Search results for ""Author Mark A Vieira""

Hollywood in the 1920s sparkled with talent, confidence, and opportunity. Enter Irving Thalberg of Brooklyn, who survived childhood illness to run Universal Pictures at twenty; co-found Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at twenty-four; and, make stars of Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. Known as Hollywood's 'Boy Wonder', Thalberg created classics such as "Ben-Hur", "Tarzan the Ape Man", "Grand Hotel", "Freaks", "Mutiny on the Bounty", and "The Good Earth", but died tragically at thirty-seven. His place in the pantheon should have been assured, yet his films were not re-issued for thirty years, spurring critics to question his legend and diminish his achievements. In this definitive biography, illustrated with rare photographs, Mark A. Vieira sets the record straight, using unpublished production files, financial records, and correspondence to confirm the genius of Thalberg's methods. In addition, this is the first Thalberg biography to utilize both his recorded conversations and the unpublished memoirs of his wife, Norma Shearer. "Irving Thalberg" is a compelling narrative of power and idealism, revealing for the first time the human being behind the legend.

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George Hurrell was called the "Rembrandt of Hollywood." Before his arrival, movie star portraits were "soft focus" and undistinguished, derivative of the Main Street USA portrait salon. Hurrell instituted a sharp, dramatic look. The vibrant, temperamental artist was an original, loved by the subjects he glamorized. For these performers, a Hurrell portrait was the passport to immortality.In this paperback edition of photographer and historian Mark A. Vieira's original volume, the author offers a wealth of new images to illustrate a compelling narrative. Featuring rare and never-before-published portraits and behind-the-scenes shots, George Hurrell's Hollywood covers Hurrell's entire career, from his beginnings as a Los Angeles society photographer to his finale as the celebrity photographer who became a celebrity himself. More than 400 pristine images showcase his work with Hollywood icons from 1929 to 1992. Vieira's text recounts the artist's life, from his childhood to the heyday of his career as a star maker, through untold stories of his fall from grace and eventual comeback.Filled with previously unseen photos of the biggest stars across more than six decades and abounding with fresh insight, this volume is not only the ultimate showcase of the trailblazing artist's work but an indispensable treasury of Hollywood lore.

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You know film noir when you see it: the shadowed setting the cynical detective the femme fatale and the twist of fate. Into the Dark captures this alluring genre with a cavalcade of compelling photographs and a guide to 82 of its best films. Into the Dark is the first book to tell the story of film noir in its own voice. Author Mark A. Vieira quotes the artists who made these movies and the journalists and critics who wrote about them, taking readers on a year-by-year tour of the exciting nights when movies like Double Indemnity , Mildred Pierce , and Sunset Boulevard were sprung on an unsuspecting public. For the first time, we hear the voices of film noir artists speak from the sets and offices of the studios, explaining the dark genre, even before it had a name. Those voices tell how the genre was born and how it thrived in an industry devoted to sweetness and light. Into the Dark is a ticket to a smoky, glamorous world. You enter a story conference with Raymond Chandler, visit the set of Laura , and watch Detour with a Midwest audience. This volume recreates the environment that spawned film noir. It also displays the wit and warmth of the genre's artists. Hedda Hopper reports on Citizen Kane , calling Orson Welles Little Orson Annie." Lauren Bacall says she enjoys playing a bad girl in To Have and Have Not . Bosley Crowther calls Joan Crawford in Possessed a ghost wailing for a demon lover beneath a waning moon." An Indiana exhibitor rates the classic Murder, My Sweet a passable program picture." Illustrated by hundreds of rare still photographs, Into the Dark conveys the mystery, glamour, and irony that make film noir surpassingly popular.About TCM:Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. It engages, entertains, and enlightens to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

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