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William Cameron Menzies : the shape of films to come / James Curtis.

by Curtis, James, 1953- author.

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New York : Pantheon Books, c2015.

Menzies, William Cameron, 1896-1957.

Motion picture art directors -- United States -- Biography.

Set designers -- United States -- Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors -- United States -- Biography.

9780375424724 (hard cover : alk. paper)

0375424725 (hard cover : alk. paper)

xiv, 416 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Atlanta rising -- An artist of the modern school -- The thief of Baghdad -- The hooded falcon -- Maturing period -- I could see the future clearly -- Profound unrest -- A few faintly repressed Bronx cheers -- Wonderland -- The shape of things to come -- What I've wanted to do all my life -- Production designed by ... -- GWTW -- Something quite bold -- The best spot in town -- Address unknown -- Ivy -- Making a living -- Worth every penny.

He was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale. 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, 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. Now, James Curtis, acclaimed film historian and biographer, writes of Menzies' life and work as the most influential designer in the history of film. Interviewing colleagues, actors, directors, friends, and family, and with full access to the Menzies family collection of artwork and unpublished writing, Curtis gives us the path-finding work of the movies' most daring and dynamic production designer: his evolution as artist, art director, production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.--Adapted from book jacket.

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