Cover of Memo from David O. Selznick

Memo from David O. Selznick

David O. Selznick was a unique figure in the golden Hollywood studio era. He produced some of the greatest and most memorable American films ever made—notably, Rebecca, A Star Is Born, Anna Karenina, A Farewell to Arms,and, above all, Gone With the Wind. Selznick's absolute power and artistic control are evidenced in his impassioned, eloquent, witty, and sometimes rageful memos to directors, writers, stars and studio executives, writings that have become almost as famous as his films. Newsweek wrote, I can't imagine how a book on the American movie business could be more illuminating, more riveting or more fun to read than this collection of David Selznick's memos.

Audience
adult
Length
epic · 632 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Memo from David O. Selznick? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Memo from David O. Selznick. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. This Is Orson Welles Shares film, cinema, movies
  2. Conversations with Wilder Shares film, cinema, movies
  3. Who the Hell's in It: Conversations With Hollywood's Legendary Actors Shares film, cinema, movies
  4. Hong Kong Babylon: An Insider's Guide to the Hollywood of the East Shares film, cinema, movies

“People who read Memo from David O. Selznick tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir
  2. Without Lying Down: Screenwriter Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood
  3. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era
  4. Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca--Bogart, Bergman, and World War II

“If you want more of the same (biography about movies), start with these.”

  1. Getting Away With It
  2. A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond
  3. Altman on Altman
  4. Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the American Independent Film

“If it was the film that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards
  2. The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s
  3. Michelangelo Antonioni
  4. It Don't Worry Me: The Revolutionary American Films of the Seventies

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks
  2. Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer
  3. Bogart
  4. George Lucas: A Biography