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Saved from Oblivion
Before being black-listed in the McCarthy era, Bernard Vorhaus was one of Hollywood's most respected silent film writers, working for studios such as Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Not only did he cross paths with some of the brightest lights in early Hollywood―Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, D.W. Griffith, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier are some examples―but he was a principal influence upon British filmmaker David Lean. Now in his nineties, Vorhaus recounts some of his pioneering work in film in Saved from Oblivion ; he was the first director to incorporate subjective flash-backs and to use a sequence before the main titles. Recently, retrospectives of his films, such as Dusty Ermine and The Last Journey , were shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as well as at the National Film Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival in England.
This autobiography, replete with insight into the techniques and personas of early cinema, is an important as well as entertaining look at the early history of the medium that shaped the twentieth century. Although Vorhaus did not return to directing after he was prematurely cut from the industry in the wake of McCarthyism, he remembers his years there with nostalgia. "Making films is much more exciting than anything else you can do," he says, and this book proves it.
This autobiography, replete with insight into the techniques and personas of early cinema, is an important as well as entertaining look at the early history of the medium that shaped the twentieth century. Although Vorhaus did not return to directing after he was prematurely cut from the industry in the wake of McCarthyism, he remembers his years there with nostalgia. "Making films is much more exciting than anything else you can do," he says, and this book proves it.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published December 13, 2000
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June 23, 2018
I'm the only to write a review for this book on Goodreads, so I don't know if that title can be considered true.
The story of an upper-middle-class journeyman director primarily known for directing British Quota Quickies, who ended up getting kicked out of the country due to the communist blacklist. He directed some solid films, but nothing revelatory in the Ulmer's vein (to my knowledge), even though he and Ulmer share a co-directing credit on So Young So Bad (According to IMDB) There's a little too much Proustian navel-gazing, but I'll give the guy a pass as this was written when he was in his mid-90's, as he was riding the wave of his last hurrah after David Lean, who had worked as an editor for Vorhaus, said he was a favorite. There are some gripping personal stuff even if the final cinematic products are mostly ho-hum.
The story of an upper-middle-class journeyman director primarily known for directing British Quota Quickies, who ended up getting kicked out of the country due to the communist blacklist. He directed some solid films, but nothing revelatory in the Ulmer's vein (to my knowledge), even though he and Ulmer share a co-directing credit on So Young So Bad (According to IMDB) There's a little too much Proustian navel-gazing, but I'll give the guy a pass as this was written when he was in his mid-90's, as he was riding the wave of his last hurrah after David Lean, who had worked as an editor for Vorhaus, said he was a favorite. There are some gripping personal stuff even if the final cinematic products are mostly ho-hum.
Displaying 1 of 1 review