"Cecil B. DeMille The Art of the Hollywood Epic" in stores Dec 16
Colossal. Stupendous. Epic. These adjectives, used by movie companies
to hawk their wares, became clichés long ago. When used to describe the
films of one director, they are accurate. More than any filmmaker in
the history of the medium, Cecil B. DeMille mastered the art of the
spectacle. In the process, he became a filmland founder. One hundred
years ago, he made the first feature film ever shot in Hollywood and
went on to become the most commercially successful producer-director in
history.
DeMille told his cinematic tales with painterly, extravagant images. The parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments was only one of these. There were train wrecks (The Greatest Show on Earth); orgies (Manslaughter); battles (The Buccaneer); Ancient Rome (The Sign of the Cross); Ancient Egypt (Cleopatra); and the Holy Land (The Crusades). The best of these images are showcased here, in Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic.
This
lavish volume opens the King Tut's tomb of cinematic treasures that is
the Cecil B. DeMille Archives, presenting storyboard art, concept
paintings, and an array of photographic imagery. Historian Mark A.
Vieira writes an illuminating text to accompany these scenes. Cecilia de
Mille Presley relates her grandfather's thoughts on his various films,
and recalls her visits to his sets, including the Egyptian expedition to
film The Ten Commandments.
Like the director's works, Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic is a panorama of magnificence-celebrating a legendary filmmaker and the remarkable history of Hollywood.