This is a great book for film students (I bought it for my daughter who is a film major at Syracuse University), film buffs and for us folks who love to watch movies!
As General Editor of this book, Steven Jay Schneider (who also wrote 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)aptly summarizes, "This book is a love letter to those men and women who have changed our lives as a result of their celluloid dreams." Sit back and imagine the movies you have seen and how they impacted your life... perhaps prompted you to some action whether of the heart or for society? Moved you to tears or laughter? A great director's fine tuning of a writer's vision onto a screen does just that.
This book has colored tabs on the side of the pages for the director's birth year decade - beginning with the man who invented movies, George Melies, born in the 1860's in Paris, France, right through to David Gordon Green, born in the 1970's, writer and director of Southern Gothic coming of age dramas. The first pages of the book is a solid Table of Contents A-Z of all 501 of these great directors. Each director's page(s) has a photo of the director and some have movie stills from his or her films. Some of the diectors included in this great compendium are Alexander Korda (who helped put the British film industry on the map); John Ford (a titan in the industry who even influenced Spielberg when Steven was a runner on the 20th Century studio lot! Steven went into Ford's office and Ford 'taught' Spielberg to really "look at" his landmark sweeping vista shots carefully...'what do you see?'); George Cukor (Dinner at Eight, Grand Hotel, My Fair Lady); George Stevens (who, as the book states, had "A legendary sharp eye for detail that enhanced visual storytelling; rapport with actors produced memorable performances from Hollywood greats." and other such greats as Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Margarethe von Trotta and Kathryn Bigelow.
The "Top Takes..." of each director's body of work are listed to the right of each director's description of his/her piece in film history including their backgrounds, their influences...what led them to their signature styles.
My particular book came with no cover which was a disappointment as I really admire Steven Spielberg, but the inside history is 100% readable and enjoyable....and moves me to want to read more about my favority directors and to see works I have not yet screened! 501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers
This book is summarising all of the successfull and talented directors all around the world with best informations and photos. This is a journey to the amazing minds of movie inventors from past to present.
My son wants to make movies. This book seemed like a good place to begin for him to learn about establised directors and what made them unique.
I feel the book will not only be interesting, but inspirational. - Film Guides - Cinematography - Directors - Directing'
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