Comments on Screen Savour: The Movie Book Meme

Thanks for doing this, T.S., though I'm only w...

2009-07-12T23:51:11.669-04:00

Thanks for doing this, T.S., though I'm only writing down my response now! Among other things, you and the other bloggers who sing Agee's praises have made him sound mighty enticing. Not that I didn't enjoy his writing before when I sampled it, but I'm with Tony...my interest is piqued in reading his work en masse.

Fraser - Great recommendation, thanks for the tip....

2009-06-05T09:19:13.471-04:00

Fraser - Great recommendation, thanks for the tip. I was previously unfamiliar with Carney, but I'll definitely be checking him out in the future. Cassavetes and Leigh are certainly deserving filmmakers to have tome-length analysis, but I'm almost more interested in what he has to say about Capra. (It could just be that excerpt, though.) I'm capable of exuding bouts of sentimentalism so I frequently find myself going to bat for Capra when he's dismissed.

I'd be interested in any general thoughts you might have on Capra, and whether Carney's book either strengthened your admiration or made you see Capra in a new light?

I have to recommend the work of Ray Carney. Especi...

2009-06-05T06:38:38.564-04:00

I have to recommend the work of Ray Carney. Especially "The Films of Frank Capra" "The Films of John Cassavetes" and "The Films of Mike Leigh". He goes against mainstream opinion a lot of the time, but if you're looking for something beyond thumbs up or down, he has some of the deepest insights into film that I've read from any critic.

Here's an except from his Capra book about "Mr Deeds Goes to Town": http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/capra/deeds.shtml

Fantastic response to me T.S., and much appreciate...

2009-06-04T16:08:09.674-04:00

Fantastic response to me T.S., and much appreciated clarification on Spoto-McGilligan.

That's real exciting news about Keaton being up next. I can't wait and I'll be here religiously!

@Tony - Great! Thanks for the tag, again. As afrai...

2009-06-04T07:31:45.815-04:00

@Tony - Great! Thanks for the tag, again. As afraid that I was about being tagged (knowing far in advance I couldn't hit ten), I'm happy I sat down to write this.

@Sam - Ha! Yes, the Kerr book certainly seemed inevitable. His name will pop up much more in a few months when I shift gears and review the films of Buster Keaton. And you are right on Robinson; his biography of Chaplin is essential.

Agee is a tricky recommendation, but I see it as essential as recommending Murnau or Lubitsch — two other men who died too young and whose art never had the opportunity to respond to the directors who would have been their peers. When one reads Agee I think it is primarily the orientation and prose-style that is most significantly gleaned. Rather than inform my current criticism by comparing and contrasting, Agee informs my criticism as a standard of writing I should live up (but always fall short of) and high standard of art movies should live up to.

As for Spoto, his book may be the definitive take on Hitchcock. Certainly it's the most famous (with justification) and most widely circulated. I read large sections of it in a college course on Hitchcock, and naturally I think it's an important book. (It falls outside the window of the last two years for me.) The McGilligan book is fundamentally different from Spoto's in the sense that Spoto (perhaps rightly) focuses only on the BIG Hitchcock films; I found McGilligan's more rewarding in the way that it doesn't ignore the in-between films and gives enough context in Hitchcock's life and career.

T.S. I like your choices a lot. And I agree that...

2009-06-03T22:42:16.370-04:00

T.S. I like your choices a lot. And I agree that film criticism volumes comprise the bulk of any collection. I am a huge fan of Kauffmann, Kael, MacDonald, Sarris, Simon(he's a nasty one though!)Thomson and others, (and own them all) but some of the books you display here are definitive. Now how did I know you would favor THE SILENT CLOWNS by Walter Kerr? I think that's a Bible for the both of us! So well-written, a labor of love, much like Leonard Maltin's passionate OUR GANG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE LITTLE RASCALS.
The Agee book is essential too, and I have owned it for a while, but sadly, no stranger to bad luck, he died in the 40's before the advent of Bergman, Fellini, Bresson, Antonioni, Bunuel, et al. But what a humanist he was, and he really loved Val Lewton.
I bought that Lopate gem only months ago.

T.S.: I always though Donald Spoto's book THE ART OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK was the best book ever on the director. Do you agree with this? I'm not meaning to downplay the Truffaut or the book you mention here of course.

And I'm sure you must adore David Robinson's CHAPLIN, right?

Fascinating list, and you've got my interest p...

2009-06-03T16:20:23.959-04:00

Fascinating list, and you've got my interest piqued on the Agee book. I'm linking to your list now.