Book Review: King Vidor in Focus

Subtitled “On the Filmmaker’s Artistry and Vision,’ this new book from McFarland publishers by authors Kevin L. Stoehr and Cullen Gallagher is a thoroughgoing look at director Vidor’s filmography.

The book starts off with a fascinating chapter covering “Missing Reels and First Films 1913-1917” which discusses the very first films Vidor created when he was as young as a teenager. These are foundational to his later career and the authors provide more information about them than can be found in other studies. When working on his first films, the young Vidor sat in a theater, and, as quoted in this book, “I sat with a stopwatch and notebook and tried to estimate the number of cuts or scenes in a thousand foot reel, the length of the invididual scenes, the distance of the subject from the camera, and various other details of which one is not usually conscious while watching the unrolling of a film.”

Further chapters discuss Bud’s Recruit (1918) the earliest surviving Vidor film, and the only surviving silent short he directed, and moves through his silent period with such highlights as The Big Parade (1925) and The Crowd (1928), both towering classics of the silent era. Along with these examples of heavy drama, Vidor also excelled at comedy (Show People).

The book then goes on into the talkies, continuing its deep and fulfilling look at Vidor’s magnificent filmography with such classics as Our Daily Bread, Street Scene, and Stella Dallas, examining his ability to stage his scenes, edit for maximum impact, how his succession of shots present an effective rhythm to the narrative, and how he inspires strong performances by his actors.

The range and versatility of a director who puts together a topical comedy like Comrade X and an epic adventure like Northwest Passage is also presented.

This isn’t merely a breezy film-by-film look at a series of entertainments, it is a thorough discussion of a master filmmakers work from its very beginnings to the very end.  In the course of this study, we learn a great deal about Vidor’s “artistry and vision” as per the book’s subtitle.

Highly recommended for libraries, research centers, film students, and anyone interested in cinema’s rich history, the book can be ordered at this link:  VIDOR