American Cinematographer - August 1987 - 24

■■■■■■■■HI H

by George L. George
Noting the increased similarities be¬
film and television lighting pro¬
cedures, Tom LeTourneau spells out the
technical and practical aspects of the
craft in his comprehensive manual,
Lighting Techniques for Video Pro¬
duction. Written clearly and infor¬
matively, it describes the various types
of equipment and their use, as well as
their role in what he aptly terms "the
art of casting shadows" (Knowledge
Industry Publications, White Plains,
tween

The world's

brightest
controllable

light source

NY,

$39.95/24.95).

The life and achievements of
six pioneers of the American motion

picture industry

-

Adolph Zukor, Carl

Laemmle, William Fox, Marcus Loew,
Samuel

Goldwyn and Jesse Lasky - are
recaptured in Richard Dyer MacCann's
anthology The First Tycoons. It
focuses on the powerful men whose

creative vision, business acumen and

competitive spirit established the foun¬
dation of a farflung empire (Scarecrow,
Metuchen. NJ,

$22.50).

A three-volume study by
Harry M. Geduld, Chapliniana offers
authoritative comments on the 81 films
that comprise Chaplin's oeuvre. In Vol.

I, Geduld deals with the 35 Keystone
comedies

produced in 1914, from Kid's

Auto Pace

to

His Prehistoric Past,

providing critical analyses, notes on per¬
formers, plot summaries and interre¬
lations of the films (Indiana U. Press,
Bioomingon, $47.50).
In Montage Eisenstein,
French film scholar Jacques Aumont ex¬
plores a lesser-known facet of the So¬

viet master filmmaker's talent. It views
Eisenstein as a theoretician whose con¬

cept

of montage holds a central place in
philosophy and esthetics. Aumont

his
offers

insightful analysis of Eisenediting techniques and of the
status of montage in the total cinematic
system, leading to an identification of
Eisenstein's notion of an all-embracing
an

stein's

MOBILE LIGHTING, LTD.
Los

Angeles-Sequoia: 818/768-6200
212/245-4800

New York-Ferco:

Oskaloosa, Iowa: 800/354-4448
22

August 1987

"organic unity of composition" (Indi¬
U. Press, Bloomington, $12.95).
In Robert Florey, Brian
Taves portrays the French born Holly¬

ana

wood director of 65 features and 250
television films. His artistic gifts and
technical skills successfully combined in

variety of genres: comedy (The Co¬
nuts), horror (Murders in the Bue
Morgue), musical (The Desert Song)
and episodes in top rated TV shows.
Robert Florey (1900-1979) although
highly regarded by his peers never got
the public recognition his versatility, cul¬
a

coa

and cinematic know-how de¬
served
qualities persuasively brought

ture

-

in this sensitive and well-researched
work (Scarecrow, Metuchen, NJ,
out

$39.50).
In

Woody Allen

on

Loca¬

tion, Thierry de Navacelle follows in
detail the

filming of Badio Days, ob¬
serving Allen's creative methods at
work on New York streets and stages.
The Movies of Woody Allen is a

"short, neurotic" quiz book compiled by
David Wild that is sure to challenge and
entertain casual fans as well as diehard

enthusiasts of the American comic ge¬
nius (Morrow, NYC, $13.95; Putnam/

Perigee, NYC, $8.95).
A probing study by Tony Ben¬
nett

and Janet Woollacott, Bond and

Beyond, examines the influence that
Agent 007 James Bond exercised on
the cultural, political and ideological
customs

of Western democracies, and

its part
a

in the changing sexual mores of
generation of viewers (Methuen,

NYC,

$25/11.95).
Data

gathered by King Vidor

the mysterious 1922 murder of direc¬
tor William Desmond Taylor are recon¬
on

structed

by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick in A

Cast of Killers, now available in pa¬

perback. Vidor's largely circumstantial
evidence points to Charlotte Shelby,
mother of actress Mary Miles Minter,
both women romantically involved with
American Cinematographer - August 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 1987
