Presents Lifetime by Balcon Michael (4 results)

hardcover. Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned.…

Encuadernación de tapa dura. Condition: Bien. 1� Edición. Hutchinson and Co Ltd, London, 1969. Texto en inglés. Balcon's name is synonymous wth Ealing, first with the war films and then with the comedies. Michael Balcon knew everyone, Korda, Louis B Mayer, Noel Coward to John Osborne , Tony Richardson & Hitchcock to Audrey Hepburn. It is amusing and fascinating to read his memories of that particular golden age of cinema. Cine. Películas. Láminas b/n. XIV + 240 pp. 23 x 16. Tela editorial tapa dura con dorados en lomo de editorial ilustrada. Sin subrayados ni anotaciones. DEDICATORIA ANTERIOR PROPIETARIO. Buen estado de conservación.…

First Edition. 8vo. pp.xiv + 239 . Illustrated in black and white . Very Good cloth hardcover in Very Good slightly chipped dust jacket. Balcon's name is synonymous wth Ealing, first with the war films and then with the comedies. Michael Balcon knew everyone, Korda, Louis B Mayer, Noel Coward to John Osborne ,Tony Richardson & Hitchcock to Audrey Hepburn. It is amusing and fascinating to read his memories of that particular golden age of cinema.…

Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Sir Michael Balcon is one of the most respected names in British films. But the 'elder statesman' persona is far from being the whole man. From this autobiography emerges a character of engaging variety-modest yet unyielding on controversial issues; generous yet ready to puncture pomposity with a sharp criticism; dedicated yet open-minded to the new trend, the fresh idea. He is as lively in exploring what the future of British films should be as he is in recalling the now primitive-seeming days when he started as a producer. 'It happens', he writes, 'that my adult life, having been devoted to the production of 350 films, has run parallel with and is interwoven with a substantial part of the story of British film-making. . . Everything that happened in the industry for nearly half a century affected me personally.' From the time when he came from Birmingham to London determined to make a career in films but with only £200 capital he traces his path through the vicissitudes apparently inseparable from film production. Raising the unthinkable sum of £30,000 for his first film, making a success of it and then losing all the profits on his second picture. Buying a studio, then watching it burn down just as it had been re-equipped for the changeover from silent films to sound. Taking charge, in his 30s, of all production for the new Gaumont-British company, with an output of 25 films a year. But the word inevitably synonymous with the name of Balcon is "Baling". First there were the war films-and anxious moments when his idea of helping the war effort differed from Winston Churchill's. Then the Ealing comedies-like Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob and Whisky Galore which a new generation has come to know through television. And much more than one generation is represented by the people with whom the author has been associated in making his films. His stories range from the eccentricities of veterans like Louis B. Mayer and George Arliss to how, after a happy collaboration with John Osborne and Tony Richardson on their earlier films, mischance caused him not to make the money-spinning Tom Jones. Between those extremes familiar names arise in unfamiliar contexts-Alfred Hitchcock as the young, eager studio handyman whom Balcon was able to give his chance as a director, Noel Coward, Alexander Korda, Ivor Novello, Jessie Matthews, Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Flaherty, whom Balcon backed against strong opposition, and Alec Guinness, when the producer was thought mad for believing that here was a star-to-be. Through the book runs the consistent thread of the author's life: the need for a healthy, native British film industry. Right up to the board room drama of British Lion and beyond, the Balcon story mirrors a man of principle and prodigious energy, who nevertheless has had a lot of fun and never lost his sense of proportion. ¼ by ½ inch stain at top of inside of first page, probably from a price sticker. All orders shipped protected in a box. Photographs (illustrator). Book.…