Nicknamed the and a treasure trove of unseen images to vividly recount the making of Ben-Hur, The Big Parade, Tarzan the Ape Man, Grand Hotel, Mut...
read full description
reviews
Jan 19, 2009
Denis
rated it: 
One of the most beautiful art books of the last years, and also one of the most interesting: Vieira analyses with care, intelligence, and great knowledge the career of legendary producer Irving Thalberg, and the result is a feast for anyone interested in old Hollywood. The text is illuminating and does explore the work, impact, and life of Thalberg with many intimate details that do recreate the MGM of yesterday - it's wonderfully instructive and it helps in understanding the real influence that
More...
Mar 06, 2011
Luke
rated it: 
What a sumptuous coffee table book, luscious in fact. And that's just where I've put it: on my coffee table. The biographical information on Irving Thalberg's life is perhaps a little scant, but I suspect Mark Viera's OTHER book on the man is the one to read for greater details. The joy of this one is the pictorial journey the reader is taken on through Thalberg's legendary work for MGM. The photography, mostly production stills and studio portraiture, is a knockout. I'm compelled to use that wo
More...
Sep 16, 2011
David
rated it:
An art book that is the companion to Viera's full biography of Irving Thalberg. I'm of two minds about Thalberg. He was obviously brilliant and was most responsible for providing the blueprint to what became known as "the genius of the system," but he also made his bones by bringing von Stroheim to heel, did everything he could to remove individual vision from the scripts and films that he commissioned at M-G-M and was basically an anti-auteur. I also found many of his films soulless
More...
Jan 02, 2009
Nancy
rated it: 
This is a handsome volume, and I'll probably cave in and buy it, but I'll say at the outset that it makes me grumpy when publishers don't copy edit anymore. Thalberg "speaks his peace" and Gloria Swanson was a superstar at Liberty (really? news to William Wyler I'll bet) and a dozen other typos that are like a thumb in the eye.
Someone needs to write the definitive bio of Thalberg, because I'm afraid Vieira hasn't. This is a coffee-table book, pure and simple, with some ver More...
Someone needs to write the definitive bio of Thalberg, because I'm afraid Vieira hasn't. This is a coffee-table book, pure and simple, with some ver More...
Jan 02, 2012
Nov 22, 2011
Aug 12, 2011
Aug 10, 2011
Jul 02, 2011
Jun 25, 2011
Feb 18, 2011
Jan 28, 2011
Jan 23, 2011
Jan 07, 2011
Dec 29, 2010
Dec 29, 2010
Nov 26, 2010
Oct 10, 2010
Apr 18, 2010
Apr 16, 2010
Feb 22, 2010
Dec 21, 2009
