable of congratulations, and told him there was a job if he was ever in Hollywood. Wellman climbed from studio messenger to director of westerns, and Paramount only reluctantly rewarded him with the directorship of _Wings_. It was a big risk, budgeted at all of two million dollars (breaking all previous records), but Paramount reasoned that at least Wellman knew his subject. When we watch the still-exciting dogfight chases today, it is hard to remember that Wellman had no books or previous films to learn from. It was news to the executives who oversaw him, for instance, that a dogfight cannot be filmed in a cloudless sky, because in an open sky there is no sense of speed.

_Wings_ had good preview response, but the studio was still worried over public reaction. It opened in New York three months after Lindbergh's flight, a premiere to which Wellman was not invited. The movie was a sensation; it played in New York for two solid years. Wellman also wasn't invited to be at the first Academy Awards celebration, in which his film won the first Best Picture award, which was handed, by Douglas Fairbanks, to Adolph Zukor, the president of Paramount. How different things were back then; Fairbanks handed out all the awards himself, none of the recipients made speeches, and it took all of five minutes. Wellman would be handed his own Oscar eventually, for co-writing the original _A Star is Born_ (1937). _Wings_, however, is as good as any popular entertainment movie has ever been; if you ever get a chance to see it in revival, I guarantee that you will find that the audience still thinks the movie a rousing one. I find it listed as one of the few Best Picture winners that are not available on DVD, but there seems to be hope that one will be coming out soon. After reading this hugely entertaining book about the man who made it happen, I can't wait to see it again.

A fine behind the scenes look at both Wellman and World War I experiences.......2006-06-22

The first Academy Awards announced in 1929 went to William Wellman's 1927 anti-war epic WINGS, the film which invented many techniques still used to film aerial battle scenes: Wellman went on to direct other films and stars, but WINGS remained his opus. THE MAN AND HIS WINGS: ROBERT A. WELLMAN AND THE MAKING OF THE FIRST BEST PICTURE could've been reviewed in our film section, but is featured here for its inclusion of family documents, mementos and personal correspondence from his father's World War I background to reveal the military influences of a director who would change Hollywood forever. A fine behind the scenes look at both Wellman and World War I experiences.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Producers on Producing: The Making of Film and Television

Average customer rating:

Producers on Producing: The Making of Film and Television

Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0786412070

Book Description

Imre Horvath, producer of 60 Minutes, was asked how to get to talk to inaccessible people: "People that are busy...are scheduled tight...it's at 5:00 and 6:00 that they're back in their office to unwind...there's a kind of resonance or sympathy that springs up. "Oh, you're still in your office too?" Twenty-two interviews feature the producers or creators of Mister Rogers, Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, The Cisco Kid, The Tonight Show, Rockford Files, Falcon Crest, Gunsmoke, Family Feud, and Roots, among others. These people offer opinions on the producer's role, the creation and packaging of different program genres, getting the best from the production team, tips for success, and of course personalities and personal moments. Honest and intelligent, these interviews give the reader a fascinating view of the industry.

Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film

Average customer rating:

a good book about a fascinating movie

Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film
Julie Dash , Toni Cade Bambara , and Bell Hooks
Manufacturer: New Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565840291

Book Description

In the winter of 1992, nearly one hundred years after motion pictures were invented, the first nationally distributed feature by an African American woman was released in the United States. The film tells the story of an African American sea-island family preparing to come to the mainland at the turn of the century. In her richly textured, highly visual, lyrical portrayal of the day of the departure, Julie Dash evokes the details of a persisting African culture and the tensions between tradition and assimilation. Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film, which includes Dash's complete screenplay, describes the story of her extraordinary sixteen-year struggle to complete the project.

Customer Reviews:

a good book about a fascinating movie.......2001-10-24

Daughters of the Dust was a fascinating movie about the struggles of a female-headed, multigenerational family moving to the American mainland. It was made in fits and starts due to continual fundraising for the movie that Dash had to do. This book documents getting the movie made. It has a good section in which Dash and cultural critic bell hooks discuss the symbolisms in the film. Given that even Spike Lee has trouble raising money for his films, it is essential that incipient black filmmakers get advice on what they'r getting into. In that way, this book is an important first tool. Those majoring in film studies, feminist studies, or Afro-American studies will want to have this book.

Book Description

"An enlightening comparison between the preservation movements of Great Britain and the United States . . . timely, provocative, and first-rate." --Suzanne Vromen, Bard College "A masterful contribution to social history, popular culture, collective memory, and the field of historical preservation itself . . . that will be cited by students of collective memory for years to come." --Barry Schwartz, University of Georgia Historic preservation is a cultural movement gaining momentum and adherents throughout Europe and the United States. How do we decide what to preserve and how to preserve? Who benefits from the efforts of preservationists, curators, developers, and other "symbolic bankers" to safeguard an increasing variety of structures for future generations? Diane Barthel raises these and other questions in this important new book. Taking a comparative approach, Barthel finds that preservation in Britain has largely been an elite enterprise aimed at preserving traditional values. In the United States, by contrast, the pattern is much more dynamic and democratic, though also more permeated by commercialism. Is preservation becoming another means of consuming history, like media representations or "historic" shopping outlets? Or does it have a special significance as a very tangible means of getting in touch with our collective and individual pasts? These and other issues--including war and remembrance, agrarian and industrial preservation, and religious preservation in a secular society--demonstrate the significance of what Barthels calls "the Preservation Project" and why we all have a stake in how our history is reconstructed and interpreted. Diane Barthel received her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University and is a professor of sociology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. She is the author of Putting on Appearances: Gender and Advertising and Amana: From Pietist Sect to American Community.

Historic Preservation: Collective Memory and Historical Identity. (book reviews): An article from: Planning

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Historic Preservation: Collective Memory and Historical Identity. (book reviews): An article from: Planning
Harold Henderson
Manufacturer: American Planning Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Planning, published by American Planning Association on March 1, 1997. The length of the article is 477 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: Historic Preservation: Collective Memory and Historical Identity. (book reviews)
Author: Harold Henderson
Publication: Planning (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1997
Publisher: American Planning Association
Volume: v63 Issue: n3 Page: p34(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Classic Battletech: Technical Readout 3025 (FPR10985) (Battletech)
Fanpro
Manufacturer: FanPro
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: 3050 (FAS8614)

Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: Project Phoenix (FPR35032) (Battletech)

Classic Battletech: Technical Readout 3055 Upgrade (FPR35006) (Battletech)

Classic Battletech: Technical Readout 3060 (FPR10987) (Battletech)

Classic Battletech: Total Warfare (FPR35101) (Classic Battletech)

ASIN: 3890649858
Release Date: 2003-06-01

Product Description

In the year 3025, war rages across all of known space. The Successor Lords vie for supremacy over the entire Inner Sphere, each commanding a vast army of troops. At the forefront of these forces are BattleMechs, 12-meter tall humanoid juggernauts bristling with enough firepower to level a city block. Centuries of war have taken their toll, and 'Mechs have become scarce and valuable. The prsence of these behemoths on the battlefield often spells the difference between victory and defeat! This revised edition of the original Technical Readout: 3025 features the most popular and powerful BattleMechs of the Succession Wars, as well as a selection of support vehicles, aerospace craft and rare Star League-era 'Mechs. Each of these war machines is illustrated in detail, accompanied by a description of its history and capabilities and complete BattleTech game statistics. Fully compatible with the BattleTech boxed game.

Average customer rating:

Revised, Retooled, Reprinted
Excellent Tech readout
Exactly what I needed
pretty good
Don't buy this one if you have the original.

Battletech: Technical Readout 3025
FASA Corporation
Manufacturer: FASA Corp.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555603106

Customer Reviews:

Revised, Retooled, Reprinted.......2001-03-07

Way way way back, before the beginning of the end, FASA had Technical Readouts for its two major game lines, Renegade Legions and Battletech. Renegade Legion is, of course, long since gone, but Battletech still thrives, and one of the most consistent sellers are these, the tech readouts. And this was the first.

Well, not really. See, the original 3025 readout had a bevy of 'Mechs you'd seen in other media, particularly Robotech (say, the Marauder, Warhammer, Locust, etc.). Then, a few years ago, FASA was embroiled in a lawsuit over the use of the images, and things went poorly. So, FASA can't put any more images of the contested 'Mechs in any product.

And so was born the 3025 Revised Readout. All affected 'Mechs were excised, and replaced with Level 1 versions of the old Star League 'Mechs (like the Thug, the Black Knight, Flashman, etc.). Background is inserted to make it seem like they've been there all along, and while there are still some mentions of the old 'Mechs (like Barber's Marauder 2s, a mercenary regiment), we'll never see the old ones again.

I give this a four because it is still the introductory readout, and pretty good. If you can get the original, you should...but it's going to be very hard to find now, as they made the changes several years ago. But this is definitely a book you want to have if you play Battletech.

Excellent Tech readout.......1999-07-18

I loved this book the first time I had it. Not only did it cover the Overviews, capabilities, and variants of the mrchs, It also gave short personallity listings of some of the pilots (one of the things I miss in the newer tech readouts). Although it doesnt have some of the older mechs like the Mackie and the King crab, It does have mechs like the Warhammer and Marauder (My favorite)!

Exactly what I needed.......1999-03-04

The book is very good. The last thing I needed before starting my game. I saw some complains about missing mechs. Well, from what I saw, all the missing mechs are in the Boxed Set (2nd edition at least)and probably for that reason were exchanged for Star-league mechs (mech that we saw in, for exemple, Mechwarrior:Merceneries and didnt have a clue of where they came from). Several Thumbs up for it. Would be just great is it had a adapted 3025 mech choice list for mechwarrior games somewhere

pretty good.......1999-02-17

It's a good book, except for the mechs that FASA left out. It's a really good book if your playing a game with little to no funds to by expensive mechs. However the older ones were better. If your got a orginal 3025 or the older one, i'd love to talk to you.

Don't buy this one if you have the original........1999-01-07

This is the second edition of Technical Readout: 3025. The original (with the cut-away marauder on the cover) is now out of print. Frankly, I'm not too impressed with the revised edition. Although they have streamlined the text, this one little plus doesn't makeup for what they have taken out. Missing from the revised edition are any mention of 20 or so different types of 'mechs that did appear in the original edition. These include such classic models as the Locust, Wasp, and Stinger, the Shadow Hawk, Griffin, and Wolverine, and the Archer, warhammer, and Marauder. In place of these missing models, they have substituted an equal number of "dumbed-down" Star League-era 'mechs. The 'mechs they have included are the same ones that appeared in Technical Readout: 2750, which is also out of print. As Battletech is a game that can be played in any game-timeperiod (from the invention of the battlemech up to the distruction of the clans), these omitions are not to the benefit of the player. For players new to the game,your best bet is to try and find the out-of-print original edition at a used bookstore. If you don't, you'll never see the missing designs again.

Amazon.com

VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Languages documents the latest version of the world's bestselling rapid application development environment. Paul Lomax's explanation of the language comes in two main parts.

First, Lomax explains the structure and syntax of Visual Basic (VB) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programs. He details all the important stuff, including how to work with variables, how to create custom functions, how to create classes, how to handle errors, and how to react to user events. If you're up to speed on general programming concepts and just want to know how to get something done in VB/VBA, you'll find this part of the book especially handy.

The second, and largest, part of the book is a language reference in the classic O'Reilly style. Every function, statement, keyword, and miscellaneous bit of code has a clear, complete entry. Each entry includes a statement of syntax, a description of the function's purpose, a quick example of its use, and some tips for using it successfully. The reference documents the language as it exists in VB6. --David Wall

Book Description

The online documentation of VB/VBA language components seems to follow the 80/20 rule: the basic facts that you need to use a language statement are provided in the documentation. But the additional 20 percent that you need to use it effectively or to apply it to special cases is conspicuously absent. To a professional VB/VBA programmer, though, this missing 20 percent of the language's documentation isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. And in VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language, it finally is available. The bulk of the book consists of an alphabetical reference to the statements, procedures, and functions of the VB/VBA language. Each entry has a standardized listing containing the following information:

Its syntax, using standard code conventions
Differences in the operation of the keyword in a macro environment (e.g., in Office) and in Visual Basic, if there are any
A list of arguments accepted by the function or procedure, if any
A description of the data type returned by a function
The finer points of a keyword's usage that are often omitted from or blurred over by the documentation
Tips and gotchas that include undocumented behaviors and practical applications for particular language elements -- a section particularly invaluable for diagnosing or avoiding potential programming problems
A brief, nonobvious example that illustrates the use of the keyword

Also included in VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language is a brief overview of the VB/VBA language, including:

Basic VBA programming concepts, such as its data types and its support for variables, constants, and arrays
Error handling in VBA applications
Object programming with VBA
Using VBA with particular applications. Excel and Project are utilized to show how to work with an application's integrated development environment and to take advantage of its object model Regardless of how much experience you have programming with VBA, this is the book you'll pick up time and time again both as your standard reference guide and as a tool for troubleshooting and identifying programming problems.

VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language is the definitive reference for Visual Basic and VBA developers.

Customer Reviews:

Buy it........2006-12-18

If you have an understanding of VB and need a good reference book, this is it. It will save a lot of the time & frustration experienced when searching with MSDN.

very handy.......2006-08-06

this comes in very handy if you are developing with vb/vba on a daily basis. much quicker than using the mostly confusing and badly organized MSDN online references...

The best learning tool for beginners.......2006-03-03

It's hard to believe that this book was originally published in 1998. I can't think of any VB programmer I've met that did not have one of these on their desk. This book is meant to be used like a dictionary for VB and VBA. The format is brilliant and the concepts in it are as valid today as they were in 1998.

Absolutely Great.......2005-10-11

Well, although there are still many zealous VB 6.0 coders out there, we all know the former language has been superseded by VB.NET, which is basically completely unrelated whatsoever to VB 6.0.

With that being said, I don't plan on becoming a VB coder anyhow, and don't do a lot of programming Web applications anyway. However, there is A LOT that can be accomplished in the Visual Basic language and I find learning VB as a really nice leisure time in between classes, learning hardcore material, or just wanting to enter new territory.

For anyone else who reviews this, please recognize what this book is (and perhaps what it is not): this is a "NUTSHELL" title -- It is not meant to be a defintive tutorial. In fact, the author blatantly states in the preface that the people who will get the most out of this book are those who already have knowledge of VB and are looking for something to refresh their memories or use as a desktop reference.

Now the latter phrase, desktop reference, is exactly what this book is. While the book can be divided into an 'explanation' section and a 'reference' section, the explanations are NOT complete, and are really just broad overviews of the particular subjects a section covers.

I know: I mentioned that I wasn't a VB coder (although I'm not a novice either), and yes, I purchased this book knowing this. I don't recommend this approach for everyone, but this works for me. I've learned a lot from this reference, and I'm able to implement a lot of what I've read. The reference section is excellent. So yes, I've used this as a "bootleg textbook".

Other than the fact that good books on VB 6.0 are a little hard to come by nowadays (everything's VB.NET), this is a good start for someone who doesn't want their hands held the whole way and are okay with starting off "in the middle of nowhere" and trekking through unknown territory. One of O'Reilly's best.

From a beginner.......2005-07-20

I have only just started to learn about VB and VBA and as an absolute beginner, I found so far at any rate, this book very easy to absorb and understand. It also gioves a good depth of what VB and VBA is all about. My work has taken me away from home (and frm my computer) for many weeks but the book always goes with me and I am very pleased to have purchased it. I would suggest it is very good for anyone else wishing to consider buying it for the knowledge and style of how the author imparts that knowledge.

Average customer rating:

Excellent
Excellent book, in my opinion

VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell
Budi Kurniawan , and Ted Neward
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596002572

Book Description

The .NET platform gives Visual Basic developers access to an entirely new and comprehensive class library that promises to further simplify and speed VB application development. In VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell, VB Programmers will find a concise and thorough reference to the types found in the core namespaces of the .NET Framework Class Library. The heart of this book is a classic Nutshell Quick Reference to all the types found in 22 core .NET namespaces. The entry for each type describes its significance, explains how the type is used in .NET applications and lists its members and their signatures in readable VB.NET syntax. The core namespaces documented in this book include types in the following areas:

Essential system and programming services found in the System namespace
Text handling and regular expression pattern searches
Diagnostics, debugging, and performance monitoring
Generalized and specialized collection objects
Reflection
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Input/output and serialization
Networking
Threading and timers
COM interop and globalization

An essential companion to VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, this book completes a two-volume reference that VB.NET programmers will turn to repeatedly in both its print and online versions. Thanks to a special partnership between O'Reilly and Microsoft, now you can integrate the content from this "In a Nutshell" title with the Dynamic Help inside Visual Studio .NET. Once you install the plug-in using the enclosed CD-ROM, you'll have full access to its 22 namespace overviews and 700-plus type entries. Requires Visual Studio .NET or Visual Basic .NET.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2003-06-01

As expected, this is a top notch book. Includes the information I was expecting, and a little bonus: not only can you install the VB.NET Core Classes information, but the CD that comes with this book includes all the information (for integration into VS.NET) for the VB.NET Language Reference, also by O'Reilly. So, while you only get the hard-copy of one book, you get the information of two. Quite a deal.

Excellent book, in my opinion.......2003-06-01

Okay--I don't dream in code often, and I don't make a living by programming. I do it for fun. I don't have any of the expensive versions of Visual Studio--just the "Standard", cheapie one.

With that said, I love having the framework laid out for me. The fact that it integrates into VS is a big plus. And, if you're undecided, here's a little tip--you can install the VB.NET Core Classes information *AND* the VB.NET Language reference into VS with this CD. I imagine that the VB.NET Language Reference is the same way. Whatever, for the price of one, you get two (albeit only on hardcopy version).

So--well worth the money. I love it.

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