Movies and Money

by David Puttnam

From David Puttnam—producer of such modern film classics as Chariots of Fire , The Killing Fields, Midnight Express , and The Mission , and the only European to have run a major Hollywood studio—an insightful and provocative history that explains the personalities and events which shaped film's transformation from a technological curiosity into one of the world's most powerful cultural and economic forces. From the early rivalry between its inventors to the power-brokering and political influence of today's mega-stars; from Zukor and Laemmle to Ovitz and Eisner; from the serendipitous discovery of Los Angeles ("flagstaff no good," wired Cecil B. De Mille. "want authority to rent barn for $75 a month in place called hollywood") to the exploitation and depredation of Europe's film culture in the name of the marketplace, Puttnam captures the urgency and wonder that swept through a young industry and set it spinning on an axis of money and power. Movies and Money chronicles the unprecedented collision between art and commerce, and incisively analyzes its implications in today's global arena. Puttnam's engaging history is also an impassioned From the moment Thomas Edison stole the first crude attempt at a movie camera from the French scientist Étienne Jules Marey, Hollywood and Europe have existed, the author claims, in a state of undeclared hostility—hostility that has occasionally erupted into open battle for control of the century's most powerful artistic medium. And this battle, he contends, will ultimately determine the nature of Europe's cultural identity. He also argues forcefully for the intelligent application of the language and techniques of cinema to education, urging filmmakers to make films that challenge and inspire as well as entertain. Ten years after his abrupt departure from Columbia, Puttnam re-enters the debate about cinema with characteristic audacity, with the irreverence of an iconoclast and the canniness of a seasoned player. Movies and Money is a book that will change our understanding of the history—and future—of film.

Genres: Film, History

337 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Filipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of Hollywood from a purely economical perspective. The way Puttnam showcases how the U.S. used its significant leverage post-WWII to export American culture and cement it as a staple of every day life is extraordinary. And he's also unabashedly in love with the power of movies. Here's a short excerpt from his own personal filmmaking manifesto:

"The medium is too powerful and too important an influence on the way we live, the way we see ourselves, to be left solely to the 'tyranny of the box office' or reduced to the sum of the lowest denominator of public taste. Movies are powerful. Good or bad, they tinker around inside your brain. They steal up on you in the darkness of the cinema to inform or confirm social attitudes. They help create a healthy, informed, concerned, and inquisitive society or, alternatively, a negative, apathetic, ignorant one-- merely a short step away from nihilism… Accepting this fact, there are only two personal madnesses that filmmakers must guard against. One is the belief that they can do everything, and the other is the belief they can do nothing. The former is arrogant in the extreme. But the latter is plainly irresponsible and unacceptable."

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly can I make the point that a subsequent edition of the book had the title The Undeclared War.
The book is acceptable as a history of the cinema up to the date of publication.However a lot has changed since 1997.
Also it has to be said that the author seems shy of recounting his experience as head of production at Columbia.Read "Fast Forward" which is very enlightening.

[Eric Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does not have scandalous stories about stars and troubled film productions...if you're looking for those types of stories William Goldman and Peters Bart & Gruber have excellent titles that will give you insite into film and satisfy your pop culture curiosities.[return][return]What Puttnam achieves is a detailed history of film that shows the struggle that filmmakers on both sides of the Atlantic attaining a balance between art and commodity. Puttnam offers great insights and introduction to film's early years. Coming from the unique view of a European who became a Hollywood insider, he's able to interpret history in a way that few others saw.[return][return]Casual readers should look elsewhere, but people interested in the business of film and it's history on both sides of the Atlantic will find this book interesting and accessible.

[Frank Palardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative book, although out of date now. The nature of movies and money is the schemes change.