Allan Dwan Last Pioneer by Bogdanovitch Peter (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. 1st Edition. From the introduction: There will never again be a movie career like Allan Dwan's. Over fifty years, he directed at least 400 pictures, and produced, wrote or supervised as many more. Film history being the mess it is, his exact total is not likely to be known, but certainly two-thirds of that opus - almost the whole silent period - is virtually lost forever. The few examples that remain from those more carefree times make it clear that the years before 1929 - when he had the most independence - were his most creative, valuable and successful. This is not necessarily to diminish his talkies, but after the coming of sound the assignments were so often unworthy of him and the restrictions such that it is amazing he was able to Produce as many good films as he did. Through it a11 his professionalism, humour and enjoyment in the actual job of Picture-making never lessened. The movies have been his vocation, and he has been true to that calling. To follow Dwan's career is to watch the evolution of his art. He came to pictures in 1909, less than a year after Griffith made his first film. Sixteen months later he was directing. Three Million Dollars (1911), shot in his fifth month as director (and already close to his fortieth one-reeler), reflects the primitive beginnings. The technique is still not much different from Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903): the camera records the entire action of each scene from one set-up - usually a medium long-shot - without cutting it up. Though the pacing of actors is pretty fast (they are generally natural, too), and the locations all look real, Dwan obviously had not yet been exposed to Griffith's work, by which he admits being profoundly influenced. A year and a half - and almost two hundred shorts - later. Calamity Anne's Trust (1913) reveals that impact. The camera is much closer to the action now, there is cutting within scenes, greater flexibility, the compositions are no longer merely functional, and the acting has some charm. While the film remains of purely historical interest, the speed of Dwan's development is significant; it would be invaluable to see the scores of films that followed in those mercurial first years? All orders shipped protected in a box. Photographs and drawings (illustrator). Book.…

Softcover/Paperback. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Across periods, genres, and 400+ movies; illustrated; and a long interview with the director. Pictorial wrappers.Fine. book.

Paperback. Condition: Very good. Paperback Octavo. wraps, 200 pp inscribed by Bogdanovitch on the title page covers lightly worn on the edges.