Synopses & Reviews
In
Pictures at a Revolution, Mark Harris turned the story of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 into a landmark work of cultural history, a book about the transformation of an art form and the larger social shift it signified. In
Five Came Back, he achieves something larger and even more remarkable, giving us the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the prism of five film directors caught up in the war: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens.
and#160; It was the best of times and the worst of times for Hollywood before the war. The box office was booming, and the studiosand#8217; control of talent and distribution was as airtight as could be hoped. But the industryand#8217;s relationship with Washington was decidedly uneasyand#151;hearings and investigations into allegations of corruption and racketeering were multiplying, and hanging in the air was the insinuation that the business was too foreign, too Jewish, too and#147;un-Americanand#8221; in its values and causes. Could an industry this powerful in shaping Americaand#8217;s mind-set really be left in the hands of this crew? Following Pearl Harbor, Hollywood had the chance to prove its critics wrong and did so with vigor, turning its talents and its business over to the war effort to an unprecedented extent.
No industry professionals played a bigger role in the war than Americaand#8217;s most legendary directors: Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Between them they were on the scene of almost every major moment of Americaand#8217;s war, and in every branch of serviceand#151;army, navy, and air force; Atlantic and Pacific; from Midway to North Africa; from Normandy to the fall of Paris and the liberation of the Nazi death camps; to the shaping of the message out of Washington, D.C.
As it did for so many others, World War II divided the lives of these men into before and after, to an extent that has not been adequately understood. In a larger senseand#151;even less well understoodand#151;the war divided the history of Hollywood into before and after as well. Harris reckons with that transformation on a human leveland#151;through five unforgettable livesand#151;and on the level of the industry and the country as a whole. Like these five men, Hollywood too, and indeed all of America, came back from the war having grown up more than a little.
Synopsis
The extraordinary wartime experience of five of Hollywood's most important directors, all of whom put their stamp on World War II and were changed by it forever
Here is the remarkable, untold story of how five major Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra changed World War II, and how, in turn, the war changed them. In a move unheard of at the time, the U.S. government farmed out its war propaganda effort to Hollywood, allowing these directors the freedom to film in combat zones as never before. They were on the scene at almost every major moment of America s war, shaping the public s collective consciousness of what we ve now come to call the good fight. The product of five years of scrupulous archival research, Five Came Back provides a revelatory new understanding of Hollywood s role in the war through the life and work of these five men who chose to go, and who came back."
Synopsis
Now a Netflix original documentary series, also written by Mark Harris, premiering on March 31,2017: the extraordinary wartime experience of five of Hollywood's most important directors, all of whom put their stamp on World War II and were changed by it forever
Here is the remarkable, untold story of how five major Hollywood directors--John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra--changed World War II, and how, in turn, the war changed them. In a move unheard of at the time, the U.S. government farmed out its war propaganda effort to Hollywood, allowing these directors the freedom to film in combat zones as never before. They were on the scene at almost every major moment of America's war, shaping the public's collective consciousness of what we've now come to call the good fight. The product of five years of scrupulous archival research, Five Came Back provides a revelatory new understanding of Hollywood's role in the war through the life and work of these five men who chose to go, and who came back.
"Five Came Back . . . is one of the great works of film history of the decade." --Slate
"A tough-minded, information-packed and irresistibly readable work of movie-minded cultural criticism. Like the best World War II films, it highlights marquee names in a familiar plot to explore some serious issues: the human cost of military service, the hypnotic power of cinema and the tension between artistic integrity and the exigencies of war." --The New York Times
Synopsis
"One of the great works of film history of the decade." --Slate Now a Netflix original documentary series, also written by Mark Harris: the extraordinary wartime experience of five of Hollywood's most important directors, all of whom put their stamp on World War II and were changed by it forever
Here is the remarkable, untold story of how five major Hollywood directors--John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra--changed World War II, and how, in turn, the war changed them. In a move unheard of at the time, the U.S. government farmed out its war propaganda effort to Hollywood, allowing these directors the freedom to film in combat zones as never before. They were on the scene at almost every major moment of America's war, shaping the public's collective consciousness of what we've now come to call the good fight. The product of five years of scrupulous archival research, Five Came Back provides a revelatory new understanding of Hollywood's role in the war through the life and work of these five men who chose to go, and who came back.
Synopsis
One of The Hollywood Reporter's 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time "One of the great works of film history of the decade." --Slate
Now a Netflix original documentary series, also written by Mark Harris: the extraordinary wartime experience of five of Hollywood's most important directors, all of whom put their stamp on World War II and were changed by it forever
Here is the remarkable, untold story of how five major Hollywood directors--John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra--changed World War II, and how, in turn, the war changed them. In a move unheard of at the time, the U.S. government farmed out its war propaganda effort to Hollywood, allowing these directors the freedom to film in combat zones as never before. They were on the scene at almost every major moment of America's war, shaping the public's collective consciousness of what we've now come to call the good fight. The product of five years of scrupulous archival research, Five Came Back provides a revelatory new understanding of Hollywood's role in the war through the life and work of these five men who chose to go, and who came back.
About the Author
For fifteen years, Mark Harris worked as a writer and an editor covering movies, television, and books for Entertainment Weekly. He is the author of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. A graduate of Yale University, he lives in New York City with his husband, Tony Kushner.