The Columbia Story [Hardcover]

Clive Hirshhorn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2001

Since 1924, Columbia Pictures has made over 3,000 movies, becoming one of the most successful studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. Every one of those movies, from It Happened One Night to Men In Black, appears in noted film critic Clive Hirschhorn's grandly oversize, picture-filled book. Also included are a synopsis, casting, lively critical commentary, running time, and an extensive timeline of every Columbia film that ever won, or received, a nomination for an Oscar. "Excellent."--Publishers Weekly.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The resurgent popularity of independent filmmakers in recent years makes it easy to forget the colossal movie-making empire created by the original Hollywood mega-studios, of which Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios are prime examples. Hirschhorn (formerly film and theater critic for the London Sunday Express), who pioneered the glossy, lavish studio history with his groundbreaking The Warner Bros. Story (LJ 3/1/80), here offers revisions of two works published in the 1980s, maintaining their exceptional quality. The logistical dilemma of how to cram into a volume of manageable size photos and critiques for every film produced by a studio since the silent movie era (over 3000 for Universal) is cleverly overcome by the judicious use of tiny arrows to match text with illustrations, omitting captions as well as cast and production credits. Hirschhorn's virtuoso command of cinema history and the motion picture industry is demonstrated throughout, a typical example being his critique of His Girl Friday, in which he relates the film to the original Broadway play, identifies the overlapping dialog technique as having been borrowed from an earlier Frank Capra film, and provides an articulate and entertaining critique of the plot. Not only are there a multitude of black-and-white photo stills, but they are especially well selected and capture the films' mood and impact. In addition to the main, year-by-year section featuring the films, there are excellent narrative histories of each studio. Highly recommended for all libraries and essential for cinema collections. Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib., Reno
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Hamlyn; 2nd edition (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0600598365
• ISBN-13: 978-0600598367
• Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 9.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revised Edition of The Columbia Story, January 30, 2011

By 

Michael Ryan (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Columbia Story (Hardcover)

This edition is the "Revised Edition" of the Columbia Story, originally published in the 1980's and now out-of-print.
The original first edition of the book has a last entry of 1988 and this edition not only covers the same information, reprinted,
from the original edition,but continues into the Columbia Tri-Star Pictures Division era and includes entries for all of the short-
livied Tri-Star Division's productions as well as more recent Columbia releases or productions through 1998. So the First ed. is,
essentially, outdated as well as out-of-print. The Revised Edition also includes information listing the Oscars which Columbia
garnered and discusses films by genre at the end of the book. The index is excellent for anyone doing research as is the deliberate
chronological order of the book. Like all of the ten or more studio books, the Columbia Story has become quickly out-of-print
and inaccessible. All of the studio books are a treasury of information for anyone researching their respective productions, or
the history of American films in general. Like the others, The Columbia Story is a valuable resource covering the Golden Era of the
classic Hollywood narrative film and beyond. Like other studio books, the Columbia one begins with a general discussion of the
history of the studio up to the present; the present being about the end of the 1990's. Both the Columbia and Warners studio books
have been reprinted and extensively revised. Those covering the history and production of defunct studios such as RKO, United
Artists, MGM, and others, will probably never be revised or up-dated and have already become difficult to find collector's items.
One of the single exceptions, that I know of, is the superb Turner sponsored MGM history entitled "When The Lion Roars", an in-depth
history of that studio, and frankly more informative than studio histories like The Columbia Story which is more of a chronological
list of production output and credits than anything else. The early production stills, however, and the general researchable information,
make The Columbia Story a joy to read and have in one's collection. The true film buff probably would do well to collect as many of
the studio books as possible before they disappear from the marketplace entirely and forever. Amazon gives excellent leads to many
associate book stores, small dealers that may have back-stock of hard to find titles like this one. Even the used copies are disappearing
into private book collections; they are that useful for research into American film history.