Hollywood: The Oral History

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They were very open about their opinions - whether or not I would agree with them - and I enjoyed that they seemed to be very honest about how they felt about people and movies and studios. It really shows that the average person in the early 20th century was cucked hard by capitalist structures and the idea that people with money were inherently better than people who had less money.

Still, it might enlighten those who want to blow off actors’ current complaints, by educating one on how things normally work for them, and it is not at all like what you might expect. Most who spoke of his relationship with Judy Garland scoffed at the idea that he drove her to a troubled life. The book is especially strong on the silent era, studio system (pro and con), movie moguls (ditto) and, strangely, the independent film movement of the late 60s.HOLLYWOOD has the cliched “something for everyone,” but for me the most interesting part of the book was the chapter on “The Studio Workforce. This is a tremendous set of AFI interviews with directors, producers, stars, cinematographers, composers, you name it. What emerges are chapters that feel like a series of panel discussions involving some 368 named Hollywood filmmakers in dialogues concerning subjects ranging from various forms of film formats; genres and technologies, the art; craft and personalities of various studio personnel, the rise and fall of the Hollywood studio system to today’s “product,” covering more than one hundred years of American film history.

This isn't so much an "oral" history as it is an edited compendium of a very, very limited cache of interviews. Perhaps future books could be dedicated to specific topics covered in HOLLYWOOD, offering, for example, a more in-depth look at the years before television, when movies were the only game in town.As much fun as it is, the book faces the inherent dilemma of oral history -- the lack of a coherent narrative. It's just a bit mentally draining to read constant complaining about how the industry, and thus the country, is falling apart.

In between, seminar guests talk about budget bloats and business trends, changing acting styles and changing audience tastes. There seemed to be a consensus that he tried to help Garland, if for no other reason than her financial value to the studio. Of the white directors, producers, and actors that are mentioned as being the rocks of Hollywood, most acted abroad or in out of state studios. This oral history in particular has a fascinating look at what it takes and took to make movies from the people involved. Movie fans will enjoy this extremely valuable compendium of interviews conducted with film legends by the American Film Institute (AFI) from 1969 through the 1970s).She is a film historian, professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan University and curator and founder of The Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University. Were these men involved with the making of some of the greatest films golden age Hollywood ever produced? Sunset Boulevard wasn’t even paved”, which cut down on the rumble of the traffic, remembers one old-time agent. All the film scholars (and even non-film scholars who are simply inquisitive) I know are up in arms over the book's lack of an index.

At least 2/3 of the book concentrates on "old Hollywood" into the 1960s, and that's fine with me, as "new" Hollywood isn't really Hollywood anymore. The award-winning costume designer Edith Head (1897-1981) describes getting a foot in the door by showing a portfolio of drawings that weren’t hers. An oral history culled from thousands of interviews conducted by the American Film Institute, "Hollywood" provides lots of anecdotal material but could use a little contextual material to back up what often descends into mere chatter.upd2: There're still some gems here, or at least fragments of them, but I would only recommend this to somebody new to the topic, and for the most general impression of what's what in Hollywood history. In addition, she is a trustee emeritus of the American Film Institute, a member of the Steering Committee of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation, and one of the Board of Advisors for the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers.