DiLeo ventures beyond the obvious, paying tribute to a collection of acting feats that made priceless but often unappreciated contributions to the art of screen acting. So, no Scarlett O'Hara, Michael Corleone or Margo Channing here. But you will find Vivien Leigh, Al Pacino, and Bette Davis in outstanding performances that have been overshadowed by their signature roles.
Boris Karloff will forever be Frankenstein's Monster, but is that any reason for us to overlook his later great horror film Isle of the Dead (1945)? An Oscar was George Clooney's reward for Syriana (2005), but isn't the underrated war film Three Kings (1999) still his best movie? Woman of the Year (1942) introduced the team of Tracy and Hepburn, yet didn't their later Pat and Mike (1952) resoundingly surpass it? Jeff Bridges has long been one of our best actors, so why didn't anyone take notice of his sleeper Bad Company (1972)? The lasting impact of Psycho (1960) unfairly overshadows Anthony Perkins's great work in the darkly comic thriller Pretty Poison (1968), while Stanley Kubrick's later work keeps his terrific caper The Killing (1956) from attaining classic status. Can you really say you love Audrey Hepburn if you haven't seen her at her most radiant in Stanley Donen's gem Two for the Road (1967)? Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery puts the spotlight on these and other superb yet underappreciated movies spanning the twentieth century. Essential stars and directors are represented here, not for their undisputed marvels but for other equally wonderful films that warrant overdue or renewed recognition: Cover Girl, They Came to Cordura, Portrait of Jennie, The Seventh Cross, The Lusty Men, Hail the Conquering Hero, Rambling Rose, Time after Time, and many others. Author John DiLeo offers full-bodied appraisals of each of his selections, breezily combining scholarly acumen with a film fanatic's passion. DiLeo utilizes his lively, accessible style and sharp, insightful critical eye, venturing beyond obvious choices and whetting our appetites to see these vital movies. Be they underseen, dismissed, or taken-for-granted in their day, the films in Screen Savers deserve a place of honor in our film heritage.
This definitive biography chronicles the life and work of the legendary director of Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Victor Fleming was the most sought-after director in Hollywood’s golden age, renowned for his work across an astounding range of genres—from gritty westerns to screwball comedies, romances, boddy pictures, and family entertainment. Yet this chameleon-like versatility has resulted in his relative obscurity today—despite his having directed two of the most iconic movies of all time. Fleming is best remembered for Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, but he directed more than forty films, including classics like Red Dust, Test Pilot, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Captains Courageous. Fleming created enduring screen personas for Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Gary Cooper, as well as for Ingrid Bergman, Clara Bow, and Norma Shearer—who were among his many lovers. In this definitive biography, Michael Sragow restores the director to the pantheon of great American filmmakers, correcting a major oversight in Hollywood history. It is the dramatic story of a man at the center of the most exciting period in American filmmaking.
Screen Savers II is John DiLeo's three-part grab bag of classic movies, beginning with his extensive essays about ten remarkable and underappreciated movies, as in the first Screen Savers, and representing a variety of genres and stars such as Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Ginger Rogers, and DiLeo favorite Joel McCrea. Part Two collects and categorizes posts from DiLeo's classic-film blog screensaversmovies.com, containing his musings on classics revisited, sleepers and stinkers, films old and new, plus his memorial tributes to Hollywood notables. Part Three might be called a delayed bonus round to DiLeo's 1999 quiz book, with all-new matching quizzes. Can you identify the films in which a character writes a book titled Hummingbird Hill; Fred Astaire dances with Betty Hutton; a character named Sean Regan is important but never seen?
Tennessee Williams and Company: His Essential Screen Actors takes a critical look at these eleven actors and their roles, bonded by their sustained artistic and professional association with Williams, specifically the success, and sometimes failure, of their interpretations of his characters for the screen. The results include some of the more remarkable performances in movie history, from Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire to Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo and Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth. DiLeo takes you through the entire careers of these eleven indelible stars, while giving his main attention to their Williams performances. From the underrated (Joanne Woodward in The Fugitive Kind, Madeleine Sherwood in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) to the overrated (Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer, Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Tennessee Williams and Company takes an entertaining and intensely detailed ride alongside some of the most inexhaustibly fascinating actors and actresses of our screen heritage, each of them challenged by the unforgettable characters of the one and only Tennessee Williams.
