The seventh volume in the Behind The Silver Screen Series focuses on the amorphous job of the producer. They secure the financing and shepherd a project from pitch to projection. The essays in this volume chart the changing role of the producer through the major eras of filmmaking, from Irving Thalberg to Jerry Bruckheimer.

Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey is the extraordinary story of the production of Orson Welles’ classic film, using previously unpublished material from studio files and the Hearst organization, exclusive interviews with the last surviving members of the cast and crew, and what may be the only surviving copies of the “lost” final script.

Creating the Illusion presents the history of fashion on film, showcasing not only classic moments from film favorites, but a host of untold stories about the creative talent working behind the scenes to dress the stars from the silent era to the present day.

The wartime experiences of soldiers and sailors as well as workers on the homefront are compared to their depiction in films including The Best Years of Our Lives, The Great Escape, and Windtalkers.

This is another great offering from Fantagraphics. Oversized, full-color reproductions of classic noir posters. Take a look at #53, "Crime Wave", and then check out the DVD and listen to the great commentary track by Eddie Muller and James Ellroy.

Director Henry Jaglom lunched weekly with Orson Welles at West Hollywood's Ma Maison. In 1983 Jaglom began recording thier conversations at Welles' request. Three years of trascripts have been pieced together by Peter Biskind, the author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. Welles is at his most opinionated here, prompted by Jaglom and the famous faces who stop by their table. This is a fine campanion to Peter Bogdanovich's This is Orson Welles.

Francis Ford Coppola's masterful trilogy continues to fascinate viewers old and new. The Godfather Effect skillfully analyzes the reasons behind this ongoing global phenomenon. Packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes from all three Godfather films, Tom Santopietro explores the historical origins of the Mob and why they thrived in America, how Italian-Americans are portrayed in the media, and how a saga of murderous gangsters captivated audiences around the globe. Laced with stories about Brando, Pacino, and Sinatra, and interwoven with a funny and poignant memoir about the author's own experiences growing up with an Italian name in an Anglo world of private schools and country clubs, The Godfather Effect is a book for film lovers, observers of American life, and Italians of all nationalities.

Nathan Rabin re-watches movies considered flops upon their release to see if they are better than their reputations.

Warning Shadows travels through time and across genres to explore the impact of the industry's most famous classics and forgotten gems. Essays such as "Houdini Escapes! From the Vaults! Of the Past!," "Edward G. Robinson, See," and "Prestige and Pretension (Pride and Prejudice)" capture the wit and magic of classic cinema. Each chapter-ranging from the horror films of Hitchcock to the fantastical frames of Disney-provides readers with engaging analyses of influential films and the directors and actors who made them possible.

Richard Schickel’s canny and intelligent interviews guide us through Scorsese’s life and work, from the child who escaped the realities of Little Italy in the 1950s through movies to the man whose increasingly encyclopedic knowledge of film shaped his ambitions and art. He talks about his lesser-known movies, those already considered classics, his documentaries, and his influences.

Tarantino's films Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Death Proof, and Inglourious Basterds are discussed within the context of postmodernism and American cinema. The author argues that violence is central to his art and serves a purpose as metaphor, movement, and motivation.

In the third installment in a trilogy of memoirs, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Brokeback Mountain and The Last Picture Show shares anecdotes about his time in Hollywood, from holding hands with Cybill Shepherd to watching Jennifer Garner's audition tape.

James Cameron has long been building his reputation as king of sci-fi and blockbuster filmmaking through a directing career that includes such cinematic landmarks as The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and the highest grossing movie of all time, Titanic. The Futurist is the first in-depth look at every aspect of this audacious creative genius—culminating in an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of Avatar, the movie that promises to utterly transform the way motion pictures are created and perceived.

Molly Haskel looks at both Margaret Mitchell's novel and Victor Flemming's 1939 film and attempts to nail down why this story has endured despite its unsympathetic heroine, looking closely at the strong personalites that brought both of these classics to the peak of popular culture.

A compilation of Q&A interviews with the director of Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia, including a 1980 Film Comment piece and a transcript of a Charlie Rose interview from 1998.

Robert Altman burst onto the scene in 1970 with the movie M*A*S*H. He revolutionized American filmmaking and in a decade produced masterpieces at an astonishing pace: McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, and, of course, Nashville. Mitchell Zuckoff—who was working with Altman on his memoirs before he died—weaves Altman’s final interviews, an incredible cast of voices, and contemporary reviews and news accounts into a riveting tale of an extraordinary life.

The annotations in this classic screenplay include trivia from production notes, changes to the shooting script, and stories of happy accidents on the set. Location notes and filmmaking gaffes are also included.

Since its original publication in 1977, this hugely popular book has become the definitive source on film and media. Now, James Monaco offers a special anniversary edition of his classic work, featuring a new preface and several new sections, including an "Essential Library: One Hundred Books About Film and Media You Should Read" and "One Hundred Films You Should See."

Elia Kazan was the mid-twentieth century’s most sought-after director of both stage and screen. He directed virtually back-to-back the greatest American dramas of the era—by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams—and revolutionized theatre and film with dynamic action, poetic staging, and rigorous naturalism. This remarkable book, drawn from his notebooks, letters, interviews, and autobiography, shows Kazan at work on each major play and movie—analyzing each piece in terms of his own experience; figuring out staging, costuming, casting; and working with writers on scripts and with actors on interpretations.

The Reel Truth details the pitfalls, snares, and roadblocks that aspiring filmmakers encounter. Reed Martin interviewed more than one hundred luminaries from the independent film world to discuss the near misses that almost derailed their first and second films and identify the close shaves that could have cut their careers short. Other books may tell you the best way to make your independent film or online short, but no other book describes so candidly how to spot and avoid such issues and obstacles as equipment problems, shooting-day snafus, postproduction myths, theatrical distribution deal breakers, and dozens of other commonly made missteps, including the top fifty mistakes every filmmaker makes.

Rice examines the compelling political, psychological, and spiritual issues Stanley Kubrick raises in his films beginning with 2001: A Space Odyssey and continuing through Eyes Wide Shut.

Victor Fleming was the most sought-after director in Hollywood’s golden age, renowned for his ability to make films across an astounding range of genres–westerns, earthy sexual dramas, family entertainment, screwball comedies, buddy pictures, romances, and adventures. Fleming is remembered for the two most iconic movies of the period, Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, but the more than forty films he directed also included classics like Red Dust, Test Pilot, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Captains Courageous. Paradoxically, his talent for knowing how to make the necessary film at the right time, rather than remaking the same movie in different guises, has resulted in Victor Fleming’s relative obscurity in our time.

No production company has had more legendary films, stars, or influence on the course of Hollywood than Warner Bros. Among the superstars who worked for the studio are Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, James Dean, and John Wayne. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick made history for the studio, and it has been home to blockbuster franchises like Superman, Batman, Lethal Weapon, and Harry Potter. Produced in conjunction with Warner Bros., this volume is the ultimate guide to the greatest movie studio in history. You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story is also the companion to a five part documentary in the PBS American Masters series by author Richard Schickel that will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the spring of 2008 and debut on PBS in the fall, to coincide with publication of the book.

Explores the epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967-Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Doolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde-and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood, and America, forever.

Superman has fought for nearly seven decades to conquer radio, television, and film—but his battles behind the scenes have proved a far greater threat than any fictional foe. For the first time, one book unearths all the details of his turbulent adventures in Tinseltown. Based on extensive interviews with producers, screenwriters, cast members, and crew, Superman vs. Hollywood spills the beans on Marlon Brando’s eccentricities; the challenges of making Superman appear to fly; the casting process that at various points had Superman being played by Sylvester Stallone, Neil Diamond, Nicolas Cage, Ashton Kutcher, and even Muhammad Ali; and the Superman movies, fashioned by such maverick filmmakers as Kevin Smith and Tim Burton, that never made it to the screen.

Looks at the history of motion pictures, covering such topics as the invention of the kinetoscope, the introduction of sound, the Hollywood studio system, and the computer-generated images of the presdent day.

Interviews with the production's principal architects and given on-set access to the third film, the book chronicles the struggle to bring the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the big screen with

Cecil B. DeMille is Hollywood’s most enduring legend, remembered, and often reviled, for his grandiose biblical sagas, such as Samson and Delilah and his 1956 version of The Ten Commandments, with its cast of tens of thousands before computer graphics made the modern epic mundane. Many judged DeMille a dinosaur both for his movies and his ultraconservative politics. But in his vision of the Bible as an American frontier narrative he recast this old trend in American culture as a cinematic precursor of the “neoconservatism” of our own times.

An anthology of narrative assessments of various cinematic experiences by some of the film industry's top critics and art reviewers includes pieces by such names as James Agee, Susan Sontag, and Roger Ebert.

Shot in Mobile, Alabama! Check out this detailed history of one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time, the rare blockbuster that created drama without a firearm in sight.

In this groundbreaking new biography, award-winning film historian Patrick McGilligan offers a vivid and fascinating portrait of this little-known pioneer. Part visionary, part raffish Barnum-like showman, Micheaux was both a maverick filmmaker and an inveterate hustler who used every weapon at his disposal to break the color barrier and thrive in a profession he helped to invent.

These transcripts of recorded conversations between Welles and "The Last Picture Show" director Bogdanovich are highly engaging whether you are a Welles fan or just enjoy listening to a man of many opinions. Arguably the most innovative American director of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Welles offers up nuggets that are as quotable as any line from his classic films.

In 1969, a low-budget biker movie, "Easy Rider", shocked Hollywood with its stunning success. Peter Biskind takes us on the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s, an era that produced such modern classics as "The Godfather", "Chinatown", "Shampoo", "Nashville", "Taxi Driver", and "Jaws". "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" vividly chronicles the exuberance and excess of the times. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age.

This extraordinary book-a unique document of cinema-is a series of dialogues between Alfred Hitchcock, the director of such classics as “The Lady Vanishes” and “Vertigo”, and questioner Francois Truffaut, a former critic and director of the films “Jules and Jim” and “The 400 Blows”. This is the definitive study of a movie-maker who created his own genre.

Featuring interviews with Jane Campion ("The Piano"), Susan Seidelman ("Desperately Seeking Susan"), Lizzie Borden ("Working Girls"), and scores of other women filmmakers, this fascinating and comprehensive survey profiles the directors and producers who have changed the face of contemporary film by offering new and distinctly female images for the screen.

Written in a question-and-answer format, this interview with the legendary Hollywood writer-director shares his thoughts on screenwriting, cinematography, the studio system, the Golden Age of film, and the many stars with whom he worked.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." This line comes from director John Ford's film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but it also serves as an epigram for the life of the legendary filmmaker. Drawing on more than a hundred interviews and research on three continents, Scott Eyman explains how a saloon-keeper's son from Maine helped to shape America's vision of itself, and how a man with only a high school education came to create a monumental body of work, including films that earned him six Academy Awards -- more than any filmmaker before or since.

“David Lean” is a lively compendium about the 60-year career of one of the greatest moviemakers of all time. For the first time, this normally reticent director of such classics as “Brief Encounter”, “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, and “Lawrence of Arabia” has given his cooperation to a project documenting his life and work, and the result is a book as spectacular as his critically acclaimed films.

Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard tells the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it. It's about the writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett-sardonically called "the happiest couple in Hollywood"-and their raucous professional relationship. It's about the art direction and the sets, the costumes, the props, the lights and the cameras, and the personalities who used those tools to create a cinematic work of art.

The production of “Psycho” was unique in the filmography of Hitchcock. He used the crew from his television series and killed off his star early in the picture. Stephen Rebello looks at the adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel, the detail of the shower scene design by Saul Bass, and the novelty of the publicity that turned the release of the movie into an event.

Provides behind-the-scenes information on the 1969 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, over seventy pages of reviews, and interviews with both Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.

A look at the making of the 1938 movie classic and its forever-famous stars provides behind-the-scenes facts and a detailed look at how big-budget films were produced in Hollywood’s golden age.

Breaking with the old studio system, the New Wave directors Jean-Luc Godard, Francios Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, and others insisted on seeing the director as an author or “auteur”. This book looks at how such classics as “Breathless”, “Contempt”, “Jules and Jim”, and “Masculine/Feminine” laid the groundwork for today’s independent film industry.

“Cinema of Outsiders” is the first comprehensive chronicle of contemporary independent movies from the late 1970s up to the present. The book looks at the early work of mavericks David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, and Spike Lee to the contemporary Oscar-winning successes of Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers.

Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Nicholas Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest.