What more, at this point, is there to say about Roger Corman? There've been books, documentaries, DVD commentaries, articles, interviews, profiles.
Well, when the focus is on his New World Pictures studio, there's always room for more.
Roger Corman is unique in the world of low budget filmmaking. It's been suggested that he is one of the only Producer auteurs in the business. The auteur theory is generally used to describe a director, but Corman put his stamp on everything he produced. The New World productions perfectly represent his vision.
Corman utilized sensational elements of drive-in cinema, but he insisted on social issues being in the films. Feminism, race, and class division were among the subjects he wanted in his pictures. A strong anti-establishment theme runs through his entire oeuvre, but he ironically held a tight capitalistic grip on his company.
Roger Corman's New World Pictures: 1970-1983 Volume One is supposedly an "oral history", but it's really just a series of interviews. Yes, it sort of is an oral history, but I was hoping for something more like the Please Kill Me book about Punk Rock, or I Want My MTV. A deftly edited story told with quotes from those who were there.
There is some good stuff in the book, but honestly it's too little for too much. With each book coming in under two hundred pages, why bother with two volumes at all? You could pay fifty bucks for a pair of trade paperbacks here. To put it into perspective, my own opus, He Who Types Between the Rows, is over twice as long as these two books combined. It costs less than twenty dollars. And I slaved for over a decade on it.
Plus, at that price Bear Manor Media should have been more diligent with the proofreading.
I really enjoyed some interviews, but there were a couple I could have lived without. One with a costume designer comes to mind.
I read Roger Corman's New World Pictures 1970-1983 quickly and I rather enjoyed it, but I believe I will pass on Volume Two. I can do better finding this kind of information online.
Written by Mark Sieber
Well, when the focus is on his New World Pictures studio, there's always room for more.
Roger Corman is unique in the world of low budget filmmaking. It's been suggested that he is one of the only Producer auteurs in the business. The auteur theory is generally used to describe a director, but Corman put his stamp on everything he produced. The New World productions perfectly represent his vision.
Corman utilized sensational elements of drive-in cinema, but he insisted on social issues being in the films. Feminism, race, and class division were among the subjects he wanted in his pictures. A strong anti-establishment theme runs through his entire oeuvre, but he ironically held a tight capitalistic grip on his company.
Roger Corman's New World Pictures: 1970-1983 Volume One is supposedly an "oral history", but it's really just a series of interviews. Yes, it sort of is an oral history, but I was hoping for something more like the Please Kill Me book about Punk Rock, or I Want My MTV. A deftly edited story told with quotes from those who were there.
There is some good stuff in the book, but honestly it's too little for too much. With each book coming in under two hundred pages, why bother with two volumes at all? You could pay fifty bucks for a pair of trade paperbacks here. To put it into perspective, my own opus, He Who Types Between the Rows, is over twice as long as these two books combined. It costs less than twenty dollars. And I slaved for over a decade on it.
Plus, at that price Bear Manor Media should have been more diligent with the proofreading.
I really enjoyed some interviews, but there were a couple I could have lived without. One with a costume designer comes to mind.
I read Roger Corman's New World Pictures 1970-1983 quickly and I rather enjoyed it, but I believe I will pass on Volume Two. I can do better finding this kind of information online.
Written by Mark Sieber
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