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mcribsy13's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
harryhas29's review against another edition
4.0
For when you want a good story but you don't want fiction!
mark_lm's review against another edition
3.0
The author was a staff writer for the New Yorker and was invited in 1950 to shadow John Huston and his colleagues while they made the movie version of the Red Badge of Courage. Either she had a photographic memory or she made constant notes, since she seems to have heard everything everybody said to each other in person, on the phone, by mail or telegram. We learn how a picture is made and more about the conflict between the movies as a business and as an art. Reading John Huston's comments was especially fun, since I could hear him saying them.
oward22's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most effective insights into the film industry I've ever encountered. Riveting stuff.
cais's review against another edition
5.0
“I happen to like forthright, up-front crooks and villains, and I gloried in finding some of them in Hollywood."
Lillian Ross, where have you been all my life? This is one of the funnest & funniest books I have read in a very long time. However, this book is not frivolous at all. Really, it is an excellent piece of long-form journalism, astutely observant & gently wry. More than that, it is an examination of the seemingly eternal battle between artistic vision & commercial viability, between the creative process & public consumption.
In 1950 famous director John Huston set out to film the novel The Red Badge of Courage. The battle began by convincing the Money People it was a good idea. Classic novels can be difficult to successfully translate into screenplays & books without plot or romance, like "Red Badge," are very risky. Then there was budget, casting, location, etc. Some of the most banal accounting/production details (“Six dummy horse carcasses were to be bought at $275 each.”) really tickled me, but also highlighted the extensive absurdities of turning art into a Big Production. Ross does a great job of showing how many people work very hard, physically hard, to make a director’s artistic vision a reality. She also does a great job of showing how many people work hard to destroy a director’s artistic vision. Profit trumps poetry. Or, perhaps, art thrives under pressure?
Ross used her incredible access to the film sets, meetings, previews, parties & personal documents well. The strained relationships & opportunistic backstabbing were not lost on her, but she did not exploit this--it was just business as usual. Clearly she liked Huston & his intentions with the film. She seemed especially to relish the more outlandish characters & I am so glad she seemed to zero in on who I think is the star of the book: Mocha, the French black poodle belonging to producer Gottfried Reinhardt. I jest, but Ross clearly delighted in the absurd overindulging of Mocha as well as in the behavior of adults who had clearly not been outside of the Hollywood bubble in far too long. A wonderful book, easily read in a day or two.
Lillian Ross, where have you been all my life? This is one of the funnest & funniest books I have read in a very long time. However, this book is not frivolous at all. Really, it is an excellent piece of long-form journalism, astutely observant & gently wry. More than that, it is an examination of the seemingly eternal battle between artistic vision & commercial viability, between the creative process & public consumption.
In 1950 famous director John Huston set out to film the novel The Red Badge of Courage. The battle began by convincing the Money People it was a good idea. Classic novels can be difficult to successfully translate into screenplays & books without plot or romance, like "Red Badge," are very risky. Then there was budget, casting, location, etc. Some of the most banal accounting/production details (“Six dummy horse carcasses were to be bought at $275 each.”) really tickled me, but also highlighted the extensive absurdities of turning art into a Big Production. Ross does a great job of showing how many people work very hard, physically hard, to make a director’s artistic vision a reality. She also does a great job of showing how many people work hard to destroy a director’s artistic vision. Profit trumps poetry. Or, perhaps, art thrives under pressure?
Ross used her incredible access to the film sets, meetings, previews, parties & personal documents well. The strained relationships & opportunistic backstabbing were not lost on her, but she did not exploit this--it was just business as usual. Clearly she liked Huston & his intentions with the film. She seemed especially to relish the more outlandish characters & I am so glad she seemed to zero in on who I think is the star of the book: Mocha, the French black poodle belonging to producer Gottfried Reinhardt. I jest, but Ross clearly delighted in the absurd overindulging of Mocha as well as in the behavior of adults who had clearly not been outside of the Hollywood bubble in far too long. A wonderful book, easily read in a day or two.