The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short
September 1, 2023
This gorgeous book, lavishly illustrated with movie stills, on-set photos, and movie posters, takes readers behind the scenes of every film Spielberg has made through his most recent, The Fabelmans. Based entirely on previously published materials, it's a great introduction to the filmmaker and his work for fans who haven't read much about the celebrated director. Absent any new interviews or archival research, readers of other books about Spielberg will encounter very little original material. Still, there are plenty of nifty tidbits. For instance, the director's first feature-length production wasn't the 1971 TV movie Duel, as many people think, but an episode of the series The Name of the Game. There are a few small errors, such as mistakenly referring to the television show McCloud as Coogan's Bluff (the film on which it was based), but overall this is a well-researched, useful guide to the filmmaker's career. This book's primary draw will surely be that it gathers together all of Spielberg's projects between two covers.
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November 1, 2023
Film journalists Devillard, Olivier Bousquet, and Nicolas Schaller present a detailed and photo-filled look at the career of Steven Spielberg, examining the origins, productions, and critical responses to all of the filmmaker's projects through 2022's The Fabelmans. Beginning with a short biography covering Spielberg's early life and influences, the book delves, sometimes repetitively, into each of Spielberg's films as well as episodes from series such as Night Gallery and Columbo, which Spielberg directed at the start of his career. The authors reveal the casting choices, technical wizardry, and sometimes convoluted writing processes that shaped Spielberg's most iconic films, as well as the challenges--injuries, hurricanes, and malfunctioning robotic sharks among them--that plagued his productions. Their analyses of Spielberg's projects, identifying oft-repeated themes of alienation, childhood trauma, and fractured families as echoes of Spielberg's own life experiences, are thought-provoking if not entirely convincing in every case. Where Bousquet, Devillard, and Schaller truly excel is in drawing the attention of readers to hallmarks of Spielberg's visual symbolism that they may have previously missed. VERDICT Despite some repetitiveness, this well-illustrated book is certain to appeal to admirers of Spielberg's oeuvre.--Sara Shreve
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