The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918-1945 (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism, 23)

Amazon.com

This account of the first great European film studio, which came under the domination of the Nazis as World War II approached, should find a readership beyond students of movie history. From the Berlin soundstages of Universum-Film AG emerged classics such as "Metropolis" and "The Blue Angel" and Hollywood luminaries such as Marlene Dietrich and Billy Wilder. German journalist Klaus Kreimeier crafts a chilling drama of a hotbed of artistic expression gradually perverted by the Nazis into a fascist propaganda factory.

Book Description

Universum-Film AG--best known by its signature logo, Ufa--was once the largest film company in Europe. Founded by the German High Command as a propaganda medium during World War I and always central to Germany's nationalistic big-business interests, Ufa was also home to the most innovative talents of the Weimar Republic. Fritz Lang, Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, and Ernst Lubitsch were Ufa stars; Metropolis, The Blue Angel, and Dr. Mabuse were only a few of its finest works. From its dazzling theaters to its state-of-the-art studios and processing labs, from its comprehensive multimedia publicity campaigns to its avant-garde art films, Ufa challenged Hollywood for cultural dominance and market share in Jazz Age Europe. But the story grows darker after the simultaneous advent of sound films and National Socialism. The story of Ufa under Hitler, when technically suberb films continued to be made, is the story of the corruption and destruction of this vital company by the state that brought it into existence.

Customer Reviews:

To really appreciate good films, know where they come from.......2000-06-02

It is too bad that this is one of the only surviving books on UFA. Luckily it is one of the best. This book tells of the trials and tribulations of the film industry in Germany and the world between 1918 and 1945. It is packed with how they did it technically and economically. There are two concentrated picture sections. The pictures are of the sets, people involved in the industry, actors and movies. The author seems to think that the UFA was corrupted during the time of National Socialism.

According to this book, after H.G. Wells watched "Metropolis", he thought there wasn't much worth corrupting. Sot of gives you a different prospective of H.G. Wells; doesn't it?

Any Way there is tow parts, 30 chapters, Trailer, Epilog, and Fadeout.

Amazon.com

It's not quite as witty as a Porter song (who could equal the incomparable Cole?), but this thorough biography honors the Broadway musical's worldliest, most intelligent composer by taking him seriously. Voluminous research buttresses William McBrien's portrait of a charmed life scarred by tragedy. Born in 1891, Porter left his wealthy family in Indiana to thoroughly enjoy himself at Yale University in Connecticut, where his sassy songs gave the Midwestern outsider social clout. Although exclusively homosexual, Porter was nonetheless devoted to the wealthy widow he married in 1919, and McBrien's narrative of their 1920s travels through Europe captures the glamorous sheen of their life together. Porter had some early success with shows like Fifty Million Frenchmen, but his sustained run of hits began in 1932 with Gay Divorce, continuing through the '50s and Kiss Me Kate. The author liberally quotes from Porter's deliciously naughty lyrics, reminding us how corny most show tunes seem when compared to "Love for Sale" or "Anything Goes." McBrien's painful account of the ghastly aftermath of a 1937 riding accident, which left Porter in pain that ended only with his death in 1964, reveals a quiet, uncomplaining stoic whose substance matched his dazzling style. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

In his life and in his music, Cole Porter was "the top"—the pinnacle of wit, sophistication, and success. His songs—"I Get a Kick Out of You," "Anything Goes," and hundreds more—were instant pop hits, and their musical and emotional depths have made them lasting standards.

William McBrien has captured the creator of these songs, whose life was not merely one of wealth and privilege. A prodigal young man, Porter found his emotional anchor in a long, loving, if sexless marriage, a relationship he repeatedly risked with a string of affairs with men. His last eighteen years were marked by physical agony but also unstinting artistic achievement, including the great Hollywood musicals High Society, Silk Stockings, and Kiss Me Kate (recently and very successfully revived on Broadway). Here, at last is a life that informs the great music and lyrics through illuminating glimpses of the hidden, complicated, private man.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not great........2006-02-20

I suppose the challenge of reading a biography is slogging through the parts of the person's life in which you have little interest. As a musical theatre performer, I was most interested in the chapters devoted to the genesis of Porter's shows - to me, these were the most interesting, and seemingly well researched. The rest of it, particularly his early life, did not quite spark my interest. I did find the ending chapters - dealing with Cole's descent into melancholy and illness - to be touching. I did gain some insight into the glamorous world of Mr. Porter's time - quite the polar opposite to the Great Depression and WWII. In the sense that I admire books that give me a glimpse into a world different from my own, I liked it.

Night and Day this is the one Cole biography to read.......2004-08-19

Night and Day this is the best biography of the great Cole Porter (1891-1964). Porter was the scion of a wealthy family from Peru, Indiana. As a lad he excelled in music making and
graduated with a degree from Yale University. After a year of Law School at Harvard the travel loving Porter journeyed to Paris. He wed Linda Lee Thomas a wealthy woman several years his senior. Porter was gay and the marriage to Linda was sexless. The couple did love one another and Porter was never the same following Linda's death in 1954.
Porter wrote one fabulous musical after another for over 40 years. He lived in luxury with staff to attend his every need. He had a wide circle of friends from among the cultural and literary elite but was an aloof, fastidious, secretive man. Porter was a hard man to know and this biography is about as close as we will ever get to the inner core of the composer.
Porter was a genius in the witty line, the fetching tune and had the ability to make Broadway take notice during his fabulous career.
His life was placid but painful following his fall from a horse and the amputation of a leg. He was alcoholic and probably took durgs.
McBrien is an English professor who has written a well cratede book rich in anecdote. The book is well illustrated with photos from the Porter legacy. Several of Cole's famed lyrics are recorded to the delight of the reader.
With the new movie on Cole Porter this is a good supplement to the film. Well recommended.

A Memorable Biography of a Brilliant Artist.......2004-06-11

Cole Porter (1891-1964) determinedly created the image of an extremely wealthy man who traveled the world, played with the rich and famous, and now and then wrote a Broadway show or two for the pure pleasure of it. But although he was in some respects a shallow man who lived largely for personal pleasure, he was also a very driven and complex one, a man whose fame on the stage did not come easily and who faced a series of horrific hurdles in his private life.

Porter risked his grandfather's ire--and the family fortune he controlled--by settling on a career in music, and while he earned early fame at Yale through his compositions, his first Broadway venture, See America First, was a humiliating fiasco. Homosexual in an era when it was flatly unacceptable, he would marry to retain respectability and forge a remarkable emotional (if completely platonic) relationship with wife Linda Lee Thomas--even while conducting a series of same-sex affairs that would prove frustratingly superficial. Near the height of his career, a horseback riding accident would leave him crippled and in physical agony for the rest of his life, and the pressures of pain and keeping up appearances would plunge him into fits of depression that seemed to border on the psychotic.

Biographer William McBrien is meticulous in his research and his recreation of Porter's very high society, and in other hands such a weight of knowledge might plunge a book into absolute impenetrability--but although McBrien sometimes errs by flooding the reader with inconsequential detail, by and large he keeps a fine balance on his very difficult subject, tracing the arc of Porter's life from Indiana to Yale to New York to Europe to Hollywood, tracing the arc of his career from the humiliating fiasco of Porter's first Broadway show "See America First" to the brilliance of such successes as "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me Kate."

In the process McBrien not only seems to capture Porter, but an entire era as well--a world of sharp sophistication when terms like "star" and "toast of two continents" and "gentlemen" still had meaning, when the "have-nots" danced to the tempo of the "haves" and the wealthy went slumming for a thrill. Filled with numerous photographs and large chunks of Porter's memorable lyrics, this is one biography that truly does its subject justice.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

READ IT!.......2003-01-11

WILLIAM McBRIEN has done it;he has given all the PORTER fans of this world the biography they were waiting for for thirty-four years.What this book gives us is an accurate account of the composer's life including his well known homosexuality, even if he married for respectability.PORTER's early years were quite different when compare with the other composers of his generation;he had a millionnaire grandfather and a rather aloof father with whom he didn't really communicate.He led a rather easy going life until he finally decided at the age of 37 to let his talent bloom on BROADWAY.There is considerable irony to the fact that from his riding accident in 1937,that man who had everything suffered a great deal until his death in 1964.You end up knowing what was this thing called love.

A Ride Down Memory Lane.......2002-06-27

I was more curious about Cole Porter's life because I, too, am in love with the lyrics and music he created. Songs like ANYTHING GOES, YOU'RE THE TOP, I LOVE PARIS to name a few are classics to no end. I like a book that takes me back in time, but I'd prefer a good story. I was a bit disappointed how the book became too informational with naming of who's who and who did what vs. a classic story. There are definitely stories behind the stories that would be much more interesting...so, I suppose we have to use our imagination. This book is a great resource to anyone studying about Cole Porter. I had no idea about his horse accident which really put a damper on his lifestyle. He was quite the world traveler in the 20s & 30s which is quite an accomplishment in those days. He definitely had a way with words...but if you read this...complement it with a CD of the COLE PORTER Songbook. It took me a while to get through this because it IS a book that you can put down & keep on your coffee table for a long time (before you pick it up again).

Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film

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Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film
Grant Hayter-Menzies
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Charlotte Greenwood never intended to become a comedienne, but she was unfashionably tall at 5' 10" and her early aspirations to become a great dramatic actress eventually led her to the field of comedy. Greenwood, whose early life had taught her nothing if not how to be optimistic, stifled her disappointment and used her considerable skill to become one of the greatest comedic actresses of the early twentieth century.
Based on Greenwood's unpublished memoirs, this biography presents a personal, detailed look at her colorful life. Beginning with her early years in Philadelphia, Boston and Norfolk, it relates her struggles with ill health, her social difficulties caused by her then unusual height and her realization of her ambition to become an actress. The main focus of the work is her career, which spanned more than 50 years and ranged from vaudeville to the dramatic stage and, finally, to films (during the World War II years she starred in Twentieth Century Fox musicals with Cesar Romero, Betty Grable, Edward Everett Horton, Jack Haley, Don Ameche, and Carmen Miranda). Her roles in a variety of works including The Passing Show of 1912, So Long Letty (both stage and film), and I Remember Mama are also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on her career-defining (and best-known) role as Aunt Eller Murphy in the 1955 film adaptation of Oklahoma! Charlotte Greenwood's performance history, a list of her known recordings, and a filmography for her husband Martin Broones are also included, along with a collection of rare photographs and memorabilia.

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Unpublished Cole Porter

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story

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This unprecedented new book is a must-have for any musician. These previously unpublished works by Cole Porter are now being made available for the first time! A number of songs in this volume were written for unproduced shows or films, some, for a long time, had existing lyrics but no music, and others were simply thought to be lost, only to later be found in archives and warehouses. Several songs have interesting stories behind them, and some were simply considered too long for the traditional sheet music format. The book includes a CD that provides demonstration recordings for 15 of the titles to aid in learning the pieces. Titles include: You and Me (Hitchy Koo of 1919) * Love Em and Leave Em (Misc. Song) * Ah Fong Low (Hitchy Koo of 1922) * Dizzy Baby (Paris) * The Extra Man (Wake Up and Dream) * That s Why I Love You (Fifty Million Frenchmen) * Why Marry Them? (Gay Divorcee) * Ruins (Nymph Errant) * Through Thick and Thin (Something to Shout About) * We Shall Never Be Younger (Kiss Me Kate) and more.

Cole Porter: 100th Anniversary (Essential Box Sets)

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Cole Porter: 100th Anniversary (Essential Box Sets)

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Includes: After You * All of You * Buddie * Beware * C'est Magnifique * Easy to Love * From this Moment On * I Happen to Like New York * I Love You * It's De-Lovely * Love for Sale * Thank You So Much Lowsborough-Goodby * Night and Day * So in Love * You Do Something to Me * You're Sensational * You're the Top and more.

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Quite surprising!
Parallel lives, winning presentation
Classy, Insightful -- A First-Rate Dual Bio!

Noel and Cole - The Sophisticates
Stephen Citron , Cole Porter , and Noel Coward
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard
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My Life with Noel Coward

ASIN: 0634093029

Book Description

First time in Paperback! Noel Coward and Cole Porter's fascinating lives celebrated. Fresh on the heels of the popular motion picture based on Cole Porter's life called De-Lovely, Noel and Cole presents a fresh and often surprising portrait of these two geniuses. The author provides insight into both men's private lives - including a frank discussion of their homosexuality - while illuminating their musical achievements. Born an ocean apart - one in Indiana, the other in England - Cole Porter and Noel Coward have come to represent the ultimate in sophistication and urbanity. Noel and Cole will be an essential reference as well as a fascinating dual biography of two men who brought style and dazzle to the art of popular entertainment. * Based on access to previously unpublished manuscripts, lyrics, scores, and letters, plus dozens of interviews * Includes a chronology and a fifty-page section devoted to the analysis of select works

Customer Reviews:

Quite surprising!.......2007-01-10

Another gift to my dad for Xmas and he was entertained with the stories and the lyrics. He didn't know about Noel...so we both learned something new. A very well-written and entertaining book.

Parallel lives, winning presentation.......2004-01-15

Cole Porter and Noël Coward were, in many ways, the colossi of music and the theater during their era. And despite their different backgrounds, they had more than a few things in common. A parallel biography of the two men, and parallel analysis of their work, just makes sense. Stephen Citron has pulled it off admirably.

The book is arranged chronologically, and chapters alternate between the two men. Their lives frequently intersect and intertwine, but the still-significant differences between the two don't get lost. Citron is not only a skilled biographer. He also has an insightful eye for drama and music. His analysis of selected Porter and Coward songs, occupying the last sixty or so pages of the book, should be a handy reference and guide to the work of both men.

Classy, Insightful -- A First-Rate Dual Bio!.......1998-10-29

This book not only takes a fresh and thoroughly readable look at two extraordinary lives -- it also includes some excellent assessments of their songs. I've read most everything published on these two men and found this book worthwhile and highly enjoyable. If only all composer bios were so intelligently handled!

Genius and Lust: The Creativity and Sexuality of Cole Porter and Noel Coward

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Genius and Lust: The Creativity and Sexuality of Cole Porter and Noel Coward
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Cole Porter: A Biography (Da Capo Paperback)

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This book is a disappointment

Cole Porter: A Biography (Da Capo Paperback)
Charles Schwartz
Manufacturer: Da Capo
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Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

This book is a disappointment.......2000-05-05

Considering this book is by a musician and professor of music, it contains surprisingly few insights into what was unique about Cole Porter's lyrics and music, and does little to set his work within a musical context. From time to time the author embarks on embarrassing little journeys into pop psychology of the 'Was Porter's homosexuality an attempt to find a significant father figure in his life? We may never know.' variety. The quality of the writing is disappointing. At one point Schwartz describes a meeting between Cole Porter and Louis Mayer, the movie mogul. Schwartz describes Mayer as 'literally oozing with charm', or some such. Unfortunately, this is typical of the standard of writing throughout the book.

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Cole Porter A Biography
McBrien William
Manufacturer: Alfred Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UEV5WI

The Cole Porter story,: As told to Richard G. Hubler

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The Cole Porter story,: As told to Richard G. Hubler
Cole Porter
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Binding: Unknown Binding

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Travels With Cole Porter
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