George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones

Brian Jay Jones writes the definitive biography of the Star Wars filmmaker in George Lucas: A Life–published by Little, Brown in 2016. Lucas is one of the greatest world-builders of all time.  Even when he wasn’t officially directing The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, he was still directing the film.  I mean, wouldn’t you want to be in charge of your own creation?  You can certainly understand why a filmmaker like Lucas…

"George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones"

Picturing Peter Bogdanovich by Peter Tonguette

Peter Tonguette’s Picturing Peter Bogdanovich: My Conversations with the New Hollywood Director is a critical breakdown of the filmmaker’s career. Tonguette’s relationship with the critic-turned-filmmaker started with a phone call for an article in 2003.  The initial phone call has turned into a lengthy relationship including a meeting at an AFI Silver screening. The first half of the book plays as a biography with Tonguette breaking down the director’s filmography.  What follows in the second…

"Picturing Peter Bogdanovich by Peter Tonguette"

Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride

Steven Spielberg: A Biography (2nd Edition) by Joseph McBride takes a critical look at the filmmaker while updating the Spielberg story through 2010. Spielberg is my favorite filmmaker of all time.  If not for Jurassic Park, there’s a good bet that I wouldn’t even be doing what I do–whether that’s write about film working to transition into filmmaking.  One of the things I’ve been doing of late when watching Spielberg films is watch the bonus…

"Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride"

On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder

On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov is an in-depth biography of the late Oscar winning filmmaker, who died in 2002. When Ernst Lubitsch died in 1947, all of his secrets went to the grave.  But who was there to succeed him in terms of his style of filmmaking?  The answer to the question comes in the form of another filmmaker from the Continent, Billy Wilder. Double Indemnity.  The…

"On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder"

Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman

Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise, written by film historian Scott Eyman, is the definitive biography of the To Be or Not To Be filmmaker. The first thing I took away in reading Eyman’s biography is that Lubitsch was considered to be “The Griffith of Europe.”  Unfortunately, the filmmaker also emulated Griffith in more ways than one.  This includes, sadly, wearing blackface as one of his characters.  It’s sad and unfortunate because he was one of…

"Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman"

Hitler in Los Angeles by Steven J. Ross

Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America tells the incredibly true story of Jews fighting back against Nazis in LA. Leon Lewis and Joseph Roos are American heroes.  You might not know their names and that’s perfectly okay.  Truthfully, I didn’t know their names either.  However, I’m perfectly glad to finally rectify this. There were some pretty damning moments while reading this book.  Given the state of the United…

"Hitler in Los Angeles by Steven J. Ross"

Tinseltown by William J. Mann

Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann is a thrilling true-crime mystery that will keep you turning pages for hours. I have to be honest.  After the Deadline interview, I went into this book expecting some insight into the 1918 flu epidemic.   While I have to admit that I was disappointed on that regard, this book is a thrilling read.  I devoured all 400-plus pages in just over…

"Tinseltown by William J. Mann"

Lion of Hollywood by Scott Eyman

Film historian/author Scott Eyman delivers the definitive biography in Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. In recent years, it’s hard to look at someone like Louis B. Mayer and not think of him in a similar way to Harvey Weinstein.  Much of this probably has to do with Bosley Crowther’s books according to the epilogue.  I’m not going to say that the two of them are similar in their ways. …

"Lion of Hollywood by Scott Eyman"

Goldwyn: A Biography by A. Scott Berg

Back in the late 1980s, A. Scott Berg gave film fans the definitive biography of pioneering film producer Samuel Goldwyn. While reading the William Fox biography, I learned that Sam Goldwyn had been forced out of Goldwyn Productions, which he formed with the Selwyns.  The studio had been named after their names: Goldfish and Selwyn.  Until that point, I had always assumed he had been involved with the leadership of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  This wasn’t the first…

"Goldwyn: A Biography by A. Scott Berg"

Hitchcock and the Censors by John Billheimer

John Billheimer takes a look at how filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was impacted by the Production Code Administration in Hitchcock and the Censors. It’s been nearly a year since University Press of Kentucky released this book in their Screen Classics series.  If you have any interest in classic movies, you certainly can’t go wrong with these books.  Anyway, this review is going online over a week after I finished reading my sixth quarantine book.  The main…

"Hitchcock and the Censors by John Billheimer"