If you're a screenwriter, a budding screenwriter, or if you just love movies, this book will make you see film in a different light. From the silent era through to the seventies, from the forgotten-but-great to the classics, no stone is left unturned as Martin Scorsese gives his account of how Hollywood shaped the film industry and - as the title suggests - the director's own career.
Don't think this is a dry history. To all intents and purposes, this is a film course, taught by one of the greatest teachers you could imagine. Scorsese dissects the films he considers the most important in this early period of the movie industry, examining scripts - with short scene extracts - direction, and cinematography. Stills abound. As a masterclass in what makes a movie great, it's unbeatable.
What really shines through is Scorsese's own passion and his love of the medium. He highlights the moments that made him want to be a director and talks about how he felt when he saw these great works unfold on the big screen. And he doesn't focus on one particular aspect. You're as likely to get an analysis of a romance as you are a noir, a western as a Biblical epic. Even if you consider yourself an expert, you'll likely find some movie here to surprise you.
And if you just love film and want to see something great, there's a filmography at the end, which takes you all the way from Douglas Sirk's lush All That Heaven Allows through to William Wellman's gritty Wild Boys of the road.