World Film Directors

This work covers the major world film directors who had at least made a significant start on their careers by 1945. As a film historian who frequently analyzes directors and their films, I found this volume extremely valuable. It gives one a perfect opportunity to quickly cover the scope of a director's entire career, reading quotes from the director as well as opinions of prominent critics about significant films from that individual's career. "World Film Directors" also provides a film historian or fan with the opportunity to enhance his or her perspective of a particular movie by receiving important information on the making of the film, as well as the director's view of the subject matter, as well as opinions of reviewers.What impressed me most about this work was the exhaustive manner in which it covered film history from 1890-1945. While the breadth is spectacular, the book never bogs down into trivia or fact recitation for its own sake. The directors' lives and careers, as well as their significant films, are covered with the microscope applied to substance rather than minutiae.

If you are a serious film buff, you will want to get Volume One of John Wakeman's incredible 247 page work on about four hundred film directors born before 1920 and well launched on their careers before 1945, primarily in the U.S. and Europe. Wakeman's book includes a photo, detailed biography, critical film reviews and a complete filmography for every director listed. All of my favorites are here along with many fascinating directors that I've only heard mention of elsewhere. Flipping through this volume, I come across Robert Bresson, Jean Cocteau, Maya Deren, King Vidor and many other notable and under appreciated directors. A small critiscism is that artists who dabbled in film and influenced other filmmakers, such as Joseph Cornell, are not included. Wakeman also acknowledges that his plan to include a few of the most admired Chinese directors "were undone by a lack of reliable information" in the early-mid 1980's. Despite these lapses, this is the only reference book to cover many of these directors and to go into such detail about their lives and their films. If you love film and its history, it is well worth having.