“About 100 children”: Antonia Quirke to David Thomson, e-mail, August 11, 2011.
On John Berger, see Ways of Seeing (1972), the book that was derived from the BBC television series.
“You can’t tell”: Powell, A Life in Movies, p. 563.
“The only difference”: William Powell in My Man Godfrey (1936).
On critics’ poll, see Sight & Sound, September 2002.
“They are taking pictures”: Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985), p. 13.
On Fear Factor, see Brian Stelter, “It’s Back and Even More Disgusting,” New York Times, December 12, 2011.
“A certain subgenre”: David Foster Wallace, “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction,” A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, p. 49–50.
“is not simply a work of appropriation”: “Douglas Gordon: what have i done,” The Guardian, November 16, 2009.
On Stalker, see Geoff Dyer, Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room (2012).
including a set of books: Jean-Luc Godard, Histoire(s) du Cinéma (1998).
“Hitchcock et L’ Art”: Hitchcock et L’ Art: Coïncidences Fatales, ed. Guy Cogeval and Dominique Paini (2000).
Acknowledgments
This book owes its genesis to my agent, Steve Wasserman. He conceived the notion of a one-volume history of film and suggested it to me. I was immediately interested, and added to Steve’s framework the need to examine all the complicated effects film and screens have had on us. Equally, Steve was a constant support throughout the project. I have said to him several times that he is an agent who might easily have been a publisher or a writer. In fact, as I completed the book, he became a publisher—though he remains my agent, too. What this mysterious status means for his lucky clients is not just that he is a very effective agent but an exceptional reader and friend.
Jonathan Galassi at Farrar, Straus and Giroux bought the proposal and proved to be a superb, masterly publisher who handled this author’s loss of confidence as well as its excess, and who briefly employed my son. Paul Elie edited the book itself and did a magnificent job, patient and incredulous, suggesting areas I had not covered, changing the order of some things, and looking at every sentence like a doctor. I was not always as kind or generous to him as I should have been, and I have apologized for that in person. Having edited the book, Paul set off on a new career as a writer, but I was ably cared for by Sarah Crichton, Dan Piepenbring, Mareike Grover, and Karen Maine, who were kind, thoughtful, humorous, and enthusiastic, especially in the matter of illustration and preparing the text. Still, I want to note the great care and skill of Jenna Dolan, the copy editor who saved me from many errors and made suggestions worthy of an editor. Nor should I forget an old friend, Simon Winder, in London, who is the British publisher for the book.
But most important of all was the careful reading by Mark Feeney, an old friend and a brilliant man, who made a masterful show of barely noticing my vulgarity, lack of education, and aging memory while gently correcting those very things.
In the film business, more or less, I have to thank the company of several people over the decades: Tom Luddy, most of all; three Selznicks—Irene, Jeffrey, and Danny; Joseph Losey, who allowed me to watch some of The Servant being shot; Nicholas Ray, who once let me think I was feeding him scrambled eggs; Peter Bogdanovich, Bob Rafelson, Stephen Frears, David Hare, Paul Schrader, Michael Powell, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, Harry and Mary Jane Ufland, Bertrand Tavernier, Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Murch, Jim Toback, Robert Towne, Tom Sternberg, Saul Zaentz, Anthony Minghella, Michael Fitzgerald, and Philip Kaufman.
As a freelance writer, I depend on the kindness of editors, and so I thank all of the following for encouragement, ideas, and assignments: above all, Leon Wieseltier at The New Republic; Patrick McGilligan; Tim de Lisle, Laurence Earle, and Jenny Turner—all at The Independent on Sunday; Michael Hann and Andrew Pulver at The Guardian; Scott Foundas, Ann Kolson, Alex Bilmes, Nick James, Geoff Andrew, John McMurtrie, Steve Erickson, Greil Marcus, Andy Olson, Virginia Campbell, Vendela Vida, and Robert Silvers.
Then there are friends, some of whom know a lot about film, while some are happily unconcerned about it, and none the worse for that: Doug McGrath, Pierre Rissient, Kris Samuels (at Stanford), Edith Kramer, Susan Oxtoby, Judy Bloch and Steve Seid (at the Pacific Film Archive), Meredith Brody, Gary Meyer, Julie Huntzinger, Terry Gelenter, Michael Fox, Ken Connor, Antonia Quirke, Laura Morris, Jamie and Philip Bowles, Bill and Lili Holodnak, Ann Binney, Holly Goldberg Sloan and Gary Rosen, Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding, Susan Kakides, Leslee Dart, Geoff Pevere, Hank Lauricella and Mary Pickering, Rainer Rother, and Gerhard Midding. At the San Francisco Film Festival I have benefited from Peter Scarlett, Graham Leggat, and Bingham Ray, the last two dead in less than a year when far too young. In the same city, I am a grateful regular of Le Video, at Ninth and Irving, a stronghold staffed by wonderfully knowledgeable people. Michael Barker is not just a friend and a man who sees many films, he also distributes some of the best. Friendship with Richard and Mary Corliss, Andrew Sarris and Molly Haskell, and Richard Jameson and Kathleen Murphy has been full of insight. I value them all enormously. I also need to thank Darcy Hettrich and the whole operation of Turner Classic Movies.
Many of the themes in this book were developed in a radio series I wrote for the BBC called Life at 24 Frames a Second, which played in 2011. I am especially grateful to the two people who helped create that show, Mark Burman and Isabel Lloyd.
There are other friends at other publishers who have taught me so much: Sonny Mehta, Jonathan Segal, Bob Gottlieb, Shelley Wanger, Carol Carson, Katherine Hourigan, and Kathy Zuckerman (all at Knopf), and Will Balliett.
My special thanks go to David W. Packard (to whom the book is dedicated). He is an astonishing multitasker, but one of his passions is the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, where beautiful 35 mm prints reign, and another is the preservation of film and the collection of related material and archives. He has been very generous to me personally, though he prefers the word “gentlemanly.” I hope this book will encourage him to try more films made after 1960.
Then there is family, the people with whom I have gone to the movies—Anne, Kate, Mathew, and Rachel. More recently, Lucy, Nicholas, and Zachary, who figure in this book in ways that barely hint at how much I love and depend on them.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
ABC (American Broadcasting Company)
A Bout de Souffle (1960)
Abrams, J. J.
academia, film in
Académie Française
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
acting
Actors Studio, The
Adair, Gilbert
Addinsell, Richard
Addio Giovinezza! (1940)
Adler, Renata
Adler, Stella
Adorée, Renée
A Double Tour (1959)
Adventures of Davy Crockett, The (TV series)
Adventures of Tintin, The (2011)
Advertisements for Myself (Mailer)
advertising
Aelita (1924)
After the Fall (Miller)
ge d’Or, L’ (1930)
Agee, James
agents
Age of Innocence, The (1993)
Ager, Cecilia
A.I. (2001)
Air Force (1943)
Airport (1970)
Aitken, Harry
Aldo, G. R.
Aldrich, Robert
Aldrich and Associates
Aleksandrov, Grigori
Alessandrini, Goffredo
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Alexandrina Victoria, Princess of Britain
Ali, Muhammad
Alien (19
79)
All About Eve (1950)
Allain, Marcel
Allégret, Yves
Allen, Dede
Allen, Gracie
Allen, Woody
All in the Family (TV series)
Alloy Orchestra
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
All the King’s Men (1949)
All-Union State Institute of Cinematography
Allyson, June
Almereyda, Miguel
Alphaville (1965)
Altered States (1980)
Altman, Robert
Amadeus (1984)
Amants, Les (1958)
Amarcord (1973)
AMC
America (TV series)
America, America (1963)
American Beauty (1999)
American Cinema, The (Sarris)
American Film Institute
American Gigolo (1980)
American Graffiti (1973)
American Idol (TV series)
American in Paris, An (1951)
American Research Bureau
American Tragedy, An (Dreiser)
American Zoetrope
Ames, Leon
Amiche, Le (1955)
Amiel, Jon
Amore, L’ (1948)
Amos ’n’ Andy (TV series)
Amour Fou, L’ (1969)
Anastasia (1956)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Anderson, Gillian
Anderson, Judith
Anderson, Lindsay
Anderson, Maxwell
Anderson, Michael
Anderson, Paul Thomas
Andersson, Bibi
Andersson, Harriet
Andress, Ursula
Andrews, Dana
And Then There Were None (1945)
Andy Griffith Show, The (TV series)
Angel Face (1952)
Angelopoulos, Theo
Anges du Peché, Les (1943)
Animal House (1978)
Animal Locomotion (Muybridge, E.)
animation
Anna Christie (1930)
Anna Karenina (1935)
Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
Annie Get Your Gun (1946)
Annie Hall (1977)
À Nous la Liberté (1931)
Antichrist (2009)
Antonioni, Michelangelo
Apache (1954)
Apatow, Judd
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
Apple
Apple TV
À Propos de Nice (1930)
Arabian Nights (1974)
Arbor, The (2010)
Arbuckle, Roscoe “Fatty”
Arbus, Diane
Archers, The
archiving, film
Arden, Eve
Arkoff, Samuel
Arlen, Harold
Arletty
Army of Shadows (1969)
Arnaz, Desi
Artangel
Artaud, Antonin
Arthur, Jean
Ascent, The (1977)
Ascent of Man, The (1973)
Ashby, Hal
Asher, William
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Ashkenazy, Baron
Asnar, Nathalie
Asphalt Jungle, The (1950)
Astaire, Fred
Astruc, Alexandre
Atalante, L’ (1934)
Atlantic City (1980)
Attack! (1956)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
Aubrey, James
Auden, W. H.
audience
Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
Auschwitz
Au Secours! (1924)
Austen, Jane
auteur theory
Auto Focus (2002)
Autumn Afternoon, An (1962)
Autumn Sonata (1978)
Avatar (2009)
Aviator, The (2004)
Avventura, L’ (1960)
Axelrod, George
Ayres, Lew
Aznavour, Charles
Babes in Arms (1939)
Baby Doll (1956)
Bacall, Lauren
Bach, Steven
back projection
Back to the Future (1985)
Bacon, Francis
Bad and the Beautiful, The (1952)
Badlands (1973)
Bailey, John
Baker, Stanley
Balázs, Béla
Balcon, Michael
Bale, Christian
Ball, Alan
Ball, Lucille
Ballard, Carroll
Ballard, J. G.
Ball of Fire (1941)
Balzer, Fred
Bananas (1971)
Bancroft, Anne
Bande à Part (1964)
Band of Brothers (TV series)
Band Wagon, The (1953)
Banham, Reyner
Banks, Leslie
Banton, Travis
Bara, Theda
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
Bardot, Brigitte
Barkleys of Broadway, The (1949)
Barnard, Clio
Barnes, Binnie
Barnes, Howard
Barnet, Boris
Barrault, Jean-Louis
Barrie, Wendy
Barrow, Clyde
Barry, John
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Barrymore, Ethel
Barrymore, Lionel
Bas-Fonds, Les (1936)
Bassey, Shirley
Bataille, Sylvia
bathrooms, as locales
Bataille du Rail, La (1946)
Batista y Zaldívar, Fulgencio
Batman (1989)
Battlefield 3 (video game)
Battleground (1949)
Battle of Midway, The (1942)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Baxter, Anne
Baxter, Warner
Bay, Frances
Bazin, André
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
BBS
Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)
Beatles, The
Beatty, Ned
Beatty, Warren
Beaumarchais, Pierre
Beau Serge, Le (1958)
Becker, Jacques
Beckett, Samuel
Beery, Wallace
Behind the Green Door (1972)
Belasco, David
Bellamy, Ralph
Belle de Jour (1967)
Belles de Nuit, Les (1952)
Bellissima (1951)
Bellocchio, Marco
Bellow, Saul
Bells Go Down, The (1943)
Bells of St. Mary’s, The (1945)
Belmondo, Jean-Paul
Benayoun, Robert
Benchley, Peter
Benchley, Robert
Bender, Lawrence
Bend of the River (1952)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Bennett, Constance
Bennett, Joan
Benny, Jack
Benson, Sally
Benton, Robert
Berger, John
Bergman, Ingmar
Bergman, Ingrid
Berkeley, Busby
Berlin
Berlin, Irving
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
Berlin Film Festival
Bernanos, Georges
Bernard, Paul
Bernhardt, Sarah
Berry, Halle
Berto, Juliet
Bertolucci, Bernardo
Best of Youth, The (2003)
Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)
Bête Humaine, La (1938)
Beverly Hillbillies, The (TV series)
Bewitched (TV series)
Bezzerides, A. I.
Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) (1948)
Bigger T
han Life (1956)
Big Heat, The (1953)
Big Love (TV series)
Big Parade, The (1925)
Big Sleep, The (1946)
Big Street, The (1942)
Billy Liar (1963)
Bing, Herman
Binoche, Juliette
Biograph
Birds, The (1963)
Birth (2004)
Birth of a Nation, The (1915)
Bitsch, Charles
Bitter Rice (1948)
Bitter Tea of General Yen, The (1933)
Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The (1972)
Bitter Victory (1957)
Bitzer, Billy
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Black Legion (1937)
Blackmail (1929)
Black Narcissus (1947)
Black Sheep of Whitehall, The (1942)
Black Shield of Falworth, The (1954)
Black Stallion, The (1979)
Blair, Betsy
Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
Blane, Ralph
Blauner, Steve
Blind Date (1959)
Blithe Spirit (1945)
blockbusters
Blonde (Oates)
Blonde Venus (1932)
Blow-Up (1966)
Blue Angel, The (Der Blaue Engel) (1930)
Bluebeard (1902)
Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938)
Blue Light, The (1932)
Blue Movie (1969)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Bluhdorn, Charles
Boardman, Eleanor
Boardwalk Empire (TV series)
Bob le Flambeur (1956)
Bochco, Steven
Bock, Audie
Body Double (1984)
Bogarde, Dirk
Bogart, Humphrey “Bogie”
Bogdanovich, Peter
Bohème, La (1926)
Boleslawski, Richard
Bolshoi Theatre
Bonanza (TV series)
Bond, Edward
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Boorman, John
Booth, John Wilkes
Borde, Raymond
Borges, Jorge Luis
Borgnine, Ernest
Born Yesterday (1950)
Bosé, Lucia
Bottoms, Timothy
Boudu Sauvé des Eaux (1932)
Bouquet, Carole
Bow, Clara
Boxcar Bertha (1972)
Box Office Attraction Company
Boy with Green Hair, The (1948)
B pictures
Bracco, Lorraine
Brackett, Charles
Brackett, Leigh
Bradbury, Ray
Braddon, Russell
Bradshaw, Peter
Brady, Ian
Branagh, Kenneth
Brando, Marlon
Brandwashed (Lindstrom, M.)
Brasseur, Pierre
Braunberger, Pierre
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
The Big Screen - The Story of the Movies Page 71
