The Filmmaker: A Novel

By Elise Dallemagne-Cookson

Shunned for being a "friendly witness," a brilliant outcast filmmaker must work or go mad in the wake of the blacklist era. This is the story of his comeback. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564743136
• ISBN13: 9781564743138
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: John Daniel & Co
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

1950s Flimmaking From The Inside

At long last, an insider's view of the effects of the McCarthy era on a great, if fictive, American Filmmaker. A globe-trotting adventure and love story all wrapped into one neatly crafted package. It left me haunted for days after I finished reading it. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

THE FILMMAKER

Dallemagne-Cookson's The Filmmaker is a lyrical read--especially when the author takes us to the South Seas. The story is compelling and true to life in the emotions and situations which grip its central character throughout. Impossible to put down, I found the writing often transporting. Dallemagne-Cookson can weave her words to create vivid pictures and emotions in the reader. Any one who loves the world of film, or is interested in the history of the "black list" and its effects on people's lives will love this book. So will those who have experienced great passion--or wish they had. This book covers a lot of geography (Spain, California, New York and more): the vivid ocean scenes at the end are compellingly written; readers will want to book passage to the south seas.

Not a Run-of-the-Mill Story

This book will appeal to anyone interested in Hollywood filmmaking during the 1950's, and to anyone fascinated by how life experience causes personality to evolve. This is not a run-of-the-mill story of adulterous passion, but an honest exploration of human cowardice, courage, and longing.Like butterflies struggling to escape the chrysalis, the lovers Celia and Ben seek to shed the confinement of their respective pasts and create a future together. For Celia, this is her all-too-proper middle-class religious background. For Ben, it is that dark moment when, fearful that he would never again get the chance to make a great film, he testified against his comrades before the McCarthy committee.The novel charts their personal growth in lively dialogue. Sundry interesting characters wander in and out of the story, which is set in interesting locales such as the South Seas.

An Oscar for The Filmmaker

As in her previous two novels The Ombu Tree and The Bearded Lion Who Roars, Elise Dallemagne-Cookson in The Filmmaker weaves a tapestry of a particular time and place with an authority that can only come from first-hand experience. This book makes the devastating history of the "blacklist era" of the 1950"s come alive in a story filled with passion and adventure. Once you start reading be prepared to put your life on hold because you won't be able to stop until the last page is turned. I only regret that there are only five stars to give!

A Great Winter Read!

Of all the subjects we love to read about, movies and people connected with the movies have got to be on that list. And "roman a clefs" are great fun to puzzle out. In "The Filmmaker," you get it all. I've read Elise Dallemagne's first two books -- "The Bearded Lion Who Roars" about the Belgian Congo and "The Ombu Tree" about Argentina -- and they both ring true and are page-turners. She doesn't just write books, she writes movies! "The Filmmaker" will keep you thinking about the way lives can be destroyed by rumor and subpoena, who are these people really, and who should play them in the movie!I recommend this novel highly, and look forward to her next one.