A loving, if roughly executed, guide to a classic Hollywood studio at its height.
Ziarko looks at nearly every film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while it was under Isadore “Dore” Schary’s control, arguing that it was the studio’s finest era.
One day in the late 1960s, when the author was working as an apprentice at MGM, he discovered an official ledger of financial and production details for nearly every film the studio made during Schary’s tenure from 1948 to 1956—the tail end of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Ziarko took the book home, meticulously copied it by hand and returned it. Now, decades later, after having corroborated the information with sources from the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he presents it here in book form. The author assumes that readers have at least a working knowledge of the era’s Hollywood history and major players, and, as such, this book isn’t recommended for neophytes. It also has significant structural issues: After some relatively brief introductory chapters, it presents charts, followed by a short discussion of each film; however, these discussions seem to have no clearly defined purpose. Some provide the author’s personal responses to a film, while others discuss a film’s backstage drama, historical context or how well it fared at the box office. Overall, the book feels unpolished—more like disconnected trivia rather than a well-formed narrative. That said, Ziarko has an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, and a great passion for movies that is genuinely infectious; he writes with unbridled joy. As a result, film buffs will likely be fascinated by many of his stories and expert opinions, and truly charmed by his conversational, enthusiastic tone.
A loving, if roughly executed, guide to a classic Hollywood studio at its height.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491036075
Page Count: 416
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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