[Thomson's] powers of thumbnail portraiture and plush, velveteen critical judgment…are on vivid display as he brings the brothers to life…This book's portrait of Jack Warner is as vividly inked as one of the studio's cartoons: Yosemite Sam meets the Tasmanian Devil. "Many of his victories feel like defeats, too, because of his suspect character," Thomson writes, approvingly, identifying the same quixotic mix that animated his portraits of David O. Selznick and Orson Welles. These modern-day Hollywood Icaruses, conflagrating in their own greatness, are very dear to him, and for good reason, for their stories are distinctly American. By the light of their rise and fall can be traced the outlines of the country itself, like night terrain glimpsed via flares.
The New York Times Book Review - Tom Shone
★ 06/26/2017
I can imagine only one thing more pleasurable than reading this book: writing it. . . . You risk misunderstanding America if you don’t read [David Thomson] on the movies.”—Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World "Jack [Warner] is lucky to have a man who has brought a lifetime of sitting in theaters, shellacked by the beams of the projectionist’s light, and who has thought so deeply and eccentrically and opinionatedly and ultimately so brilliantly about him. We, his readers, are lucky too."—Leslie Epstein, Wall Street Journal "Thomson is a British critic whose powers of thumbnail portraiture and plush, velveteen critical judgment . . . are on vivid display as he brings the brothers to life. . . . Thomson’s signature note: a mixture of excitement and rue wrapped up in a sweeping paradox that leapfrogs into the gnomic-philosophical realm. Chop it up into lines of dialogue and it’s exactly the kind of sardonic wisecrack you might have found in the mouth of Bette Davis in any of the pictures she shot for Warner Brothers. . . . For those new to Thomson’s magic-carpet rides: Sit back, hold on and enjoy the view."—Tom Shone, New York Times Book Review “Thomson’s writing is a killer mix of elegance, erudition and punchiness, a violin case holding a machine gun.”—Victoria Segal, Sunday Times "A masterful look at one of early Hollywood’s preeminent families and the studio they built on their name. . . . Thomson is just as at home writing biography as he is chronicling the institutional history of the Warner Bros. studio. . . . Anything new from Thomson is worth taking notice of, and this book is no exception."—Publishers Weekly , Starred Review"An entertaining, well-documented history of the legendary studio for film scholars and fans alike."—Kirkus Reviews "More than anything, Warner Bros allows the reader to bask in the glory of the hard-nosed movie studio that, in the words of Andrew Sarris, 'walked mostly on the shady side of the street.' It aims to remind us what made Warners great — and, in its touching melancholia, why that greatness will never come back."—Carlos Valladares, San Francisco Chronicle "Thomson knows everything about the brothers Warner, and he weaves it all together in a stunningly compact 191 pages of spellbinding reading. . . . The book is a heady mix of intrigue and solid information, and Thomson adopts a style that is almost a kind of shorthand, moving nimbly from one film or actor or director to another with breathtaking ease. His pronouncements are authoritative, and the many external sources he marshals give the book complete scholarly authority. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice "Fans and scholars of the movies will find this book fact-filled and fascinating."—St. Louis Jewish Light “David Thomson writes about the cultural and historical significance of cinema with irreverent wit, deep knowledge and devotional lyricism. Warner Bros (the studio, the films, and the immigrant brothers themselves) becomes a fascinating lens through which to examine American identity.”—Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others and Eat the Document “I believe David Thomson to be one of the very best and most incisive writers on film. He has a poetic and dreamlike understanding of what films mean, but is precise in his observations. He presents a very, very high level of understanding in language that is not only accessible, but often witty and stunningly original.”—Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine
Innocents and Others and Eat the Document
The Star Machine
2017-06-05
