Summer Reading Challenge #2 - Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman
Last summer I signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge that is held over at Raquel Stecher’s Out of the Past blog. I never got around to posting anything. This summer things will be different! The challenge runs from May 23 to September 15, 2019. Here is my second post for the challenge.
There are books like Robert Graves I Claudius or General Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur which bring to mind the word EPIC. Especially when they are attached to a film, in both cases above. The stories and the films are towering achievements. Do not @me about the British television series I Claudius, it is magnificent. What was not spent on sets was more than amply made up for by the sheer star wattage of acting. The silent Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is an epic journey in every sense. Sensitively told and thrilling with the chariot race.
Frank Thompson and John Andrew Gallagher's massive book Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman should go down in history as one of the greatest of all film history books ever written. The scale of the book is huge, it weighs many pounds, I mean it is 9-10 lbs. Published in 2018 in a limited run of 198 copies, I feel damned lucky to have a copy in my home library. Damned lucky.
If you love Wellman's films, this is THE resource to have. I have researched Valentino for decades, but, nothing I have done comes close to this research achievement. This study of each of his films is detailed featuring recollections by various players and each section is beyond lavishly illustrated. Said it before, will say it again, this book is a real thing of beauty.
Starting with Wellman's very early career as an actor in 1919 to assistant director to director at Fox and on to Paramount where he rose to fame with the 1927 epic Wings through the transition to sound and his days at Warner Brothers, Paramount and Beau Geste, freelancing and up to his final film in 1958 Darby's Rangers, every project he worked on is represented. A lifetime achievement!
The devotion of the authors to present every facet of Wellman's long career results in a finished product filled with love for their subject and a love for cinema in its purest form. You can feel it just running your fingers on the pages. The design of the book is just beautiful and it makes you want to read it and not miss a word or a picture. I cannot praise this book highly enough. It's tough to read because you cannot hold it, but, sitting at a desk or table has lent me hours of pure enjoyment. The text is informative and elegant, the illustrations chosen with care and reproduced beautifully.
The only sad thing about this to report is that this is not an easy book to find. Out of print on their website, the trailer only succeeds in whetting your appetite. If you can find it, it is more than worth every cent. If you know someone who has a copy, please seek it out and pray they let you borrow it. This is a book that has my highest recommendation. It truly does justice to the subject at hand, the impressive and amazing film career of that Hollywood Maverick Wild Bill Wellman.
****UPDATE**** I have been informed that there are still copies of this amazing book available direct from the authors. For more information you can email them directly here: thompsonesque@gmail.com
Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman from Alexander Yew on Vimeo.
This posting is part of Raquel Stecher's 2019 Summer Reading Challenge.
There are books like Robert Graves I Claudius or General Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur which bring to mind the word EPIC. Especially when they are attached to a film, in both cases above. The stories and the films are towering achievements. Do not @me about the British television series I Claudius, it is magnificent. What was not spent on sets was more than amply made up for by the sheer star wattage of acting. The silent Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is an epic journey in every sense. Sensitively told and thrilling with the chariot race.
Frank Thompson and John Andrew Gallagher's massive book Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman should go down in history as one of the greatest of all film history books ever written. The scale of the book is huge, it weighs many pounds, I mean it is 9-10 lbs. Published in 2018 in a limited run of 198 copies, I feel damned lucky to have a copy in my home library. Damned lucky.
If you love Wellman's films, this is THE resource to have. I have researched Valentino for decades, but, nothing I have done comes close to this research achievement. This study of each of his films is detailed featuring recollections by various players and each section is beyond lavishly illustrated. Said it before, will say it again, this book is a real thing of beauty.
Starting with Wellman's very early career as an actor in 1919 to assistant director to director at Fox and on to Paramount where he rose to fame with the 1927 epic Wings through the transition to sound and his days at Warner Brothers, Paramount and Beau Geste, freelancing and up to his final film in 1958 Darby's Rangers, every project he worked on is represented. A lifetime achievement!
The devotion of the authors to present every facet of Wellman's long career results in a finished product filled with love for their subject and a love for cinema in its purest form. You can feel it just running your fingers on the pages. The design of the book is just beautiful and it makes you want to read it and not miss a word or a picture. I cannot praise this book highly enough. It's tough to read because you cannot hold it, but, sitting at a desk or table has lent me hours of pure enjoyment. The text is informative and elegant, the illustrations chosen with care and reproduced beautifully.
The only sad thing about this to report is that this is not an easy book to find. Out of print on their website, the trailer only succeeds in whetting your appetite. If you can find it, it is more than worth every cent. If you know someone who has a copy, please seek it out and pray they let you borrow it. This is a book that has my highest recommendation. It truly does justice to the subject at hand, the impressive and amazing film career of that Hollywood Maverick Wild Bill Wellman.
****UPDATE**** I have been informed that there are still copies of this amazing book available direct from the authors. For more information you can email them directly here: thompsonesque@gmail.com
Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman from Alexander Yew on Vimeo.
This posting is part of Raquel Stecher's 2019 Summer Reading Challenge.
Comments