Customer Reviews

Movie-Star Portraits of the Forties

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book features beautiful and captivating photographs of some of the biggest movie stars of the 1940's. The book's focus is primarily the 1940's, but there are several photographs from 1939 and a few from 1950. Some of the many stars include Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, Joan Crawford, Victor Mature, Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Lucille Ball, Merle Oberon, Lana Turner and many others. Each of the photographs exudes an air of elegance and dramatic artistry that is no longer seen today. This would make a great gift for fans of Hollywood's golden age as well as photographers and art lovers, but the photographs are so clear and the stars so alluring that anyone who looks at this book will surely fall under it's spell. Highly recommended! Also recommended is "Hollywood Glamor Portraits, 145 Photos of Stars 1926-1949" also by John Kobal (editor).

This book of photography has over150 portraits of Hollywood legends including Loretta Young, Lauren Bacall, and Ava Gardner. These actors, actresses, and budding starlettes of the forties are as glamourous as they could be in these brilliant portraits. You don't have to like old movies to like this book. You will spend hours just flipping through the pages at the stars who built Hollywood movies.

This collection of photographs of movie stars taken during the 1940's era is ever thought provoking. There seems a deliberate attempt to challenge the reader/viewer to discern the real life personality from the screen persona from the photographs chosen for this book. The result is a somewhat enigmatic experience leaving one with an euphoric feeling of melancholy. I think this is an important book for anyone who loves films from that era. The meticulous quality of this book allows you to stare into the eyes of these people stimulating your own imagination into your soul. It challenges you to find an answer to your own attraction to these immortal icons of a Hollywood long past and hopefully not forgotten.

This book will delight anyone who is a fan of movies from the 1940s. It contains 163 photographs of 106 stars, taken by 34 photographers. The reproduction quality is quite good, and the compositions are often superb. The acting skills of the stars add to the allure of these images.

In the book's introduction, Mr. Kobal talks about how these were the "years of Old Hollywood's last stand." The images are "dreams reflected in the bathroom mirrors of their generation." He also talks about the role of the clothes designers and hairdressers in creating these glamorous, moody images.

Here are my favorites in the book:

By A.L. Schafer: Rita Hayworth, 1940; Olivia de Haviland, 1941; Loretta Young, 1940; Alan Ladd, 1942.

By Frank Powolny: Betty Grable, 1941; Marilyn Monroe, 1950.

By Robert Coburn: Gene Tierney, 1941.

By Scotty Welbourne: Ida Lupino, 1940; Humphrey Bogart, 1941; Lauren Bacall, 1946

By Clarence Sinclair Bell: Hedy Lamarr, 1941; Greta Garbo, 1941.

By William Walling: Fred MacMurray, 1940.

By Edward Cronenweth: Lena Horne, 1943.

By Ernest A. Bachrach: Dorothy McGuire, 1945; Claire Trevor, 1944; Jane Russell, 1946; Barbara Hale, 1946.

By Eric Carpenter: Ava Gardner, 1944.

By John Engstead: Lauren Bacall, 1951; Ingred Bergman, 1946; Marlon Brando, 1950.

By Laszlo Willinger: Susan Hayward, 1948.

By Bud Fraker: Gary Cooper, 1947.

As you can see, the book is dominated by the glamorous female stars. Most of these images are done in partial shadow to highlight the facial structure and emotions of the actress or actor. In some cases, sculptures are used to highlight certain physical features of the subject. In general, the reproduction quality is quite high. Studios did now allow photographers to make their own prints in those days, so it all depended on the studio darkroom artists how it turned out. You will occasionally see an image that needed to have more cropping, more or less light, or which is muddy, but most are at least good reproductions.

After you finish this book, imagine how you can help people understand your thoughts by how you hold yourself and what expression you use. Do you see any poses or expressions here that can help you be more communicative?

Use all the elements of yourself to share your most important thoughts and emotions!

Beautiful pictures! They sure don't make stars like these anymore. Wonderful glamour shots, men & women. Bygone era but at least we have these gorgeous photos to remember or to discover.

If you love old style Hollywood photography this book is a must for your collection. My only wish was that it showed some of the lighting and techniques used to take the images. But as far as a straight forward picture book goes even if your not a photographer you'll enjoy the great looks and drama from the past.

This is a must have for all those that love the glamorous ladies of the 40's and 50's eras.The photos are of very good quality and are stunning !!This book is full of amazing photos of actress's and actors of old hollywood. I used some to frame them and use in my vintage bedroom decor.They look beautiful on the walls.I am ordering another copy since I used some for framing.I will also be ordering the other Hollywood Glamor Portraits by John Kobal.You will not be disappointed with this book except for the fact that it is a paperback and not hard cover,which is why I rated it 4 stars.But all in all I'm still very happy with my purchase.

I bought this book because it reminded me of my mother, who loved the movies. She used to buy the star magazines of the times and cut and pasted three scrapbooks with pictures, some of which I recognized in this book. My kids played with the scrapbooks, which got a little ragged, so I threw them out....oh, the unsentimentality of youth. I would love to have the books now, but since I can't ,Movie-Star Portraits of the Forties comes in a nice second. The pictures are beautiful and even if you don't remember the stars, (I do), you will enjoy the glamour and real sexiness of those movie stars of yore.

The beauty of a black and white photo is the lighting on the subject. There is no distraction of color. The dark and light shadows bring out the beautiful features of the subject. The glamour shots of that era brought out a beauty or handsomeness that color cannot duplicate.

I love all things art deco so it is no wonder why I love this book, the pictures are amazing.