Hollywood: The Oral History
£15.10£23.80 (-37%)
Hollywood: The Oral History covers the history of Hollywood from the Silent era up to the 21st century.
What makes this book unique from any other survey of Hollywood’s history is that it is the history of an art form through the words of those people who created it – from Harold Lloyd to Katharine Hepburn to Warren Beatty to Jane Fonda and beyond, including directors, writers, producers, editors, designers of sets and costumes.
As such, the authenticity of the text is irrefutable.
The material in the book – gathered over the decades by the American Film Institute – has never been published before, has never been heard before.
It is comprehensive – a monument that will never age nor be surpassed.
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Faber & Faber, Main edition (17 Nov. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 768 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0571366945 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0571366941 |
| Dimensions | 15.3 x 4.3 x 23.4 cm |
by Robert ‘Bob’ Macespera
This is an excellent book, in great measure because of its originality: telling the Hollywood story through direct accounts made by its participants. From the very early days of DW Griffith and Mark Sennett, through the era of the studio moguls (Thalberg, Mayer, Goldwyn) to the great directors, Wyler, Wilder, Cukor, Hitchcock, etc., and then to the “author” sixties. Thankfully, the bulk of the book (around 500 pages) deals with the beginnings and the studio system and only a last (and mercifully short) section tells the post-Stars War period.
The authors have had the good sense to count with the stories not only of the stars and the well-known names (all those mentioned above and then some more) but also with a myriad of other talented men and women that, literally, made Hollywood. These are the composers, art directors, tailors and film editors, largely represented here, and deservedly so.
The book’s great originality becomes at points its risk and the fact that there’s no narrator, rather the tale is made by the said participants, can be confusing at some point: we read, for instance, “L. B. Mayer was a tyrant” by one actor and then “Mayer was the sweetest person” by another one, and the reader often doesn’t know what to make of this.
Another flaw perhaps could be that the cinema reviewers are unrepresented here – only Andrew Sarris gets an entry, but nothing by the greatest of them all: Kael and Thomson, which could have graced considerably the book.
In the end, a mammoth of a book that at over 700 pages is a true delight and an endless source of anecdotes for good cinema lovers.
by Kindle Customer
Every so often somebody says something interesting but you have to wade through such a lot of self-regarding blether to find it. Compiled by obsessive for obsessives, and so not a book for the more thoughtful readers with other interests than just the American film industry.
by Mary Coppock
Essential reading for anyone interested in old Hollywood and how it really functioned.
by Olesha
This is an absolute gem which had me gripped throughout. Specialists in all the different fields which make up film making – writers; directors; producers; actors; costumiers; cameramen, to name just a few – give their views on Tinsel Town from their particular perspective as gathered in interviews carried out over the decades. I first bought this as a Kindle book, but I then found it so fascinating I bought the Audible version. The only problem I have is that I listen to it when jogging and get so involved that I have to be careful I don’t run into the traffic. I even bought the hefty hardback, such is the quality of the book. Simply excellent.
by Mike S
This is a must read for anyone who is interested in movies, to use the American form. A history from the mouths of the practitioners which is like overhearing their reminiscences. Brilliantly edited to give an almost seamless history. Anyone buying this book or receiving it as a present will not be disappointed. My book of the year.