Product Details

• Actors: Carl Brandt, Frank Conroy (III), Bruce Dobler, Robert C.S. Downs, Robert Ellis (VIII)
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Unknown)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: February 17, 2004
• Run Time: 127 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00012YIE6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,716 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Stone Reader (Special Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Documentary filmmaker Mark Moskowitz turns literary sleuth in this marvelous tale of a vanished novelist. Enchanted by the 1972 novel The Stones of Summer, Moskowitz was surprised to discover no subsequent trace of the author, Dow Mossman. This led him on a roundabout search for the man, including nicely freewheeling detours to talk about writing with critic Leslie Fiedler and editor Robert Gottlieb, among many distinguished others. Although Moskowitz's detective format is somewhat labored, the true story of Mossman's retreat from writing is fascinating, and the joy of books (and talking about books) is always front and center. The suspense of Moskowitz's quest becomes real, and Stone Reader contains moments that would be implausible if they were in a fiction film--except, of course, they aren't made up. Bibliophiles of every stripe need to see this movie; and if you're not a book lover already, it may make you one. --Robert Horton

From The New Yorker

Mark Moskowitz directed this shot-in-my-spare-time documentary about his love of reading and his search for an author, Dow Mossman, who published a well-received first novel in 1972 and then disappeared from the literary scene. The search for Mossman feels like a McGuffin: Moskowitz waits until late in his quest to go to Iowa, even though he learns early on that the writer was a graduate student there. Still, the subject of literary promise, and why so many novelists turn out to be one-hit wonders, is eloquently addressed by luminaries like Frank Conroy, Leslie Fiedler, and Robert Gottlieb. The question that haunts the movie is this: if you published a novel that almost no one read, did it ever really exist? -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Film Is Called "Stone READER" For a Reason, February 23, 2005

By 

Stephen Elderbrock (Ottawa, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stone Reader (Special Edition) (DVD)

I found this film fascinating - I had never read "The Stones of Summer" before, nor even heard of it, or the movie. But anyone who complains that the film focusses too much on the filmmaker hasn't noticed the title of the film -- "Stone READER" -- it is a film about the journey of the young boy who first read Mossman's book and is now searching for him. It is not a film about Mossman or even so much about writers - it is a film about readers of books, and especially this one reader. The movie explores many themes, including the quest to find out more about an author you love and why some books and authors catch on and others do not. The very aspects of the film that others seem to find annoying, I found fascinating -- as we watch this filmmaker search and head down blind alleys, and yet keep searching. If you enjoy a good quest, if you have ever wanted to write to or go visit a favorite author, or if you just like a good story, I would highly recommend this film.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very satisfying film, January 1, 2004

By 

Diane Kaskey "Sid Kaskey" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stone Reader (Special Edition) (DVD)

This unique documentary is especially effective. It is more than a search for a book author, it is a love story to reading and books. Lovers of literature should definitely see this film.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much Moskowitz, too little Mossman, November 24, 2006

By 

Joseph D. Weeks "Joseph W." (Blacksburg, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stone Reader (Special Edition) (DVD)

Although hailed as a great film for people who love reading, this film's first love is clearly filmmaker Mark Moskowitz. His work on political campaigns is painfully evident throughout the troublesomely concocted "storyline" of his "quest" to find one-novel wonder Dow Mossman. He's sometimes visibly distintered in what the subjects of his "interviews" (which he typically dominates) have to say, preferring to use almost everyone as a prop in a story which is more about his own life than Mossman's.

He carefully massages what ought to have been an afternoon's worth of phone calls into a journey which crosses many miles to talk to vaguely related people who often have no knowledge about anything he wants to talk about (he TRAVELS to interview the illustator of the novel's original cover-- who, it turns out, has almost no recollection of the event). It quickly becomes clear that he is staging almost everything for the camera, and, since most of the people he talks to don't know or don't care about the subject of the film, the majority of it focuses on his rudely cutting off experts to get his own opinion on film or just generally dominating the discussion to harp on and on about his supposed love of reading (not to mention a good deal of name-dropping to demonstrate how well-read he is).

This is all hugely annoying, and made even more so, because the acutal subject of the film --dealing with author Mossman and the world of writing and publishing in general-- is actually very interesting. Mossman's book is a very good (though sometimes frustratingly obtuse) read, and his story begs deeper exploration. Instead, even when Moskowitz finally reveals Mossman to the camera (after about twenty minutes of obvious milking the "Mystery" when Mossman's wherabouts should have been about one phone call away) the focus of the film gets right back to Moskowitz's agenda to get the book re-published, shamefully ignoring Mossman's real life after spending the whole film ostensibly tring to discover it. This is after two hours of focusing on Moskowitz telling us about his OWN life.

Still, if you can survive the contrived setup, overlong runtime, and rude and self-interested director, there are easily 30 minutes of extremely interesting interviews with literary figures and with Mossman himself. This alone justified sitting through the film for me, providing real insight into some fascinating and oft-unexplored areas of life.