The Casablanca Man : The Cinema of Michael Curtiz

ISBN-13: 9780415115773 / Angielski / Miękka / 1994 / 208 str.

James C. Robertson

Opis

Michael Curtiz (1888-1962) is considered to be one of the most important directors in film history. The Casablanca Man surveys Curtiz's mastery over a variety of genres which included biography, comedy, horror, melodrama, musical, swashbuckler and western, and looks at his relationship with the Hollywood studio moguls on the basis of documentary evidence gleaned from archive research at Warner Brothers, rather than the hearsay on which so much of his reputation rests. This access to the production and financial details of Curtiz's Warner Brothers films from 1926 to 1953 is the most distinctive feature of Jim Robertson's work, most of it never having been made available to the general public. Concentrating on Curtiz's best-known films - Casablanca, Angels with Dirty Faces, Mildred Pearce and King Creole among them - Robertson explores his practical struggles over, for example, screenplays, his use of reality footage in his feature films, and the instinctive visual sense which governed his work.

Recenzje

`A major reassessment of the work of one of Hollywood's most versatile film-makers.' - Sight and Sound

`A film-by-film chronology simply brimming with facts and figures carefull gleaned from the Warner archive, this is an informed, informative study. Simply bursting with lip smacking detail that buffs love, this is a superbly considered study, a real five star effort.' - Film Review

Spis treści

Introduction; Chapter 1 Europe, 1888 to 1926; Chapter 2 Hollywood Baptism, 1926 to 1929; Chapter 3 An Expanding Repertoire, 1930 to 1935; Chapter 4 Near and at the Summit, 1935 to 1941; Chapter 5 World War, December 1941 to August 1945; Chapter 6 The Twilight Warners Years, September 1945 to April 1953; Chapter 7 Hollywood Nomad, April 1953 to April 1962; Chapter 8 Assessment;

O autorze

Robertson, Dr James C; Robertson, James