THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: Interviews with Frank Capra, George Cuker, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh and William A. Wellman

These eight ""aliterary as well as apolitical"" directors are the same celluloid dynamos shown on the PBS TV series of the same name (the full text of their interviews is transcribed here). Unlike Sarris' comparable -- though more exhaustive and more technically astute -- Interviews with Film Directors, Schickel's format allows for more spontaneous, introspective revelations by men linked by a common attitude of ""toughness. . .pride in achievement. . .and serf-reliance. . . ."" The material ranges far and wide, touching on everything in the lives of the directors who ""handled"" Bara, Gish and Barrymore, Wayne, Hepburn and Grant. Director Raoul Walsh describes his apprenticeship under Griffith. . . ""premature auteurist"" Frank Capra exhibits the idealism which inspired Mr. Deeds and John Doe. . .and William Wellman shows his Wings in addition to sketching a memorable profile of Ernie Pyle. Minnelli reveals the artistic temperament behind his work; Hitchcock the subjective paranoia of his Informative and entertaining candids of men behind the foghorn -- a work anecdotally resplendent with Oscar dust.