"A painstakingly researched portrait of Stroheim's genius on both sides of the camera and his failed quest to triumph over the Hollywood system"--P. [4] of cover.

A biography of one of the most controversial figures in film history. This study also gives a unique insight into how the Hollywood studio system functioned int he 1920s and early 1930s.

Critics often consider the silent movie Queen Kelly to be the downfall of director von Stroheim, but he was unable to complete the movie to match the original screenplay or even a revised version, leaving the film's star Gloria Swanson to tack on a short ending that she devised in order to try to make some money out of the film. This volume presents the screenplay of the film and includes all three endings, which perhaps will lead critics to reevaluate von Stroheim's work on Queen Kelly. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ein großartiges Buch und eine bildhafte Aufzeichnung der neun Filme von Erich von Stroheim, geschrieben von einer Autorität seines Schaffens und Lebens. Illustriert mit 202 Standbildern und Illustrationen von Original-Werbematerial.

The business of culture is the business of designing, producing, distributing, and marketing cultural products. Even though it gives employment to millions, and is the main business of many large and small organizations, it is an area that is rarely studied from a strategic management perspective. This book addresses this void by examining a wide range of cultural industries--motion pictures, television, music, radio, and videogames--from such a perspective. The articles included in this book will be helpful to individuals who seek a better understanding of organizations and strategies in the entertainment and media sector. But it should also provide valuable insights to managers and entrepreneurs who operate in environments that share the creative uncertainty and performance ambiguity that characterize most cultural industries.

On Sunset Boulevard, originally published in 1998, describes the life of acclaimed filmmaker Billy Wilder (1906-2002), director of such classics as Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch, and Sabrina. This definitive biography takes the reader on a fast-paced journey from Billy Wilder's birth outside of Krakow in 1906 to Vienna, where he grew up, to Berlin, where he moved as a young man while establishing himself as a journalist and screenwriter, and triumphantly to Hollywood, where he became as successful a director as there ever was. Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment"Wilder's cinematic legacy is unparalleled. Not only did he direct these classics and twenty-one other films, he co-wrote all of his own screenplays. Volatile, cynical, hilarious, and driven, Wilder arrived in Hollywood an all-but-penniless refugee who spoke no English. Ten years later he was calling his own shots, and he stayed on top of the game for the next three decades. Wilder battled with Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Bing Crosby, and Peter Sellers; kept close friendships with William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau; amassed a personal fortune by way of blockbuster films and shrewd investments in art (including Picassos, Klees, and Mir's); and won Oscars--yet Wilder, ever conscious of his thick accent, always felt the sting of being an outsider. On Sunset Boulevard traces the course of a turbulent but fabulous life, both behind the scenes and on the scene, from Viennese cafes and Berlin dance halls in the twenties to the Hollywood soundstages of the forties and the on-location shoots of the fifties and sixties. Crammed with Wilder's own caustic wit, On Sunset Boulevard reels out the story of one of cinema's most brilliant and prolific talents.