Impact (Mar 1972)

Chaplin, Kubrick, Welles and History. The Citizen Kane Book Kael-Mankiewicz-Welles McClelland & Stewart; $15 Citizen Kane, one of Hollywood’s most cult-creating efforts, also created its own library. Several new literary additions have been published, most notably The Citizen Kane Book, a handsome two-part presentation suitable for cultists and film students alike. Part One is Pauline Kael’s essay/book, Raising Kane, reprinted from the New Yorker. Part Two is the complete, never-before-published shooting script by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles, and the two parts make a bright, readable package. Miss Kael’s research is good and gossipy, often razing Welles and Mankiewicz as she salutes their film. But despite the sideswipes she manages to crack the Rosebud legends with wry wit and a good sense of Lotus Land irony. Focus On Citizen Kane Ronald Gottesman Prentice-Hall; $2.75 The Prentice-Hall Film Focus series concentrates on the words Kane won, not the ones it used. Reviews by John O’Hara and Bosley Crowther, a commentary by French filmmaker Francois Truffaut, and an essay by Welles himself (“Citizen Kane Is Not About Louella Parson’s Boss’’) make it useful for the film student’s library, albeit a little too specific for the fan; but it contains much worthwhile material, neatly packaged. The Golden Days of San Simeon Ken Murray Doubleday; $12 San Simeon, the California castle of William Randolph Hearst, has been immortalized in word and photograph many times before, but seldom with such fervor. Ken Murray has collected many rare snapshots among the 167 featured, including some young stars at play — Bette Davis, Loretta Young, Robert Taylor, Henry Fonda. But the real stars are Hearst, Marion Davies and San Simeon itself, where every weekday lunch offered an opulence that the crowned heads of Europe only dreamed of. An entertaining contribution for Kane collectors. The Movies in the Age of Innocence Edward Wagenknecht Ballantine; $2.95 Author Edward Wagenknecht dedicates his book to the Gish girls (Lillian and Dorothy), and with good reason: it’s a loving, nostalgic look at the era in which they flourished. A contradiction within itself, Age Of Innocence is a scholarly work, heavy with footnotes. Yet Wagenknecht’s style makes it light and breezy reading. An appendix on Lillian Gish has charm, respect and affection, which is mutual; Wagenknecht is the lady’s favorite film historian. Griffith’s fans and film students alike will find the double index (names and titles) invaluable. A fine companion for Miss Gish’s 1969 autobiography, The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me. Focus on Chaplin Donald W. McCaffrey Prentice-Hall; $2.75 Comedy is the most serious study in the world,” said Chaplin, and _ this book is an ideal companion to his 1964 memoirs, My Autobiography. Included in its pages are Chaplin’s personal views on Mack Sennett and The Talkies, as well as essays on his special artistry by Winston Churchill and George Jean Nathan. An excellent, thoughtful volume in the Focus series, well-edited by contributor McCaffrey. A Short History of the Movies Gerald Mast Fitzhenry & Whiteside; $16.25 Now a young New York professor, Gerald Mast was born in Hollywood, and even worked as an extra on such diverse films as Spartacus and Rally Round The Flag, Boys.\n his Short History he has produced the textbook stuff essay footnotes are made of — prose too pedantic to entertain and too brief to truly enlighten. All in all, 425 pages of Everything About Film, with a superlative supplementary reading list and an impressive index. Stanley Kubrick Directs Alexander Walker Longman; $11.25 British film critic and author Alexander Walker (Sex In The Movies, Stardom: The Hollywood Phenomenon) has produced an engrossing, highly visual study of one of America’s foremost directors at work, up to Kubrick’s early shooting schedule on A Clockwork Orange. Paths Of Glory gets the lion’s share of attention, but Dr. Strangelove. (or Why Kubrick Changed The Ending) and 200]: A Space Odyssey are also dealt with in some detail. The more than 350 photographs are almost all from the films themselves, including shots of Kubrick at work on Clockwork.