Christian Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) This looks like it could be fun: a dissection of the movie industry's infatuation with road-show movies (mostly musicals), which led to a string of not-always-deserved failures (in my opinion; I kind of like Robert Wise's Star!, for instance). I wonder if the lessons here are instructive for today's movie industry, which Steven Spielberg recently said was heading for a "bust" scenario by relying on too many big-budget extravaganzas, and the failure of which will lead to an implosion. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing that happen from an artistic perspective -- it could lead to more interesting projects across the board. But I realize the profits from those tent-pole films might have a trickle-down effect that helps the major studios fund smaller projects -- if, indeed, they still do fund such projects. I think inherent to Spielberg's argument is that the studios don't fund those movies any longer, but I haven't paid close enough attention to the specifics of his argument, which, in any case, may be a digression from discussion of this particular book. So, back to road-show movies. Who's a fan? My favorite road-show failure, if memory serves, is Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Edited February 15, 2014 by Christian Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Link to post Share on other sites
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