William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come

by James Curtis

He was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale, influenced by German expressionism and the work of the great European directors. He was known for his visual flair and timeless innovation, a man who meticulously preplanned the color and design of each film through a series of continuity sketches that made clear camera angles, lighting, and the actors’ positions for each scene, translating dramatic conventions of the stage to the new capabilities of film. Here is the long-awaited book on William Cameron Menzies, Hollywood’s first and greatest production designer, a job title David O. Selznick invented for Menzies’ extraordinary, all-encompassing, Academy Award–winning work on Gone With the Wind (which he effectively co-directed). It was Menzies—winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Art Direction, jointly for The Dove (1927) and Tempest (1928), and who was as well a director (fourteen pictures) and a producer (twelve pictures)—who changed the way movies were (and still are) made, in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1920s through the 1950s. His more than 120 films include Rosita (1923), Things to Come (1936), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Kings Row (1942), Mr. Lucky (1943), The Pride of the Yankees (1943), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Address Unknown (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1947), Invaders from Mars (1953), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Now, James Curtis, acclaimed film historian and biographer, writes of Menzies’ life and work as the most influential designer in the history of film. His artistry encompassed the large, scenic drawings of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad (1924), which created a new standard for beauty on the screen and whose exotic fairy-tale sets are still regarded as pure genius. (“I saw The Thief of Bagdad when it first came out,” said Orson Welles—he was, at the time, a nine-year-old boy. “I’ll never forget it.”) Curtis writes of Menzies’ design and supervision of John Barrymore’s Beloved Rogue (1927), a film that remains a masterpiece of craft and synthesis, one of the most distinctive pictures to emerge from Hollywood’s waning days of silent films, and of his extraordinary, opulent appointments for Gone With the Wind (1939). It was Menzies who defined and solidified the role of art director as having overall control of the look of the motion picture, collaborating with producers like David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn; with directors such as D. W. Griffith, Raoul Walsh, Alfred Hitchcock, Lewis Milestone, and Frank Capra. And with actors as varied as Ingrid Bergman, W. C. Fields, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, John Barrymore, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper, Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and David Niven. Interviewing colleagues, actors, directors, friends, and family, and with full access to the William Cameron Menzies family collection of original artwork, correspondence, scrapbooks, and unpublished writing, Curtis brilliantly gives us the path-finding work of the movies’ most daring and dynamic production his evolution as artist, art director, production designer, and director. Here is a portrait of a man in his time that makes clear how the movies were forever transformed by his startling, visionary work.(With 16 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white photographs throughout.)

Genres: Film, Biography, Art, Nonfiction, Media Tie In

720 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2015

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have probably not heard of William Cameron Menzies. Ask a film fan and they can tell you what a writer does, or a director, and even a producer (they're lying on that one), but an art director or production designer? You might get some words about movie sets, but that's where it stops.
Now, if you can persuade them to read this book, you'll get some very different answers.
The success of a biography can be measured by whether or not the reader is a little more informed than they were than when they first started reading the book. Personally, I feel significantly more enlightened about the concept of 'production design' now than when I first started reading this book.
And William Cameron Menzies is the man who can take a lot of credit for that.
The book is thorough enough to detail his background and beginnings of Menzies before his big break (at least his earliest, famous project) on THE THIEF OF BAGDAD with Douglas Fairbanks, a film which was a landmark hit, and began to establish the importance of production design as the 'look' of a film- an aspect of filmmaking that persists today even in the debased digital-heavy productions of today. This book, and I swear you'll take frequent stops to see if some of the films Menzies worked on are even available, further entrances the reader by including a lot of the original sketches and storyboards Menzies created. That can be a little distracting because you'll be torn between the text and the pictures. It's a problem you'll have no complaint about though.
For fans of that old Hollywood, there's plenty of stories about so many near forgotten movies, and the best parts are saved for that pinnacle of studio-style magic, GONE WITH THE WIND. While it's impossible to make one feel as though they're on the set of the Burning of Atlanta, the pages dedicated to that part of the movie are fascinating reading and you'll want to watch the movie again just to relieve it with the knowledge on your brain if its creation.
The rest of the book holds many other morsels as some of the most notable Old Hollywood names pop up in interesting cameos to discuss Menzies' importance to some of their best films. The book of course does become tragic towards its end, as all biographies have to, not necessarily because we lose a talented artist, but because one of his last triumphs, INVADERS FROM MARS, is given the most detailed description of its making I've ever read and that Menzies never lived to see it achieve the minor influence it would have on some the most important filmmakers of the 1970s and 80s.
The existence of this book is a minor miracle itself. That the author was able to interview family members of the Menzie family before they passed, and use the abundant sketches, is something amazing. This book is worth the read, you'll only feel bad because you can't watch the movies referred to herein as you read it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aspiring art directors/production designers need to read this just for the history and genius of Menzies; a certain segment of readers will want to pick it up just for the chapters on THINGS TO COME, INVADERS FROM MARS and THE MAZE (not so much about that, unfortunately); and TCM junkies will find much to chew over on GONE WITH THE WIND, KINGS ROW and many other films that Menzies contributed to.

[David Allwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Cameron Menzies was a Hollywood pioneer who developed the role of Art Director and invented the role of Production Designer. Beginning his career in the silent era and working consistently until the mid-50’s he developed the process of ‘story boards’ and film architecture, still used in the production of movies today. This comprehensive biography, written by James Curtis, is long overdue and covers the contribution by Menzies to many epic and influential movies, including an extensive chapter on ‘Gone With The Wind’. It does not, however, explain Menzies the man, with only scant references to his marriage, family, alcoholism, and affairs. This book masterfully tells us what Menzies did, but there is little mention of who he actually was.

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author James Curtis took on the enormous task of telling the story of William Cameron Menzies impressive and lengthy career in Hollywood. Much like with his excellent book on Spencer Tracy, Curtis received help from the Menzies family, most notably Menzies' youngest daughter Suzanne. He had access to the family's collection of Menzies' art and letters and with all of that source material he was able to create a rich and thorough account of Menzies career.

Read my full review here: http://www.outofthepastblog.com/2017/...

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved This Biography

William Cameron Menzies has always been a curious figure in my life because of his work on Gone With The Wind. With this biography, I discovered more work that he’d done and the depth of it. An important figure in Hollywood film history.

[Christopher Heaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of James Curtis, primarily because of his terrific & comprehensive Spencer Tracey bio. I finally got around to his biography of William Cameron Menzies, a Hollywood "production designer" and sometimes director. I wasn't disappointed. A comprehensive account of Menzies' life.

[Johan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting biography and finally gives Menzies the place he deserves in Hollywood's pantheon.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating biography of production designer William Cameron Menzies, whose contributions to the evolution of cinema are inestimable.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of Menzies, an art director and the first person accorded the title of "production designer" in a Hollywood movie. The book's real strength is in clearly explaining what such a person does and how important it is to a movie. Now I have to go back and rewatch some of the classics he helped craft, including Gone with the Wind, Things to Come, Invaders from Mars, Our Town, King's Row and Around the World in 80 Days. Luckily, TCM is running a month-long festival of his movies.

[Abed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for any filmmaker. Great to know the roots of artistic production design. All the masters studied Menzies and his work and films still hold up to this day.
Very thorough and in depth, sad he wasn't fully appreciated in his lifetime. Much like Tati a and Sturges. Nowadays we see the magic he left us in his work. Great book for study and for the merely curious.
Excellent! Now I'm making it mandatory that I see all his films.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb bio from James Curtis. Menzies practically invented the concept of the Production Designer in film; his credits as a designer and art director are staggering ( although he is best remembered today for directing and designing "Things to Come" and "Invaders from Mars") and his biography was long overdue.

[Rose Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched bio of one of the most influential people in movies. Also it reads like a novel.