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Hollywood: The Oral History

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First off, the intro claims that events told by their participants are necessarily more true and generally superior, but anyone even remotely familiar with oral histories knows that this just isn't the way it works. But the idea that movies are no longer about making art when its now easier than ever for anyone to make a movie than its ever been, allowing artists that wouldn't have had a chance in earlier eras to get a film made can do it all by themselves is just stupid. Published in 2022, this is a massive book of personal quotes and stories by people connected with the film industry from back when it started until today. This is a really good read for movie buffs, but "Hollywood: The Oral History" could have been a truly great book. the true story of Hollywood, told not by outsiders, academics, historians, revisionists, or fantasists prone to legend, but by those who are singularly qualified to understand it, the filmmakers themselves.

HOLLYWOOD has the cliched “something for everyone,” but for me the most interesting part of the book was the chapter on “The Studio Workforce.

So reading about all the processes and steps of making movies from those who actually did it was great. From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. But first: The savory opening chapter draws on anecdotes from some of the now-gone greats of classic Hollywood, including Raoul Walsh, Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawks and Lillian Gish, schmoozing about their starts in the business. Some of these areas were not as interesting as others, and I seldom recognized the names of the people working some of the behind the scenes jobs- so I confess to having skimmed some sections. However, the book, maybe for the first 3/5ths or even 4/5ths, feels like the "witness" scenes in "Reds.

Oral history is a hit or miss with me, but if a book is going to cover old Hollywood at all, I can’t seem to resist.I absolutely loved learning about the history of Hollywood and what some of the most popular people in the industry had to say about it.

Then it's people complaining about filmmaking in the 70s, then the 80s, then the 90s, and by the end it's modern filmmakers and actors talking about the "good old days" of the 90s. At the very least, here is testimony by over 300 industry professionals, some of whom made silent movies and are now dead, others of whom are Steven Spielberg and Jordan Peele.

In other words, here are 400 cinema insiders, including directors, makeup people and actors, recounting what it has been like to make-believe for a living. Nine hours into the book, from late 19th century through 5 decades of the 20th century, there was finally mention of a Black director – Gordon Parks. And that is just great, because it feels like Hollywood has this sort of hush hush nature about it, the golden age in particular. What we are seeing slowly created is the Studio system being created again as Netflix and Prime Video set up their own studios. Faber Members get access to live and online author events and receive regular e-newsletters with book previews, promotional offers, articles and quizzes.

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