story

The Art of Film and the History of Film by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson are amazing and thorough.

Cabman Gray

Norm de Plume

Jules Winfield

It is pretty great. Lumet doesn't get as much praise as other directors but he deserves it.

Tom Creo

Time Warrior

The best film books tend to be the biographies or autobiographies of directors. Here are a few of my favourites;




Quite possibly the best film autobiography ever, by one of the toughest men ever to stand behind a camera. Barely a word of truth in it but so entertaining that it doesn't matter. A genuine life-changer for me.




A lot of film biographies are hagiography but this one tore Capra's reputation apart in immense detail. Perhaps a little unfair towards its subject but a great piece of sustained writing with a deep understanding of film.




The subtitle is "A Revenge on Life" - a title as bitter and twisted as the subject matter of the book. A massive doorstop but a good one.





One of the first autobiographies by a film director and also truly illuminating. Early directors were essentially inventing the medium as well as the language of film and this book is a good illustration of how directors knew nothing but taught themselves everything. No film schools in those days.




Perhaps not the best written book but a bio of the most interesting director of his time cannot be dismissed.





Like Raoul Walsh's book this is an exercise in mythmaking and as equally beyond criticism. Andre De Toth was a fascinating man who made gritty and interesting films.





Suffers a little by being translated into english from the original German. A worthy book though about an interesting figure in film history.

Hazel Motes

I've noticed a lot of filmmakers from the 40's and 50's had eye patches. It was a harder time I guess.

Jaymole

I know the ones in the 50's did it as a protest against 3-D.

Decker

Of course that was back in the days when they used to make clapboards out of nitroglycerine, so that explains a lot.

chris_santucci

Oh, I forgot to include a personal favorite (and one for the MST3K fans--you know who you are) "A Year at the Movies" http://www.amazon.com/Year-Movies-Mans-Filmgoing-Odyssey/dp/B0006ZRMFA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340809890&sr=1-1&keywords=kevin+murphy+movies Quite a funny read as Kevin Murphy watches at least one film a day for an entire year and travels to Sundance, Cannes, an igloo theater and smuggles an entire Thanksgiving feast for a screening of "Monster's Inc".

www.film-matters.net

Solid Snake

i'd like to see a movie based around that...kind of like this one:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UMof5PuQF7w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mabuse

I've read the theory that the type of lights that were used in the silent era led them to lose their sight. Ray and Walsh and Fritz Lang all started in the silent era and ended up with eye patches. I think John Ford did too. But truthfully I think it's just a coincidence.

Mabuse

It's funny but Andre de Toth directed House of Wax in 3D and he was another "eye patcher".

Solid Snake

he did. THOUGH I think he only wore it sometimes. i could never tell what year certain interviews were cuz he did at times have the eye patch on him.

Solid Snake

That Godzilla book is entertaining but I remember finding mistakes here and there.

JumpCutz

Awseome trailer.... someone's on a Sorcerer bender. Hell yes!!

Solid Snake

Yes. Yes, I am. I want Universal and Paramount to stop dicking around. Get the rights figured out. Get Criterion on this film. And release it in it's OAR and in 1080p w/ some great features...and none of this bullshit w/ changing the color, Friedkin. Don't give me that shit, motherfucker.

I'd also like a detailed book on the making of this film..cuz it has a very interesting production where a lot of stuff happened.

JumpCutz

Could not agree more. It's at the top of my wish list for the CC special treatment. They need to step up and get this done. It's just begging for it.

Jaymole

Yes, and keep Friedkin as far away as possible when doing the transfer

Solid Snake

This would be one of those films where I can survive not having the director involved w/ the transfer.

Yep. Along those lines...CC needs to get Mann's debut feature film, Thief, out. Dunno if that was just a heavy rumor or a real thing.

Solid Snake

you ever get those links btw? Cuz i'd love to some free manuals to study.

kefrank

I think you mean Film Art: An Introduction and Film History: An Introduction. And yes, those are essentials.

The next edition of Film Art features online examples from films in the Criterion Collection.

JumpCutz

I can't say I disagree with that sentiment.

bluetoast

Yeah I'll put together a post here tomorrow with the links, as well as the Kodak stuff.

Cardiac161

I particularly loved these:

The Emperor and the Wolf (The Lives & Films of Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune) by Stuart Galbraith IV
The Godfather Family Album by Steve Shapiro (from Taschen)
Akira Kurosawa - Master of Cinema by Peter Cowie (from Rizzoli)