Hollywood

by David Thomson, The Kobal Collection (Photographer)

From the golden age of silent films to the 2000s, this video-size volume features captioned stills from memorable movies of each decade. Drawing on the Kobal collection, the world's largest privately owned movie photo archive, Thomson (A Biographical Dictionary of Film) presents a general introduction to the Hollywood film industry and brief commentary on each decade. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Film, History, Nonfiction, Art, Photography, Media Tie In

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

David Thomson, renowned as one of the great living authorities on the movies, is the author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, now in its fifth edition. His books include a biography of Nicole Kidman and The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood. Thomson is also the author of the acclaimed "Have You Seen . . . ?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films. Born in London in 1941, he now lives in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ranks as one of the best ever collections of film stills and portraits presented in one book.

640 pages featuring nearly 1000 photos, all magnificently reproduced and with informative notes by distinguished critic David Thomson. The selection of stills range from the silent era up to the turn of the century.

The glorious stills come from The Kobal Collection - probably the greatest of all film archives.
John Kobal died far too young but his resourcefulness in rescuing thousands upon thousands of photos and files from the rubbish dumpsters of tardy Hollywood studios live on in awesome publications like this one. All lovers of film lore owe a great debt to the late Mr. Kobal, and this gorgeous coffee book style book deserves a treasured place in every film buff's library.

COVER PHOTO: One of the most iconic of all romantic film moments - Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift as the doomed lovers in the George Stevens classic "A Place in the Sun" (1951).

[Loran (Inked with Curiosity) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't count the amount of times I have leafed through this book or read it cover to cover. It only goes up to around 2002 but the decades before that are exhaustingly covered. The entire book is full of gigantic high quality color/black and white movie stills, posters, and production shots. The captions provide background, history, and trivia. It's a great book for film lovers and an excellent coffee table book. I love it and highly recommend it!

[Linds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some really beautiful pictures.