Review: John Huston's Filmmaking by Lesley Brill
Author(s)
Goldsmith, Ben
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
1999
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Despite a filmography dotted with genre-defining and genre-changing films (detective: The Maltese Falcon, 1941; heist: The Asphalt Jungle, 1950; western: The Unforgiven, 1960 and The Misfits, 1961; Mafia: Prizzi's Honor, 1985), John Huston has tended to be regarded by film scholars as too inconsistent a director for his oeuvre to merit deep and wide-ranging study. Huston has been painted as little more than an authorial cipher (34 of his 37 features as director were adapted from other sources), or as a journeyman, remembered as much for his series of bland, inconsequential films as for his unquestioned triumphs.Despite a filmography dotted with genre-defining and genre-changing films (detective: The Maltese Falcon, 1941; heist: The Asphalt Jungle, 1950; western: The Unforgiven, 1960 and The Misfits, 1961; Mafia: Prizzi's Honor, 1985), John Huston has tended to be regarded by film scholars as too inconsistent a director for his oeuvre to merit deep and wide-ranging study. Huston has been painted as little more than an authorial cipher (34 of his 37 features as director were adapted from other sources), or as a journeyman, remembered as much for his series of bland, inconsequential films as for his unquestioned triumphs.
View less >
View less >
Journal Title
Media International Australia Inc. Culture and Policy
Volume
90
Subject
Studies in Human Society
Studies in Creative Arts and Writing
Language, Communication and Culture