From The Mountain Eagle to Lifeboat to the never-produced Kaleidoscope, a rare and invaluable (yet also sometimes clumsy) fly-on-the-wall look at Hitchcock at work. Drawing on his authorized access to Hitchcock’s files and notes, Auiler (Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic, 1998) has assembled a fascinating trove of materials illuminating the master director’s creative process. Hitchcock has always mattered immensely to auteur theory, for few directors have exercised his kind of control (or “authorship”) over so many aspects of the movies. Here we can almost see him shaping and refining all the stages of production. From script changes to publicity stills to story boards to Hitch’s notes on scoring, and even including his conversations with actors regarding character development (traditionally thought to have been one of his few weaknesses), the range and breadth of this collection is as astounding as the genius it so clearly reveals. Auiler has had to do a lot of culling to get the mass of material down to a manageable size; one only hopes that he hasn—t omitted too many gems (a few of his selections are so perfunctory as to be nearly worthless). He largely and deliberately skims over most of Hitch’s early career in England, and he completely ignores such films as Vertigo and Psycho (their creation has already been chronicled in other books). Auiler’s own explanatory efforts are usually clunky and unremarkable. Like scratches on a film print, though, they may irk yet don—t intrude too much. Still, you have to be familiar with Hitchcock’s oeuvre for much of this to make sense. Scene-by-scene comparisons of various script versions, for example, are only worthwhile if you are already reasonably familiar with the movie in question. For fans and film buffs, then, a no-questions-asked must-have. (photos and illustrations)
Pub Date: March 9, 1999
ISBN: 0-380-97783-4
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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