Steven BingenRecensioni
Autore di M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot
7 opere 177 membri 9 recensioni
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Warner Bros.: Hollywood's Ultimate Backlot di Steven Bingen
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ralphcoviello | 1 altra recensione | Aug 13, 2022 | What a gorgeous book! It's a beautiful glimpse at a sadly destroyed past. It kills me to think of how amazing the MGM studio tour could be, had the company not been managed by short-sighted bunglers. What would I give to see the glass silent stages or New York Street or the commissary!
Bunglers! I hope LB Mayer is haunting them as we speak.
Bunglers! I hope LB Mayer is haunting them as we speak.
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beautifulshell | 6 altre recensioni | Aug 27, 2020 | I was VERY excited about this book, as I loved [b:MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot|8385757|MGM Hollywood's Greatest Backlot|Steven Bingen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389828081s/8385757.jpg|13242997] so much that I bought a copy. I'm sad to say that this doesn't come close to it for me, as the formatting and tone feel much less polished and more personal (in a way that I don't enjoy). Also, fewer pictures than the MGM book. It's exhaustively researched, but not as exhaustively edited. I do get irritated feeling like a proof reader.
Things that annoyed me:
Using less instead of fewer (WRONG! p. I can't find it now, but it's early on.)
P. 77: Calling Errol Flynn "besotted" instead of a less archaic term for drunk.
P. 92: "Dick Mason, who we met earlier.." WHOM! WHOM!
P. 170: "Marion the Librarians' house..." She is just one librarian. Librarian's.
P. 175: this is probably my own preference, but "burg" meaning town, not "berg."
P. 216: Murder at Monte Carlo was 1935, not 1937 as written. DUH, as Errol Flynn was well known to Americans by 37, thanks to 35's Captain Blood, among other things.
P. 66: I know it's hyperbole, but I don't think WB's library was ever "something approaching the sum total of the world's knowledge." Just write what you mean. Language that might impress tour groups sounds amateurish in a book.
P. 56: "If I may speak personally for a moment..." No, please don't. This is a book. We're not having a chat.
There is also an egregious overuse of the passive voice and a tendency to identify movie stars as "superstars" or something like that (e.g "superstar Clint Eastwood"). I think the target audience for this book already knows who names like that are without the descriptor.
These are mostly just whines, but really, once I notice this many actual errors, I'm too irritated to enjoy the book anymore.
Things that annoyed me:
Using less instead of fewer (WRONG! p. I can't find it now, but it's early on.)
P. 77: Calling Errol Flynn "besotted" instead of a less archaic term for drunk.
P. 92: "Dick Mason, who we met earlier.." WHOM! WHOM!
P. 170: "Marion the Librarians' house..." She is just one librarian. Librarian's.
P. 175: this is probably my own preference, but "burg" meaning town, not "berg."
P. 216: Murder at Monte Carlo was 1935, not 1937 as written. DUH, as Errol Flynn was well known to Americans by 37, thanks to 35's Captain Blood, among other things.
P. 66: I know it's hyperbole, but I don't think WB's library was ever "something approaching the sum total of the world's knowledge." Just write what you mean. Language that might impress tour groups sounds amateurish in a book.
P. 56: "If I may speak personally for a moment..." No, please don't. This is a book. We're not having a chat.
There is also an egregious overuse of the passive voice and a tendency to identify movie stars as "superstars" or something like that (e.g "superstar Clint Eastwood"). I think the target audience for this book already knows who names like that are without the descriptor.
These are mostly just whines, but really, once I notice this many actual errors, I'm too irritated to enjoy the book anymore.
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beautifulshell | 1 altra recensione | Aug 27, 2020 | Segnalato
ThothJ | 6 altre recensioni | Dec 4, 2015 | Segnalato
ThothJ | 6 altre recensioni | Dec 3, 2015 | Segnalato
ThothJ | 6 altre recensioni | Dec 3, 2015 | Segnalato
ThothJ | 6 altre recensioni | Dec 3, 2015 | Rating: 4* of five
The Book Report: A photo essay on the long-vanished Culver City, California, backlot of cinema giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. As much as 20% of the entire US film output from the medium's invention until the 1970s, a period of almost 70 years, was filmed all or in part at some portion of this astounding movie-making paradise. Think about that. Assume you've seen 100 movies made before 1970...20 of them, on average, will have some MGM content.
Wow.
My stepmother's father was a rank-and-file MGM sound man for his whole life. After they made him retire, he got a job as sound man for the 1960s TV show Bewitched. I grew up hearing the stories, and was completely snookered by the glamour-busting that he did. I came to this book excited and gleefully anticipatory. I looked at its lovely, oversized landscape trim and drooled with eagerness to see the oversized images of the many sets and streets and stills from films that would be within.
So very NOT disappointed. And I even read the captions!
My Review: What does one say about a photo book? I can't show you the pictures. I can tell you that, in a properly ordered universe, this book would be in the library of every movie buff, every MGMhead, and all public libraries nationwide.
I found the captions, which are really mini-essays putting the images into film history context, delightful as well as useful. I love knowing why some scenes look familiar. Some movie titles in these captions brought sudden wham old memories of seeing the film in question. Some of them I've made note of so I can go find them. And some of the photos made me a little bit wistful. All of this magical stuff is gone, now under yet another SoCal suburban development.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Ars may very well be longa, since we still have the movies made there, but this magical place's vita was too brevis for me.
The Book Report: A photo essay on the long-vanished Culver City, California, backlot of cinema giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. As much as 20% of the entire US film output from the medium's invention until the 1970s, a period of almost 70 years, was filmed all or in part at some portion of this astounding movie-making paradise. Think about that. Assume you've seen 100 movies made before 1970...20 of them, on average, will have some MGM content.
Wow.
My stepmother's father was a rank-and-file MGM sound man for his whole life. After they made him retire, he got a job as sound man for the 1960s TV show Bewitched. I grew up hearing the stories, and was completely snookered by the glamour-busting that he did. I came to this book excited and gleefully anticipatory. I looked at its lovely, oversized landscape trim and drooled with eagerness to see the oversized images of the many sets and streets and stills from films that would be within.
So very NOT disappointed. And I even read the captions!
My Review: What does one say about a photo book? I can't show you the pictures. I can tell you that, in a properly ordered universe, this book would be in the library of every movie buff, every MGMhead, and all public libraries nationwide.
I found the captions, which are really mini-essays putting the images into film history context, delightful as well as useful. I love knowing why some scenes look familiar. Some movie titles in these captions brought sudden wham old memories of seeing the film in question. Some of them I've made note of so I can go find them. And some of the photos made me a little bit wistful. All of this magical stuff is gone, now under yet another SoCal suburban development.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Ars may very well be longa, since we still have the movies made there, but this magical place's vita was too brevis for me.
7
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richardderus | 6 altre recensioni | Apr 5, 2012 | MGM - who had more stars than in the heavens - from Gilbert to Garbo to Gable to Gardner - the roaring lion at the beginning of a film made during Hollywood's Golden Age let you know you were in for a quality film. This book provides a detailed look at the studio and the back lots with numerous photos and maps. The photos include looks at the lots in their hey day as well as during the studio's demise. The author's did a great job of getting quotes from those who worked at the studio and also provided a nice appendix that details each place on their back lot maps with the films made at those locations. While not a complete list, it is better than anything that is currently available and great to see that the authors did not just cover the well known MGM films such as Oz, Am American in Paris, or Meet Me In St. Louis. I applaud these authors for this work and recommend it highly to those who really want to know some of the behind the scenes workings of the most major of the Hollywood studios.
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knahs | 6 altre recensioni | Jan 8, 2012 | Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.