Customer Reviews

Screen Couple Chemistry: The Power of 2

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Screen Couple Chemistry was a fascinating read that provided me with new insights into the underlying structure of romantic relationships in the Hollywood pantheon. This was particularly helpful in my work as a writer and teacher of screenwriting at NYU. I recommend this book to anyone interested in movies or about to write a screenplay with a romance in it. Nochimson's view of Hollywood hypocrisy is an eye opener and a doorway for any writer who wants to find something new and original to write.

Interested in the phenomenon of couples onscreen? No one has written about this subject with such insight and specificity previously. I never thought about how many different kinds of couples there are before this read. Or how the way popular culture uses couples has changed with time. Take a look!!

The special chemistry between the star couples is a subject that deals with intangibles. To some degree it's possible to analyze...but to a larger degree it is not....and not to the degree proposed by this author. This is a book that proposes that it's possible to take apart and understand the special phenomenon of screen magic. Let's just say that such magic is not analyzable by this methodology. For the causal reader, the effort of plow through such unstintingly heavy language, so unfortunately favored by the author, requires the determination of a combat soldier.

The two best chapters are of Astaire/Rogers and Tracy/Hepburn. And for those with an interest in arguably the two greatest screen couples....there are some rewards....but these are rewards that are more easily accessible from other sources. You could fare much better with the most insightful,The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s, or, the very readable, smart, and enjoyable, Fast-Talking Dames.