Film Life

With his dark good looks, muscular physique, heavy-lidded bedroom eyes, and easy smile, amateur boxer and Wall Street business man Jacob Krantz left Wall Street to cut a dashing figure on the silver screen for over five decades. Few knew that he was a Jewish man, when Paramount Pictures signed him in 1922, changed his name from Jacob Krantz to Ricardo Cortez, and widely publicized him as a “Latin lover” in the style of Rudolph Valentino, Antonio Moreno, and Ramon Navarro. Relive his dramatic story, from his poverty-stricken childhood to Wall Street and on through Hollywood.

Today, the name Clint Eastwood conjures up many different and unforgettable images. While many will always associate him as the quintessential Western hero in classics like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, new generations know him as a critically acclaimed director and even an outspoken conservative firebrand.

A New York Times bestselling author dives into a horror movie classic to examine his favorite film’s importance to our history, culture, and psychology, creating a perfect blend of research and memoir in the vein of Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation. Daniel Kraus first saw George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead when he was five years old. Through watching it approximately three hundred times since, Kraus discovered the many ways the film is tied to his childhood trauma and how its influence has carried into his adulthood.

Jeff Corey (1914-2002) made a name for himself in the 1940s as a character actor in films like The Killers (1946). Everything changed in 1951, when he was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Corey refused to name names and was promptly blacklisted, which forced him to walk away from a vibrant livelihood as an actor and embark on a career as one of the industry's most revered acting instructors. In Improvising Out Loud: My Life Teaching Hollywood How to Act, Corey recounts his extraordinary story.

Andy Warhol's work and personality changed American visual culture forever, making him an international superstar. His rise to global fame, his entanglement with the seedy New York sexual underground, and the shocking assassination attempt that almost ended his life are chronicled in Stephen Koch's indispensible classic, Stargazer.

Unplugged is more than a memoir. It is a book that recounts a life and untold stories from a musical career that involves the world of record production and film composing, spanning over fifty years and counting. Told with humility and humor, Fred Mollin's journey among so many legends and fascinating people and projects, gives the reader a chance to see behind closed doors

Noel Cronin’s autobiography, founder of Talking Pictures TV, is a must-listen for those interested in British film history. He takes us from his schooldays in north London to a job as a post-boy at Rank, then as a film editor in Soho in the Swinging Sixties and Seventies, starting a film distribution company, to the ground-breaking Talking Pictures TV. It shows the grit and determination necessary to make a living in the film business, and the leaps of faith one should take if you’ve got a good idea.

Every normal human lifespan contains passages that deserve attention, intention, and ritual. This book shows us how we can do that with minimal disruption to our normal lives and without the need for teachers, ministers, or gurus. This isn't a religious book. All beliefs and non-beliefs are welcome. Listeners will leave with practical suggestions for living a more meaningful life each and every moment. Chapters end with a list on "what you need to do now".

"Everything about me is in my films," Steven Spielberg has said. Taking this as a key to understanding the hugely successful moviemaker, Molly Haskell explores the full range of Spielberg's works for the light they shine upon the man himself. Through such powerhouse hits as E.T., Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones, to less-appreciated movies like the haunting Schindler's List, Haskell shows how Spielberg's uniquely evocative filmmaking and story-telling reveal the many ways in which his life, work, and times are entwined.

Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent and talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age 93. He was an iconic presence in movies and the poster boy for American youth. Yet, by World War II, Mickey Rooney had become frozen in time.

Kenneth Turan discovered film as a child left undisturbed to watch Million Dollar Movie on WOR-TV Channel 9 in New York, a daily showcase for older Hollywood features. It was then that he developed a love of cinema that never left him and honed his eye for the most acute details and the grandest of scenes. Not to Be Missed blends cultural criticism, historical anecdotes, and inside-Hollywood controversy. Turan's selection of favorites ranges across all genres.

In In the Volume, actor Hyde-White shares his story from Hollywood’s front lines, which spans more than four decades of the most transformational period in film and television history. This memoir chronicles Hyde-White’s early life growing up in England; moving to Palm Springs in the 1960s; graduating from high school at 16; getting started in Hollywood; working as a cab driver, bartender, waiter, and ski shop clerk while looking for acting gigs; playing his first part in a movie as the photographer in The Toy; and more, acting in some huge box office hits.

From the earliest days of silent films and the swinging era of the Roaring Twenties, through the Golden Age of the studio system and the patriotic call of WWII, to the Red Scare paranoia of the McCarthy years, the history of the Schenck brothers is the story of Hollywood itself—and the enduring power of the American Dream. Moguls is a must-listen for film fans, history buffs, and anyone who loves the movies.

Not Just Sunglasses and Autographs is a captivating autobiography that follows the author's journey from bar bouncing in Boston to working on award-winning television shows and movies. This is an endearing story of overcoming the odds through dark humor, tenacity, authenticity, and happiness.

From his childhood in a remote town in New Zealand's North Island to the wilds of the Arctic and Antarctic, life has been an incredible journey for filmmaker Max Quinn. How he got himself into this field is a story in itself, but A Life of Extremes is so much more. It's a journey that lovers of natural history, travel, adventure, and filmmaking will revel in as he takes you to some of the harshest environments in which anyone could be expected to work. For this book is the absorbing life of a polar filmmaker.

This is an engrossing and candid book, a beguiling exploration of what it means to be a producer, including purchasing rights, developing scripts, casting actors, managing directors, editing film, and winning awards. Filled with tales of legendary and beloved films, as well as some not-so-legendary and forgotten ones, A Life in Movies takes listeners behind the scenes and into the history of Hollywood.

"The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions", said the existentialist thinker Albert Camus. And no less a philosopher than Woody Allen has wondered: "How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world, given my waist and shirt size?" The essays in Movies and the Meaning of Life look at popular and cult movies, examining their assumptions and insights on meaning-of-life questions....

ESPN broadcaster and coach Jimmy Dykes guides listeners through a tough but crucial evaluation process, incorporating wisdom from both sports and scripture as he demonstrates how to search your heart like a coach scrutinizes game film. Whether you’re experiencing a difficult period in life or simply feel called to something greater, The Film Doesn’t Lie is certain to provoke men to live with passion, conviction, and bold determination.

Regardless of whether you’re in recovery, work to help others in their recovery, or just love great movies, Addicted in Film manages to take the sometimes difficult conversation about addiction and recovery and render it accessible, informative, engaging, and at times laugh-out-loud funny.

Adventure awaits in this new visual odyssey from Accidentally Wes Anderson, taking readers on stunning trips to every continent and sharing oddly moving human tales along the way. For lovers of travel, design, and exploration, AWA presents a brand-new collection of real-world places that seem...