The Word Made Flesh is an exploration of the thematic concerns and the underlying humanism and morality found in Martin Scorsese's films. It contains individual chapters on fifteen Scorsese films, the most complete Scorsese filmography available, and a host of illustrations. Generally acknowledged as one of the most important and influential directors of his generation, Scorsese has directed a wide range of films, from documentaries to musicals to comedies to dramas. Although Scorsese has a well-known penchant for violence, as in the films Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Cape Fear, he is also a...

Over the course of his five-decade career in television, John Stephens produced many hit shows, including My Three Sons, Family Affair, Gunsmoke, How the West Was Won, and Simon & Simon. He also produced a number of failures, including The Smith Family (starring Henry Fonda and Ron Howard) and arguably the worst Movie of the Week, the pilot to Wonder Woman (starring Cathy Lee Crosby). Along the way, Stephens encountered the usual--and not so usual--difficulties that accompany work on such projects. While others may have seen these events as obstacles, Stephens regarded them as opportunities....

From her stage debut in 1922 to her final professional appearance in 1996, Elisabeth Welch was an important figure in the world of popular song. In 1923 she launched the Charleston and throughout the Jazz Age, she was associated with some of the great names of the Harlem Renaissance, including Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, and Ethel Waters. On Broadway she popularized Cole Porter's scandalous song "Love for Sale." After settling in London in 1933, she introduced the classic torch song "Stormy Weather" to British audiences, and that same year she began a career in...

As the grandson of actress Ivy Close and son of director Ronald Neame, Christopher Neame's roots in the film business were already firmly established by the time he joined the family profession. In Principal Characters, Neame provides brief intimate portraits of the many important film figures he has worked with during his illustrious career. In this charming collection of anecdotes, he asks and answers questions about the stars that reveal both their carefree and vulnerable moments alike.

Suranjan Ganguly's book examines in depth six of Ray's major films focusing on issues such as human subjectivity, the importance of education, the emancipation of women, the rise of the new middle class, and the crisis of identity in post-Independence India.

Anna May Wong was an extraordinary Asian American woman who became the country's most famous film actress of Chinese descent. From small parts in silent films to starring roles in Hollywood and across the Atlantic, Wong made an impression on audiences of all persuasions. In Perpetually Cool, Anthony Chan takes the reader on a compelling journey through Wong's early years in Los Angeles and her first Hollywood pictures. Chan also examines the scope and nature of race, gender, and power and their impact on Wong's personal growth as a Chinese American. Perpetually Cool is not only the...

Discovered by Charlie Chaplin in 1919, four-year-old Jackie Coogan soared to overnight stardom for his title role in the silent masterpiece, The Kid. A string of successes followed, including Peck's Bad Boy, Oliver Twist, and A Boy of Flanders, earning Coogan a fortune of four million dollars. Dubbed "The Millionaire Kid" by the press, he later had to sue his parents in a futile attempt to recover his squandered fortune. His later years were marked with penury and the cruel diminishment of his childhood fame. As an adult, he found work in character roles and gained unexpected but fleeting...

As a script supervisor, second unit director, producer, and director, Herbert Coleman's film career spanned seven decades. Active in Hollywood from 1926 through 1988, he enjoyed a lengthy and illustrious career, highlighted by an impressive string of commercial and critical successes with one of the greats of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock. In this memoir, Coleman describes working on such classics as The Big Clock, Carrie, Five Graves to Cairo, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Roman Holiday. Coleman also provides vivid portraits of the many celebrated stars he worked with, including Gary Cooper, Bing...

The popular screen and stage star Laurence Harvey (1928-1973) is best remembered for his stellar performance in the film The Manchurian Candidate--a 20th century classic. Of his 50 films, Room At the Top not only brought sexual permissiveness to American and British screens and an Oscar nomination, but it also branded him a heartthrob sensation. For all his fame and fortune, Harvey's short life was riddled with controversy, demonized by critics, and fraught with tragedy. In this revealing biography by Harvey's sister-in-law, readers are provided a close-up view of his career, his three...