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
• Rating: 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 (112 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00012YIE6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,153 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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

13 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No explosions here...., December 19, 2005

By	kerouac's ghost (the void) - See all my reviews

"Stone Reader" is great stuff. Does that mean you'll like it? Depends. If you need an explosion every twenty minutes or so to keep up your interest, I doubt it. If T & A is central to your viewing pleasure, move on. If your idea of a great book is John Grisham, rent the movie version of "The Firm" and don't waste money on this one.

Judging by some of the reviews, many who took a look at this film fall into the above categories. Now, if you consider books to be a serious endeavor (regardless of whether you write them or just read them) - if you know who, say, John Dos Passos and Saul Bellow are, for example - if you have ever had a book get in your head and stay there - if you have a certain book you have to read every year or two - if you fantasize about being able to go into Barnes and Noble with a thousand dollars (or more) and spending it all on books -if you believe success is not defined by dollar signs or career titles - if you believe in redemption - if you enjoy a damn good detective story - you can't do better than "Stone Reader".

Be warned, the morons will crawl out of the woodwork to criticize what they don't understand (i.e. anything involving words with multiple syllables). Don't let 'em bring you down and enjoy a great film.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Odious, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

Couldn't believe so many critics (but not all) were taken in by this. More a mockumentary than anything else, since the film purports to document real events, but in fact sets up ridiculous shots of, for example, Moskowitz and friends going to their mailboxes to retrieve copies of the book. And then, of course, the fake "search" for Mossman - a lovely, troubled man who seems to have had, despite everything, a real, lifelong engagement with literature - who, it seems, could probably have been found in 10 minutes, rather than months. The literary critics and writers interviewed are all interesting, but by the end it wouldn't have surprised me if the filmmaker had asked, " What would you say if I told you I had Dow Mossman in the trunk of my car?"