Douglas Sirk's Rare Book of Interviews is the Best Thing I Read This Year
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- This video took me longer than I expected to put together as this book I am reviewing also took me by surprise. I am discussing 'Sirk on Sirk: Interviews with Jon Halliday', published originally in 1972 by the Viking Press and then published again in 1997 with added information that Douglas Sirk specifically told Jon Halliday, his interviewer, to withhold until his passing and that of several people he mentions. In this video, I cover the first edition with the second hand copy I own and that although I purchased in 2011, I never got to read in its entirety. I thought that for this year's #ClassicFilmReading challenge, I would give it a go since I had also planned to read very long books and this one seemed like an approachable first entry. What I didn't expect is to learn so much from it. That is what I aim to share in this introductory video as I intend to continue talking about Douglas Sirk. Who's excited to discover more about this legendary filmmaker?
Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge Links:
✏️ Out of the Past Blog
www.outofthepastblog.com/p/sum...
📚 Raquel Stecher's Links
/ raquelstecher | @outofthepastblog
Let's discover this together:
0:00 Intro
0:34 Classic Film Reading Challenge
01:13 Book Presentation and Further Explanation
03:46 The Value of this Book of Interviews
04:44 Key Takeaways of the Book
09:45 Final Conclusions
Further information on Douglas Sirk:
📄 Goodreads page for 'Sirk on Sirk: Interviews with Jon Halliday'
/ 773677
📝 Article by Jon Halliday on 'All That Heaven Allows'
mubi.com/es/notebook/posts/re...
📹 Interview 'From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers' (1991)
• Douglas Sirk interview
🎥 Interview 'Mirage of life' (1983)
• Mirage de la vie - A p...
📺 Interview 'Cinéma Cinémas' (1982)
• Cinéma Cinémas📽: DOUGL...
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🎶Background Music - Satie's Gymnopédie No.1
Thank you for watching and for your love for classic films! Xxx
Disclaimer: This is for entertainment and informative purposes only. Miriam's Vintage Classics claims no ownership of content. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.” - บันเทิง
📘Just wanted to comment again that I will be sharing soon a list of books that Douglas Sirk discusses and mentions in this book of interviews through my Community page, so stay tuned and subscribed! There were so many fascinating and eclectic books that I couldn't help but take a not every time another would pop up. This interview book is really a gift that keeps on giving!
Great video, Miriam! I grew up watching and loving Sirk’s movies on television without knowing who Sirk was or even what a director did. I discovered Sirk when Andrew Sarris’ monumental The American Cinema was published. Sirk had a high ranking and when I read the list of his films I was flabbergasted that so many of them were favorites of mine.
I bought a copy of that paperback with Dorothy Malone on the cover when it was published. There wasn’t much in the way of film books of a scholarly nature in the early 70s so I bought everything I could as they were published. Sirk is one of the best interviewees on cinema, such a cultured and thoughtful man. He always provided a great defense of melodrama that has greatly influenced me, as it did Ranier Werner Fassbinder whose films are the most direct tribute to Sirk, although his influence grows.
I will also check out the links you provided. I always have a film book at hand. I just completed David Bordwell’s newest Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder which analyzes film noir from the standpoint of the books that inspired it. About to start The Architecture of Suspense: The Built World in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock by Christine Madrid French.
It’s great to see a new video. You obviously put a lot of effort into them and I know how challenging it can be. I am on a short break myself, devouring crime fiction (thanks to Bordwell) but hopefully soon I’ll be back because they can also be fun to make, and continued conversation with other film lovers is so rewarding. Take care.
Thank you, Roger! Great to know that you are also a fan of Sirk's work and that 70s situation and film theory is precisely what Sirk himself discusses and he very much wanted to contribute to historicizing melodrama and emphasizing these subjects. Douglas Sirk for me was a director whom I grew up watching as well. I started becoming more and more interested in him over time same as it has happened internationally. In France, he is also highly regarded and many interviews I found were made there or in Switzerland where he last lived. I learnt also about his connection with Fassbinder through an interview of director Todd Haynes who is also very much influenced by Sirk, as you say. Despite all I thought I know, this book revealed a lot I didn't. I aim to keep on sharing in future videos.
Also, I had the opportunity to study film history and film semiotics and other related subjects at university and read books of David Bordwell and other local scholars. It is a topic that interests me as well and particularly storytelling and universal plots and story lines, those are wonderful to learn about. Super fascinating! Those books you mention seem really interesting and crime fiction is another favorite for me.
I truly appreciate the support. Yes, there is much effort but also a great desire to share which I had lost a little bit. I needed the breather or pause and I think sometimes it is needed so I hope yours is truly fulfilling and come back soon with more film discussions. So rewarding indeed.
A very interesting and informative video and i can't wait to see more. Thank you for taking time to make your videos, i know sometimes it's frustrating but you're appreciated!
That was lovely. Thank you so much for watching and for your kind comment!
I love learning about Old Hollywood but hate to read, so I tend to seek out documentaries instead. This book sounds very interesting though, as I love Sirk and am curious to learn more about him. I actually just visited his grave a few months ago in Lugano/Switzerland. How cool to learn he really liked Westerns, I didn't expect that. My favorite of his films is Written on the Wind, as well!
I feel this book is an approachable one if you are interested and all the better if you get the expanded edition of 1997 by Faber and Faber. In any case, I have left in the description box, the links to several interviews in which he discusses several topics that also appear in the book. Really cool that you visited it in Lugano, Switzerland is so beautiful! Thank you for watching and commenting.
Thanks for the shoutout (I loved that clip of Buster Keaton judging you hahahaha). I love that you picked a book that you've been meaning to get to because that was really my purpose for the challenge. To get people to read those classic movie books that have been sitting on their shelves waiting to be read! Also I love this saying "the good jam is in the small jar". I've never heard it before but will definitely use it in the future. This is a great review!
He's my inner side eye/reminder to do better with the challenge! Glad to hear because it is precisely that. Also to make an occasion out of it, is just wonderful. Me too, we also use it when someone criticizes or makes fun of another one for being short. Perfect comeback. Thanks a lot!
Great to see you back. I always learn a lot from your videos. Sirk is one director who has never really been on my radar. I do have several of his films on my "to watch" list, but have just not gotten to them. Your review of this book makes me think I've been missing out.
Thank you for your comment. I would say there is always time to discover films and filmmakers. Some you naturally gravitate towards, others you discover little by little or out of the blue and some just never quite click. That’s the beauty of it, I think.
Great video! I will add that book to my reading list! ❤
Thanks a lot! It's certainly a fascinating read.
I'm thrilled that you're back!!!!!!! I can't believe your book came from Webster. My mom attended that college! I am an unapologetic fan of melodrama, and this book sounds fascinating. I'm interested in reading his reflections, especially since, as you said, he hadn't seen the films in years. I'm curious about what lingers with him and which aspects he discusses over 20 years removed from the actual experience. I didn't know Sirk held his adaptation of "A Time to Love and a Time to Die" in such high regard. That happens to be one of my favorite books, and I've avoided seeing the film for years because I love the book so much. However, I might have to watch it now.
Well, that made my day, Sydney. I can't fully express how much this support means, thank you so much. And to think that the book was in the university you mom attended!!! Now it's even cooler. It was hard to find a copy and I ended up getting this one second hand, which I normally do for hard to source books. I am so glad I did. I recommend getting the more recent version, the one published by Faber and Faber because it includes information Sirk specifically asked to publish after he passed. It is fascinating and rare to hear a filmmaker from his generation, discussing his own films like that, from a more conceptual and symbolic perspective. Also a fan of melodrama here! There is a personal and powerful connection for Douglas Sirk also with "A Time to Love and a Time to Die" which makes you understand why he valued it as he did, aside from appreciating the novel so much. Precisely, I was going to make my next video about the film so it would be fantastic to hear your thoughts on the film and the book if you do watch it. I haven't read it I have to admit so I have to remedy that. What a coincidence also that is a favorite book of yours, thank you for letting me know! I can understand putting off watching the film if the book was impactful for you. It happened to me with "The Razor's Edge".
Just had this video pop up (even though I have subscribed to you ages ago) very interesting! Never heard of this book. The footage of Mr Sirk, is there a documentary on him, or was he one of several interviewed in a certain documentary? My favorite film of his, is Sleep, My Love
The footage of Douglas Sirk pertains to three different interviews that I found on TH-cam, I have posted the links in the description box of this video. I always recommend checking the box because I tend to post links there. These are interviews conducted in France and Switzerland for different international channels, not a specific documentary (at least none that I have found). These are also available in Criterion copies of his films such as All That Heaven Allows, you can check their website as well. I like Sleep, My Love too. My favorite is Written on the Wind.