Emily Leider
"Gwenda Young's research for her study of the films directed by Clarence Brown is beyond excellent. It is extraordinary."
From the Publisher
"Gwenda Young's research for her study of the films directed by Clarence Brown is beyond excellent. It is extraordinary." — Emily Leider, author of Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood
"Gwenda Young's extremely significant and impressive work provides a comprehensive historical overview of the life and career of an important Hollywood director of the 'Classical Era' — Clarence Brown." — Lucy Fischer, author of Body Double: The Author Incarnate in Cinema and Art Direction and Production Design
"This definitive study of the life and work of prolific MGM contract director Clarence Brown, whose career extended from the early silent era into the age of television, is exhaustively researched and skillfully written. It does not claim that Brown was a filmmaking genius, but rather a great visual stylist with an intense devotion to the artful logistics of production and direction who also had a poetic vision grounded in personal experience. It offers a vivid account of the industrial system in which he practiced, with special attention to the vexations of production code censorship and internal studio politics. Anyone who cares deeply about the history of American cinema should read this book." — David A. Cook, author of A History of Narrative Film (Fifth Edition)
"This is a pioneering study of an important but neglected American filmmaker. Gwenda Young has marshaled an astonishing range of resources in telling the story of Clarence Brown's life and work from his days as an apprentice in the silent era through his rise as a major director in the classical Hollywood studio system up to World War II and beyond. It is an epic tale, and Young gives it the scope and momentum of a great novel even as she brings to bear a wealth of scholarly research. A truly impressive accomplishment." — James Morrison, author of Auteur Theory and My Son John
David A. Cook
"This definitive study of the life and work of prolific MGM contract director Clarence Brown, whose career extended from the early silent era into the age of television, is exhaustively researched and skillfully written. It does not claim that Brown was a filmmaking genius, but rather a great visual stylist with an intense devotion to the artful logistics of production and direction who also had a poetic vision grounded in personal experience. It offers a vivid account of the industrial system in which he practiced, with special attention to the vexations of production code censorship and internal studio politics. Anyone who cares deeply about the history of American cinema should read this book."
Lucy Fischer
"Gwenda Young's extremely significant and impressive work provides a comprehensive historical overview of the life and career of an important Hollywood director of the 'Classical Era'—Clarence Brown."
James Morrison
"This is a pioneering study of an important but neglected American filmmaker. Gwenda Young has marshaled an astonishing range of resources in telling the story of Clarence Brown's life and work from his days as an apprentice in the silent era through his rise as a major director in the classical Hollywood studio system up to World War II and beyond. It is an epic tale, and Young gives it the scope and momentum of a great novel even as she brings to bear a wealth of scholarly research. A truly impressive accomplishment."
