Taylor has taken his love for a specific film and turned it into something greater—a beautiful compendium of not just...
Loaded with archival material, Taylor’s coffee table book captures the impact a major Hollywood production can have on the area in which it was filmed, as well as the people who live there.
There have been dozens of books about the making of Steven Spielberg’s wildly influential 1975 film Jaws, but never before has the production been so exhaustedly chronicled from the viewpoint of the outsiders—the men and women of Martha’s Vineyard whose lives were turned upside-down by the making of the movie. It’s shocking that this many black-and-white photographs of the filmmaking process were even taken during the much-chronicled production, let alone that Taylor and his team were able to track them all down and, most importantly, provide context and continuity to link them into a gorgeously produced coffee table book; much more than a mere series of pretty stills, Taylor’s work ambitiously offers what amounts to a nearly scene-by-scene accounting of the making of one of history’s most-beloved films. The volume is so impressive that Spielberg himself penned the foreword, in which he seems truly grateful for the anecdotal history provided by Taylor. Divided into six chapters that cover events from the pre-production in the winter of 1973 to the film’s release on June 20th, 1975, the book intercuts archival material, such as newspaper clippings from the era and hundreds of never-before-seen photos taken by local bystanders, with interviews from both sides of the production—the locals and the filmmakers. The result is a remarkable collection of viewpoints that chronicles how a film can impact a locale, from the men and women cast as extras to the mailman derailed by street closures. It’s a wonderfully diverse array of interview subjects, not merely focusing on the people credited at the end of the film.
Taylor has taken his love for a specific film and turned it into something greater—a beautiful compendium of not just memorabilia, but commentary on the importance of community in the art of filmmaking.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0983350200
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Moonrise Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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