Alone at his fantastic estate known as Xanadu, 70-year-old Charles Foster Kane dies, uttering only the single word Rosebud. So ends the odyssey of a life, and begins a fabulous tale of the rise to wealth and power, and ultimate fall, of a complex man.

"The author of the New York Times bestseller Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep returns with a lively history of the Academy Awards, chronicling the brutal battles, the starry rivalries, and the colorful behind-the-scenes drama."-- "America does not have royalty. It has the Academy Awards. For nine decades, perfectly coiffed starlets, debonair leading men, and producers with gold in their eyes have chased the elusive Oscar. What began as an industry...

Traces the life and career of the legendary director, discussing the making of "Citizen Kane," his contributions to such films as "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "The Lady from Shanghai," and his efforts in radio comedy, spectacular theater, and newspaper politics

In the summer of 1970 legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. Coincidentally it was the story of a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn't autobiographical. The Other Side of the Wind was supposed to take place during a single day, and...

"In 2003, an independent film called The Room--starring and written, produced, directed by a mysteriously wealthy social misfit of indeterminate age and origin named Tommy Wiseau--made its disastrous debut in Los Angeles. Described by one reviewer as "like getting stabbed in the head," the six-million-dollar film earned a grand total of $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. Ten years later, The Room is an international cult phenomenon....

Film scholar David Thomson focuses in on a series of moments-- which his readers will also experience in beautifully reproduced imagery-- from 72 films across a 100-year-plus span. Moments takes readers on an unprecedented visual tour, where the specifics of the imagery the reader is seeing are inextricably tied to the text. Thomson's moments range from a set of Eadweard Muybridge's pioneering photographs to sequences in films from the classic-- Citizen...

"Herman J. (1897-1953) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) wrote, produced, and directed over 150 pictures. With Orson Welles, Herman wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane and shared the picture's only Academy Award. Joe earned the second pair of his four Oscars for writing and directing All About Eve, which also won Best Picture. Despite triumphs as diverse as Monkey Business and Cleopatra and Pride of the Yankees and Guys and Dolls, the witty,...

With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman raises the stakes on his war on crime and sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. The Joker, whose eerie grin, laughter, and inhuman...

From the film critics of The New York Times come these uncut, original reviews of the most popular and influential movies ever made -- from the Talkies to blockbusters like Chicago and The Wizard of Oz from timeless classics like Casablanca and Notorious, to beloved foreign films by Truffaut and Kurosawa, Fellini and Almodovar. The reviews reflect Hollywood history at its best. In addition, this volume includes: Full cast and production credits for...