Five Came Back a Story Of Hollywood and The Second World War
by Harris, Mark
In Pictures at a Revolution, Mark Harris turned the story of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 into a landmark work of cultural history, a book about the transformation of an art form and the larger social shift it signified. In Five Came Back, he achieves something larger and even more remarkable, giving us the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the prism of five film directors caught up in the war: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. It was the best of times and the worst of times for Hollywood before the war. The box office was booming, and the studios’ control of talent and distribution was as airtight as could be hoped. But the industry’s relationship with Washington was decidedly uneasyhearings and investigations into allegations of corruption and racketeering were multiplying, and hanging in the air was the insinuation that the business was too foreign, too Jewish, too un-American” in its values and causes. Could an industry this powerful in shaping America’s mind-set really be left in the hands of this crew? Following Pearl Harbor, Hollywood had the chance to prove its critics wrong and did so with vigor, turning its talents and its business over to the war effort to an unprecedented extent. No industry professionals played a bigger role in the war than America’s most legendary directors: Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Between them they were on the scene of almost every major moment of America’s war, and in every branch of servicearmy, navy, and air force; Atlantic and Pacific; from Midway to North Africa; from Normandy to the fall of Paris and the liberation of the Nazi death camps; to the shaping of the message out of Washington, D.C. As it did for so many others, World War II divided the lives of these men into before and after, to an extent that has not been adequately understood. In a larger senseeven less well understoodthe war divided the history of Hollywood into before and after as well. Harris reckons with that transformation on a human levelthrough five unforgettable livesand on the level of the industry and the country as a whole. Like these five men, Hollywood too, and indeed all of America, came back from the war having grown up more than a little.
Reviews
Review this book!
Available Copies
Five Came Back. A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War
by Harris, Mark
- Condition
- Used -
- Edition
- 1st UK Edition
- Published
- 2014
- Binding
- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781847678553
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Clarence Gardens, South Australia, AUS
- Item Price
-
£10.68
Show Details
Description:
Edinburgh: Canongate Books. 2014. Large octavo size [16x24cm approx]. Near Fine copy in Very Good dustjacket. Dustjacket is now protected in our purpose-made plastic sleeve. A nice copy. Illustrated with Black and White Photographs. 511 pages. This book tells how John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler & Frank Capra changed World War II and how… Read more about this item Item Price
£10.68
Five Came Back. A Story of Hollywood and The Second World War.
by HARRIS, Mark.
- Condition
- Used
- Published
- Canongate. London. 2014
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, GBR
- Item Price
-
£10.00
Show Details
Description:
Canongate. London. 2014. Canongate. 2014. First edition. Hardback with DW. Slight lean to spine, pages lightly browned otherwise clean and sound in wrapper with slight shelfwear. Item Price
£10.00