Sunday, August 31, 2008

Books on film

I read quite a bit when I'm not swamped with schoolwork. One of my favorite things to read are biographies of filmmakers or production histories of particular movies. I have a shelf full of these kinds of books that I haven't been able to get to yet. I occasionally look at the titles there and long for the days when I can dive in to spend hours soaking them up. Over the past few weeks I've been slowly reading Aljean Harmetz's excellent book "Round Up The Usual Suspects: The Making of CASABLANCA". It's a great run down of the production of one of the best films of all time and its glimpses behind the Warner Bros. curtain are simply fascinating. But sometimes its the author's wit or way with a phrase that gets my attention.

From page 277 of my hardbound copy---

"The movie industry glamorizes everything it touches as instinctively as a wasp stings the arm it lands on."

No comments: