ABSTRACT

Fifty Hollywood Directors introduces the most important, iconic and influential filmmakers who worked in Hollywood between the end of the silent period and the birth of the blockbuster. By exploring the historical, cultural and technological contexts in which each director was working, this book traces the formative period in commercial cinema when directors went from pioneers to industry heavyweights.

Each entry discusses a director’s practices and body of work and features a brief biography and suggestions for further reading. Entries include:

  • Frank Capra
  • Cecil B DeMille
  • John Ford
  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Fritz Lang
  • Orson Welles
  • DW Griffith
  • King Vidor

This is an indispensible guide for anyone interested in film history, Hollywood and the development of the role of the director.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

letter |49 pages

Silent Hollywood

entry |12 pages

Charlie Chaplin

entry |7 pages

Cecil B. Demille

entry |7 pages

D. W. Griffith

entry |7 pages

Oscar Micheaux

entry |8 pages

King Vidor

entry |8 pages

Lois Weber

letter |249 pages

Classical Hollywood

entry |8 pages

Robert Aldrich

entry |7 pages

Dorothy Arzner

entry |7 pages

Frank Capra

entry |9 pages

George Cukor

entry |12 pages

Michael Curtiz

entry |9 pages

John Ford

entry |6 pages

Samuel Fuller

entry |7 pages

Howard Hawks

entry |9 pages

Alfred Hitchcock

entry |8 pages

Elia Kazan

entry |8 pages

Fritz Lang

entry |8 pages

Joseph Losey

entry |7 pages

Ernst Lubitsch

entry |7 pages

Ida Lupino

entry |7 pages

Anthony Mann

entry |8 pages

Vincente Minnelli

entry |6 pages

Max Ophüls

entry |7 pages

Otto Preminger

entry |9 pages

Nicholas Ray

entry |8 pages

Don Siegel

entry |8 pages

Robert Siodmak

entry |9 pages

Douglas Sirk

entry |7 pages

Josef Von Sternberg

entry |7 pages

Preston Sturges

entry |7 pages

Frank Tashlin

entry |9 pages

Jacques Tourneur

entry |9 pages

Raoul Walsh

entry |7 pages

Orson Welles

entry |7 pages

William A. Wellman

entry |9 pages

James Whale

entry |6 pages

Billy Wilder

entry |7 pages

William Wyler

letter |90 pages

New Hollywood

entry |8 pages

Robert Altman

entry |6 pages

John Cassavetes

entry |8 pages

Roger Corman

entry |8 pages

William Friedkin

entry |9 pages

Stanley Kubrick

entry |7 pages

Sidney Lumet

entry |7 pages

Alan J. Pakula

entry |8 pages

Sam Peckinpah

entry |7 pages

Arthur Penn

entry |7 pages

Roman Polanski

entry |7 pages

Stephanie Rothman

entry |8 pages

John Waters