Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the World's Greatest Directors by Robert Schnakenberg

After previously dealing with great authors and Supreme Court Justices, Robert Schnakenberg casts his gossipy gaze upon Great Filmmakers to reveal the sordid details of their lives, covering fears and desires, vices and habits.

Presented in birth order, the book opens with D.W. Griffith, the earliest man to shine in the position of director. He is cited as a racist, not that his landmark film Birth of a Nation left any doubt with its pro-Klan stance, and sadly died a drunk. The book concludes with the still living, foot-fetishist Quentin Tarantino, a trait he shares with Cecil B. DeMille. The entries are also very up to date as Roman Polanski's entry covers his 9/26/2009 arrest in Switzerland. There are even intriguing details in death. Two months after he died, Charlie Chaplin's corpse was stolen for ransom. The thieves were eventually caught.

The book's main focus is famous Hollywood directors, but their foreign counterparts also get acknowledged. Legendary names of world cinema make appearances: Kurasawa, Bergman, Godard, Truffaut, and Fellini. Leni Riefenstahl is the only woman to get her own full entry revealing how sexist the industry is and clarifying why Kathryn Bigelow recent Best Directing Oscar was such a landmark. Not all included are masters of the craft as notorious cross-dresser Ed Wood Jr. and videogame-adapter Uwe Boll, who stated he was "the only genius in the whole fucking business" also get referenced. Producers also get some recognition and are just as odd as directors: Louis Mayer and David Selznick from the Golden Age are alongside modern-day counterparts Robert Evans and Harvey Weinstein.

Secret Lives is for the voyeur as opposed to the cineaste as there's no telling what's truth and hyperbole. There are no citations or footnotes, just a bibliography listed in the back. But without verification how can readers trust outrageous items like the claim that a co-worker at Video Archives "committed suicide out of fear he would never live up to Tarantino's potential"? The book lists rumors about Orson Welles being so big he got trapped in his own car and had to be cut out of it, and Stanley Kubrick being involved with fake moon landing. I also found an error in the Stephen King entry where it misidentifies Yeardly Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, as playing Bart, who is portrayed by Nancy Cartwright.

What was most intriguing was hearing about projects that almost were. Imagine Kubrick directing M*A*S*H, Sam Peckinpah directing King Kong (1976), and David Lynch directing Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Possibly the best story is about Bergman meeting Charles Bronson on a studio lot. Squibs, devices used to create gunshots, on Bronson's body, intrigued Bergman is quoted as saying, "Fascinating. I never knew how they did that." To which Bronson responded, "You mean you don't use machine guns in your movies?"

For those that enjoy tawdry escapism and tales from Hollywood Babylon, Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers is a fun diversion, digestible in small or large amounts, though best taken with a grain of salt.

TALES FROM THE SCRIPT

For many people, it's enough to see a magician perform a trick and they can walk away satisfied. For a small number, they want to know how the rabbit got into the hat and how the lady was cut in half. These people are infatuated with the process as much as they are the illusion. There are like-minded folks when it comes to films and this documentary will be a special treat for them while serving as a tribute to a group under appreciated by the general public and their peers.

Made as a companion piece to his book of the same name, Tales from the Script is an insightful documentary featuring 46 screenwriters discussing their work and profession. Some of the notables sitting for Hanson and his video camera are Academy Award-winners Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost), David S. Ward (The Sting), and William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men); screenwriters known for directing their own work, such as Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), John Carpenter (Halloween), and Ron Shelton (Bull Durham); and the new blood on the scene, like John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), David Hayter (Watchmen), and Josh Friedman (The Black Dahlia). Hanson provides some diversity with the inclusion of Allison Anders (Gas, Food Lodging), Guinevere Turner (Go Fish), James L White (Ray), and Kris Young (TV Series Teen Angel).

With clips from films about making films used to help set up sections, the writers discuss making pitches; the problems success can bring; the changes in the business; and the challenges of working with agents, executives, directors, and actors. Through the humorous anecdotes, they reveal the hard work it takes to be a successful and consistent screenwriter.

A very important point they convey is how they don't expect their work to make it to the screen. Other writers may be brought in to better capture the vision of the producer or the director or punch up the actor's lines. Everyone seems accepting and understanding of what his or her role is. Guinevere Turner talked about Uwe Boll using maybe 20 percent of her script for BloodRayne, resulting in her inappropriate laughter at the premiere and an apology to viewers.

As much as I enjoyed hearing from the familiar names, Michael January intrigued me. He's a journeyman screenwriter of the past two decades who revealed none of his films had ever played in a big theater in America but you may have seen his work on HBO, TNT, and video stores. He talks of being frustrated by not working on higher profile material but tempered his disappointment when he met a writer whose script had been tied up in a studio for years unmade.

The film is dedicated to participant Melville Shavelson, whose credits go all the way back to being a gag writer for Bob Hope's radio show in the 1930s. He is the oldest interviewee and didn't get enough screen time because he must have had plenty of stories to tell. He passed away in 2007, revealing this project has been in the works for a while.

Tales from the Script is currently playing at at Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills, CA and will be released on DVD on April 20.

SUNSET BLVD.: The Centennial Collection

Four years ahead of the studio’s anniversary, Paramount Pictures has begun to release DVDs under the Centennial Collection banner. According to the press release, “this library of films will showcase Paramount Pictures’ best and brightest films with remastered picture and new bonus materials. Paramount also takes a design note from Criterion and each title will have a number on the sleeve.” Even though the numbers don’t appear to be a ranking system, one could certainly make the case of the significance of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard being bestowed with “1.” It’s as perfect as a film can get, and no matter what point you come into the story, it hooks you and won’t let go, much like the film’s antagonist, former silent-screen star Norma Desmond (played brilliantly by Gloria Swanson, herself a former silent-screen star.

The narrator (William Holden) opens the story telling us a murder has taken place. He wants to set the record straight before you “read all about it in the late editions,” or “get it over your radio, and see it on television -- because an old-time star is involved. One of the biggest.” Then we see the dead body of a young man floating in a pool. He took “two shots in his back and one his stomach. Nobody important, really. Just a movie writer with a couple of ‘B’ pictures to his credit.”

The narrator takes the audience back six months, revealing that the dead man in the pool is our narrator, Joe Gillis. He has been struggling to sell something to the studios, which is why the repo men are after his car. As Joe considers giving up on the movie business and going back to Ohio, the repo men see him driving around town. Joe speeds off to escape them. His tire blows out and he quickly pulls into a driveway, losing his pursuers, but unknowingly goes from the frying pan into the fire.

Joe meets Norma, and after she learns he’s a writer, she pitches a movie she has written: Salome to be directed by Cecil B. DeMille. After looking at her collection of scrawled notes, Joe thinks it’s terrible, but sees an angle and gets himself hired to rewrite it. He stays the night in a room over the garage and in the morning finds all his stuff moved in. He is angered, but relents after she demands it.

Their relationship slowly evolves. She clutches him when they watch her old movies in the living room, she buys him clothes for New Year’s Eve, and she moves him into the main house. Once there, he discovers the truth behind the illusions. There’s no locks or knobs on the doors because she previously attempted suicide. Her butler, Max (director Erich von Stroheim), secretly sends her fan mail. After Joe learns the New Year’s Eve party is just for the two of them and the extent of her feelings, he rejects her, causing her to storm out. Joe heads to his friend Artie’s (Jack Webb) party and meets Artie’s fiancée, Betty (Nancy Olson), a reader at Paramount who liked some of Joe’s material and thinks they can develop a sellable script from it. While there, Joe decides to make a break from Norma, but gets pulled deeper into her life.

Norma gets a call from Paramount and even though a meeting with DeMille results in no guarantee, she begins a regiment to prepare for a return in front of the camera. This results in her retiring early for the evening, allowing Joe to slip out and meet up with Betty to work on the script, but they work on more than that. Norma soon discovers this and contacts Betty, forcing Joe’s hand that ends the love quadrangle. The story comes full circle, “back at the pool again. The one [Joe] always wanted.”

Sunset Blvd. is a compelling tragedy. Much like The Maltese Falcon statuette, the film also is about “the stuff dreams are made,” specifically love and Hollywood. Joe and Betty each want a taste of both, with Joe breaking a lot of rules to achieve his goal, which is a path that doesn’t end well for many characters. Norma provides a cautionary tale about how much the cost of getting want you and then losing it can be, although Joe finds out too late.

Sunset Blvd. excels on every level. The direction of Wilder; the Oscar-winning story and screenplay by Wilder, producer Charles Brackett, and D.M. Marshman, Jr.; the cinematography by John F. Seitz; the Oscar-winning musical score by Franz Waxman; and of course, the cast all deserve kudos. The film is also great for fans of old Hollywood because there’s a lot on inside baseball, like Norma’s friends being real silent film stars like Buster Keaton, or gossip columnist Hedda Hopper on scene to report on the murder.

The special features are a mix from the previously released 2002 (Special Collector's Edition) DVD and 50 minutes of new material. Disc 1 has a commentary track by Ed Sikov, author of On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Time of Billy Wilder. He sounds a bit stiff like he is reading notes rather than reacting to what he is seeing, but he provides a lot of good information. Disc 2 is the Special Features disc has nearly two and a half hours of material. Featurettes cover the making of the film, author Joseph Wambaugh discussing its similarities to film noir, Gloria Swanson, William Holden, legendary Hollywood costumer Edith Head, Waxman’s music, script pages and available footage from the original prologue set in a morgue, Paramount Pictures, its studio lot, and more.

The gorgeous, black and white, remastered picture of Sunset Blvd. adds to its overall greatness and is a must-have for fans of movies and Hollywood. However, unless the condition of the 2002 DVD’s picture is average or worse, it’s not worth replacing. The Centennial Collection series also presents #2 Roman Holiday and #3 Sabrina out now and in the next wave on January 19, 2009 #4 Funny Face and #5 Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

TRUMBO

Based on the play by his son Christopher, Trumbo is a documentary about the life of Dalton Trumbo, a noted screenwriter both for his work, which due to his being blacklisted was unknowingly honored by his peers with two Academy Awards, and for his stand with nine others against the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, which earned him a contempt of Congress conviction and 11 months in a penitentiary.

He was a compelling figure, a principled man willing to sacrifice everything he had for his beliefs, whose story is revealed through archival news footage, past interviews with Dalton and new interviews with his peers and children, and readings of his letters by an impressive array of actors that include Michael Douglas, Liam Neeson, and Donald Sutherland.

Dalton seems to have fared better than the other members of the Hollywood Ten. He was able to get people to front for his work and continued to make a living. He finally broke through the blacklist in 1960 when director Otto Preminger and producer/actor Kirk Douglas gave Dalton credit on Exodus and Spartacus respectively.

The film is a very glowing portrait, and while very good, it would have been better served had Dalton's detractors or people who supported what had happened to him been given a chance to voice their side. Here in the 21st Century, it's hard to understand what the fuss was about because the United States should be a place where people are allowed to hold different ideas. The Communists obviously wanted to change society to match their ideology, but it didn't seem like there was a plan to overthrow the country of government, so what was the concern that caused so many Americans to act un-American.

Trumbo is a good, albeit incomplete, history lesson for fans of Hollywood and stands as a profile in courage.

HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST HITS

The title of this two-CD set is completely misleading because people are going to be expecting “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “As Time Goes By.” However, it is a good collection of music created by some of the best composers the world of cinema has ever heard, even if it doesn’t feature their most popular works.

For those that pay attention to a film’s score, names like Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, and Elmer Bernstein are very familiar, but “Main Title From Patch of Blue,” “The Tango I Saved For You” from “Gaily Gaily,” and “Suite from Birdman of Alcatraz” are certainly not the titles their names first bring to mind, if at all. Even John Williams, who became the rock star of film composers due to his contributions to legendary films, such as Jaws, Star Wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, gets recognition for his lesser-known work on The Missouri Breaks.

According to the liner notes, Hollywood’s Greatest Hits is an archival project, so the selections were made based on the fact that “the written scores for these films have been lost through the decades.” All the music from the 45 instrumental tracks had to be transcribed before it could be recorded, no small feat. The Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra was then given the task of performing these pieces.

The music comes from both popular films and more obscure ones, and has been arranged by themes. They include action/military (“Overture To A Bridge Too Far” and “Kelly’s Heroes Theme”), romances (“Main Title to Ryan’s Daughter” and “Women in Love”), Westerns (“Red River Suite” and “Hour of the Gun Main Title”), and Biblical films (Love Theme from Ben-Hur and Theme from The Greatest Story Ever Told).

The standout tracks are the ones that don’t have the typical classical music sound. “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Main Title” by David Shire has got a great jazz groove. Quincy Jones brings the funk with “They Call Me Mr. Tibbs Main Title.” “Uketalia” from After The Fox by Burt Bacharach has a muted trumpet over a strumming ukulele. I kept expecting Leon Redbone’s voice to come in. Of course, you can never go wrong with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, who, along with Harold Flender, composed “Paris Blues.” The most unique piece is “Main Title from Tom Jones” led by a harpsichord.

A bonus track on each disc includes a female singer; Marilyn Monroe sings “Some Like It Hot” and Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau sing “Paris, Paris, Paris,” from Viva Maria. Hollywood’s Greatest Hits is a good choice for fans of classical music. It is also provides a great example of the power music has in its ability to create a wide variety of moods. Even without knowing the movies, the listener can tell what the story is about. A must-have for film soundtrack collectors.